St. Patrick’s Day

MJ Yeager ’24 & Christian Zamora ’22 & Bella Cameron
Staff Writers

Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a cultural and religious celebration held on March 17th, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated because it is the commemoration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. The people of Ireland have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day for over 1,000 years.

One signification of St. Patrick’s Day is that there is a myth that there is a pot of gold at the end of rainbow, but the catch is that you can never find the end of the rainbow, so you have to get very lucky. Another thing that goes along with St. Patrick’s Day is a four leaf clover. The four leaf clovers stand for faith, hope, love, and luck, but how rare is a four leaf clover? The primary seasons for four leaf clovers are spring and summer. The chances of you finding a four leaf clover is 1 in 5,000 clovers, making the chance of you finding one a .0002% chance which is quite small. So if you find one this season consider yourself quite lucky!

The Leprechaun is another important aspect for this holiday. We all know a leprechaun is incorporated with St.Patrick’s day, but why? The word “leprechaun” means small body. It also can technically mean “leath brogan” which is an irish term for ‘shoemaker.’ Leprechauns are associated with gold, wealth, and riches. Leprechauns need gold but they don’t entirely spend it. Researchers suggest that gold can be used for the trickery of humans. This so-called “fairy-tale”was widespread throughout Ireland. That’s why the leprechaun is so ingrained into Irish culture and history. Leprechauns have also been associated with everything green. In earlier years, the dominant color for leprechauns was red.

So…why is a leprechaun associated with St.Patrick’s day? Well, the only reason is green has become synonymous with leprechauns and St.Patrick’s Day alike. We celebrate this holiday because more than two dozen Presbyterians who emigrated from the north of Ireland, gathered to honor St.Patrick from the Charitable Irish Society.They say the belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies. All in all, we celebrate this holiday to commemorate St.Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and to celebrate Irish heritage.