Earlier this month my friend and I got into an argument because he didn’t know when St. Patrick’s Day was! He claimed it wasn’t a “real” holiday and that he didn’t even know what it was for…But that’s unacceptable.
St. Patrick’s is one of the most fun holidays for a university student and deserves more recognition.
The Feast of St. Patrick, aka St. Patrick’s Day, is held every year on March 17. The holiday marks the death of St. Patrick, a fifth-century missionary and bishop who lived in Ireland. Ironically, St. Patrick was actually born in Roman Britain and was kidnapped by Irish pirates.
I have to admit, I didn’t know much about the holiday until I did some research. One of the only facts I know — which I learned back in the first grade — is that St. Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland, or so the legend proclaims.
In my research I discovered that St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated more than any other national holiday in the world. It’s celebrated all the way from Ireland to Russia to Argentina.
The shamrock is the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day because it represents the Holy Trinity and how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Sprit were all separate entities, but came together. Although the shamrock and green have become the official colour of St. Patrick’s Day, while he was alive St. Patrick was associated with the colour blue.
Most people associate leprechauns and the “luck of the Irish” with the holiday, but there isn’t any real connection between them and St. Patrick.
Here in Canada the holiday is widely celebrated as the largest and oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in North America happens in Montreal. Montreal takes the holiday so seriously that the city flag includes a shamrock on it!
A fun fact most sports fans would be surprised to learn is that the Toronto Maple Leafs were called the Toronto St. Patricks from 1919 to 1927.
Like many holidays, what started out as a religious and cultural holiday has for the most part become a commercial holiday.
Here at Western University St. Patrick’s Day — better know as St. Patty’s Day — is about beer, green pancakes and day-drinking. It’s pretty much hoco 2.0, minus the football. 13 million pints of Guinness are estimated to be sold every March 17, so hurry out to get yours now.
I’rish you all luck this St. Patty’s Day and most importantly hope you all stay safe!