World Holidays – Saint Patrick’s Day Celebrated in Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Montserrat

Saint Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17^th March every year to commemorate the most commonly recognized patron saints of Ireland, Saint Patrick (AD 387-461). It is a religious festival observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church.

Saint Patrick’s Day is usually characterized by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol. Saint Patrick’s Day is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora in places like Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

Saint Patrick’s Day is most probably the most celebrated saint’s day in the world after Saint Valentine’s Day.

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the 4^th century and at the age of 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. God came to him in his dream and told him to flee captivity to the coast and board a ship to return to Britain and join the Church in Auxerre in Gaul to study to become a priest.

In 432, he was called back to Ireland as a bishop to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism with teaching methods that included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of Trinity. Saint Patrick died on 17^th March 461 and was buried at Downpatrick and endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and held in high esteem by the Irish Church.

Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day from as early as the 17^th century. In the 1798 rebellion, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17^th March with hopes of catching public attention.