A Brief History of St. Patrick's Day and the Shamrock:
The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron
saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. Patrick was
appointed to the postion of second bishop to Ireland which he
held for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to
County Down. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been
commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since.
Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day.
Not much of it is actually substantiated. Some of this lore includes
the belief that Patrick raised people from the dead. He also is
said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the
snakes from Ireland. Of course, no snakes were ever native to
Ireland, and some people think this is a metaphor for the
conversion of the pagans. Though originally a Catholic holy day,
St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday.
One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And
this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how
Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity.
He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the
same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock
on his feast day.
The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737. That
was the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated in
this country, in Boston.
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