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St. Patrick's Day Customs and Traditions
The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales around AD 360-385.
His given name was Maewyn, and he almost didn't get the job of Bishop of Ireland because he lacked the required scholarship.
A British nobleman's son, he hadn't cared much for school, preferring to go off with his friends.
Christianity didn't mean much to him either. His father was a deacon in the village church, but he held that office mostly as a tax advantage.
Kidnapped and enslaved
At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by a group of Irish pirates who raided his village and was sold to a king as a slave.
For the trip to the king's lands, the lad was assigned to a short-tempered soldier who would shout in his strange language, angry that Patrick didn't understand.
His job was to care for a large flock of sheep belonging to the king. He had no house and no soft bed.
For six years, night and day he spent out on the rain-swept mountain pastures.
Patrick also had no one to talk to or play with, so the sheep became his friends. Talking to them somehow soothed his heartache.
Escape to France
One night he plunged through the bogs and scaled the mountains which separated him from the sea and took the three-day trip to Gaul
where he studied in a monastery under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for a period of twelve years.
During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert people to Christianity.
Return to England - Assigned to Ireland
When he finally reached home in Britain he had a vision which changed his life. It was of a man bringing letters from Ireland, begging him to "come and walk among us once more."
His wishes were to return to Ireland, but his superiors instead appointed St. Palladius.
But two years later, Palladius transferred to Scotland and Patrick, having adopted that Christian name earlier, was then appointed as second Bishop to Ireland.
Patrick was quite successful at winning converts.
This fact upset the Celtic Druids whose priests still performed human and animal sacrifices to appease the local gods and practiced spiritism and black magic.
Patrick was arrested twice, but escaped each time.
Ireland was dotted with tiny, waring kingdoms, and had to be converted step by step.
Approaching a castle, Patrick would offer presents of money and fine gifts to secure an audience with the local king.
If the king gave his blessing, Patrick was free to preach throughout the realm.
There was something about Patrick's exuberant faith and steadfast character that attracted these warlike kings.
He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries and schools across the country.
He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish.
His mission in Ireland lasted 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.
Folklore
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 conversions.
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 an Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity,
the leaves representing 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 traveled to America in 1737. That was the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated in Boston.
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