<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day"><style id="print"></style><title>Saint Patrick’s Day | History, Traditions, & Facts | Britannica</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day">https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; display: block; max-width: 100%;">What is St. Patrick’s Day?</h1><div class="leading-image" style="max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 1.15em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/35/103235-050-A7300DA3/Children-parade-Saint-Patricks-Day-Ireland-Dublin.jpg?w=400&h=300&c=crop" alt="St. Patrick's Day parade" class="" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; margin: auto; display: block; clear: both;" data-unique-identifier=""></div><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span>St. Patrick’s Day</strong>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/feast-religion" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">feast</a> day (March 17) of <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Patrick" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">St. Patrick</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/patron-saint" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">patron saint</a> of <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Ireland</a>. Born in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Britain" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Roman Britain</a> in the late 4th century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 <span style="max-width: 100%;">ce</span> to convert the Irish to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Christianity</a>. By the time of his death on March 17, 461, he had established monasteries, churches, and schools. Many <a data-term="legends" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legends" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">legends</a> grew up around him—for example, that he drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/shamrock" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">shamrock</a> to explain the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Trinity</a>. Ireland came to celebrate his day with religious services and feasts.</p><!--[P1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><div data-type="other" style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="262727" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="image" style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg" data-href="/media/1/858491/262727" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg?w=300" alt="St. Patrick's Day" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg" data-href="/media/1/858491/262727" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">St. Patrick's Day</a></figcaption></figure></div></div></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">It was emigrants, particularly to the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">United States</a>, who transformed St. Patrick’s Day into a largely <a data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">secular</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/holiday" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">holiday</a> of revelry and celebration of things <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Irish-people" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Irish</a>. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants, who often wielded political power, staged the most extensive celebrations, which included elaborate parades. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Boston" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Boston</a> held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1737, followed by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">New York City</a> in 1762. Since 1962 <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Chicago" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Chicago</a> has coloured its <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Chicago-River" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">river</a> green to mark the holiday. (Although blue was the colour traditionally associated with St. Patrick, green is now commonly connected with the day.) Irish and non-Irish alike commonly participate in the “wearing of the green”—sporting an item of green clothing or a shamrock, the Irish national plant, in the lapel. Corned beef and cabbage are associated with the holiday, and even beer is sometimes dyed green to celebrate the day. Although some of these practices eventually were adopted by the Irish themselves, they did so largely for the benefit of tourists.</p><!--[P2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span></div></div></div><br><br><div dir="ltr">Reverend Dr. Carolyn Peters, National Federation Of The Blind, Ohio, affiliate, vice president, Ohio Communities Of Faith division, president, Miami Valley Chapter, Dayton, Ohio president. 1-937-657-5134,<div><br></div><div>Dr.carolyn.peters@gmail.com☺️👏🙏🤲</div></div></body></html>