March 17th: Feelin’ Lucky?

Every year, people celebrate Saint Patrick’s day and wear the color green to avoid being pinched by friends and family, but why is this a tradition?

Saint Patrick’s Day is an annual holiday, celebrated on March 17. It honors Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and March 17 is his death day. Saint Patrick is honored because he is credited for spreading the religion of Christianity to Ireland.

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated all across the U.S. and Ireland in many different ways. People celebrate this holiday through small things, like wearing the color green to avoid being pinched, and through major things like lighting up famous monuments with the color green. The Eiffel Tower in France and the Sydney Opera House in Australia have both been lit up green in honor of this holiday in the past. Some people and communities throw huge parties to celebrate Irish culture and heritage on this day.

Parades are another way to show appreciation for the Irish culture. According to National Geographic, “. . . the first recorded parade in honor of St. Patrick was in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1601. . . Since those early days, the parade tradition has spread throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Ireland.” One of the most popular St. Patrick’s Day parades is hosted in Boston, but news reports in the second week of March shared that, due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19, this year’s parade will not be happening.

The color green is associated with this holiday because, during the Irish Rebellion, Irish soldiers began to wear green to contrast the opposing sides’ uniforms, which were red. In addition to this, the Irish would sing “The Wearing of Green,” an Irish street ballad that was popular during the rebellion. Ever since then the Irish have been associated with the color green. James Schwichtenberg said, “I think that the story of how the color green became related to the Irish is pretty cool.”