Written by Annie Kwon

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you are wearing green today. If you’re not, then get ready to get pinched. March 17th is the day we celebrate an Irish culture by wearing green clothing and drink lots of beer. Some cities like to paint the city green like Seattle paint the green stripes on the road as routes for the parade. Other cities like to dye the river green by using the extract dye from the vegetables. As a grand finale to celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day, we have parades like Boston and New York City have had traditionally for a long time.

The History of St. Patrick
St. Patrick was a bishop in Ireland when he died on March 17th, 461. He was born into the wealthy family in Britain and his father and his grandfather were deacons in the Church. When he was a teenager, he was captured by Irish raiders and sold as a slave in Ireland. After he escaped from Ireland, he studied to become a priest in Britain. Then he was commissioned to preach Christian Gospel in Ireland to wealthy and poor Irish people. The legend says that he was known to use three leaf clover to explain Holy Trinity.

Early Celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland
It is believed that Ireland celebrated St. Patrick’s Day since before 1600′s. However, this day became a national public holiday in 1903. It wasn’t until 1931 when Ireland had first parade but however drinking beer had gone out of control, the law required all the pubs be closed specifically on that day until 1970s. In 1996, Ireland had its first St. Patrick’s Festival to showcase its national pride and culture.

Early Celebration of St.Patrick’s Day in United States
During colonial days, Boston had a high concentration of Irish immigrants. In 1737, it had a first St. Patrick’s parade. The reason for the parade was that Irish immigrants were not happy with their low social status and inability to obtain jobs in America as equally as natural-born Americans. It was a social and political statement that Irish immigrants were treated unfairly and it had to be changed. New York City has it first parade in 1762 by Irish soldiers in the British Army for the same reason. Then in 1780, George Washington declared that March 17th is the day when the Irish soldiers in American army can celebrate this day as an as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence. In 1848, New York City held the largest parade in United States and in the world when the Irish aid societies were formed and joined together.