St. Patrick's Day Traditions
The wearin' o' the green, corned beef and cabbage, green beer, shamrocks and leprechauns--they all add up to St. Patrick's Day in most American minds. But are they really Irish traditions? Does this Spark an idea?
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History
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St. Patrick was born in Wales in around A.D. 385. He spent 30 years converting pagans to Christianity in Ireland and died on March 17, A.D. 461.
The Shamrock
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In order to explain the Trinity, St. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to show how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could be three separate parts of one entity. His followers started the tradition of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.
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Snakes
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One of the legends about St. Patrick is that he drove all of the snakes from Ireland. Since Ireland never had snakes, some believe this is an illustration of his converting the pagans to Christianity.
Wearing Green
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Ireland is known as the "Emerald Isle" because the plant life there is always green. But wearing green on St. Patrick's Day is an American-made custom.
Corned Beef and Cabbage With Green Beer
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In Ireland, the tradition was to eat Irish bacon and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. When immigrants came to the U.S. around the turn of the twentieth century, however, money was tight, and they substituted the less expensive corned beef for the bacon. Beer was a traditional beverage, however, the green coloring is an American invention.
Leprechauns
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The Irish version of the word "leprechaun," or "lobaircin," means "small-bodied fellow." They are traditionally cranky little men and only minor characters in Irish folklore, with nothing to do with St. Patrick. Thanks to Walt Disney's "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," however, Americans adopted the "friendly" little leprechaun as a symbol of Ireland and St. Patrick's Day.
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