St. Patrick's Day By: Caroline Kepler

Saint Patrick’s Day is probably one of the most underrated holidays of the calendar year and frankly, I don’t see why. Most people I know don’t celebrate the holiday and just see it as the holiday between Valentines Day and Easter. Few people have learned about the history of the holiday and I believe that if they known more about the significance of this day then maybe they would celebrate it. For starters, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17th to coincide with the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick is one of the most widely known Christian figures, yet much of his life remains a mystery. There are accounts of him performing impossible acts like, banishing all of the snakes from Ireland, that were proven to be false.  In Ireland this day was first celebrated with a religious feast day, throughout the years this celebration has evolved and now includes parades, dances, special foods, and a lot of green. In addition, there are many myths about St. Patrick’s Day that people are lead to believe. One of the biggest myths is that St. Patrick was Irish. Contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick was not Irish, instead he was born in Britain, but was also not considered British since the British Isles were occupied by the Romans at the time. Also, historically green was not associated with St Patrick’s Day, this quality was probably added in the 18th century, since the supporters of Irish independence used green to represent their cause. Similarly, Corned beef was not a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal, instead pork was traditionally eaten. The transition to corned beef came in the 19th century when Irish immigrants in New York substituted pork with corned beef in order to save money.   

Personally, I love St. Patrick’s because it brings back great childhood memories of celebrating in daycare and with my family. When I was younger up until I was 10 or 11 my daycare would always celebrate St. Patrick’s day with green everything and rainbows with pots of gold at the end of them. Those are some of my favorite memories, since my teachers would bring in green bagels, juice, and cupcakes and also have us hunt for a leprechaun that they made. My teachers went to great lengths to make St. Patrick's Day fun for us and because of that I love the holiday. For as long as I can remember my family also celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a family dinner of corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes on the Sunday closest to St. Patrick’s Day. My mom and I would spend the day cooking the corned beef and baking Irish soda bread together. My family and I would eat together, swapping stories and after dinner we would always have a green themed dessert that my cousin made. We still celebrate to this day and because of those memories corned beef, cabbage and potatoes is my favorite meal.