HISTORY93 - Saint Patrick's Day
I’ve been meaning to do a blog on Saint Patrick’s Day for a while now. With the holiday coming up this March, this looked like a good time to do it. After an introduction, I will talk about Saint Patrick, the early history of Saint Patrick’s Day, and then the modern era of the holiday. I will list my sources at the end. Introduction Saint Patrick's Day is a religious and cultural holiday held annually on the 17 th of March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. AD 385 - c. AD 461), the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian (Roman Catholic) feast day in the early 17 th century. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, and remained a religious holiday only in Ireland for over 275 years. Strangely, Saint Patrick’s Day was first celebrated to honor Irish heritage and culture in general, in Colonial America, by Irish immigrants, in the early 17 th century. Among Irish i