Why is saint patricks day celebrated

Co Kerry town named among Europe's most beautiful. Christmas came early - Irish overjoyed with US reunion after travel ban. Top ten handcrafted Irish gifts for your loved ones this Christmas. Why is Saint Patrick's Day celebrated on March 17? James Wilson. Mar 05, Why was March 17 chosen as the day to celebrate St. Patrick and Ireland? Subscribe to IrishCentral.

Read more. IrishCentral St. Read this next Travel. Travel Dine with an Irish view in - the best food experiences across Ireland. The evolution of St. Despite the fact that the feast day has been observed in Ireland since the 9th or 10th century, it was in New York City that the first parade took place when in Irish soldiers serving with the English military marched through Manhattan to a local tavern.

The first parade in the Irish Free State did not take place until This resulted in the creation of the St. From the 18th century onward, as a result of the Penal Laws in Ireland, some Irish people began to use St. So as to show their Irish Christian pride, the tradition of wearing of shamrocks began but the day still revolved around the Catholic religion.

There are still certain religious links evident in our adoration of St. Each year, 5. Almost , babies in the States have also been named Patrick in the past years. There have been calls by some to bring back the old pres traditions and to return to the religious feast day. In , theologian Fr.

Vincent Twomey argued for this return to religion in an article for The Word magazine. Twomey claimed that the day needed to be reclaimed as a Church festival and taken back from the secular and vulgar festival that it had become. Within the Church itself, there are certain traditions that are still retained although they may go unnoticed by the larger corporate events.

This happened as early back as when St. This will not happen again until These creatures never actually lived in the country. The fact that Ireland is an island—as well as green with leafy trees and grassy hills—means that the nation is sometimes called the Emerald Isle.

But the color that people originally associated with St. Patrick was blue! Some ancient Irish flags even sport this color. Green was finally introduced to St. Green is also the color that mythical fairies called leprechauns like to dress in—today, at least. But tales about leprechauns date back to before green was in: The fairies were first described as wearing red. The tradition is tied to folklore that says wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns, which like to pinch anyone they can see.

Some people also think sporting the color will bring good luck, and others wear it to honor their Irish ancestry. No wonder green decorations can be seen all over—the Chicago River in Illinois is even dyed green each year to celebrate the holiday.