St. Patrick's Day is an annual Irish national holiday, which is held in honor of the famous patron of this country. According to legend, it was he who brought Christianity to the country, having eradicated paganism, and he also drove out snakes from the island. For the Irish, this is a fun, colorful, spring holiday.
When is St. Patrick's Day celebrated? This happens in early spring, March 17, when young leaves and grass are distinguished by their special freshness and greenery. Although initially this holiday was celebrated only in Ireland, now the tradition is spread all over the world.
A famous joke says: "On this day, anyone who wants to can become Irish." What are the customs of this holiday?
The story of the legend
Although it is believed that it was St. Patrick who carried out the Christianization of Ireland, there are signs that this religion existed there before him. Moreover, some scholars are generally inclined to believe that St. Patrick is nothing more than a character of legends. It is reliably known that in 373 AD, a boy, Mavin Sukkat, was born in Britain. He was very far from Christianity, but at sixteen he was taken into slavery and taken to Ireland. It was in severe captivity that he came to religion, and a new faith helped him survive.
When he finally managed to free himself, he left for Gaul, where he became a minister of the church and received the name Patrick. Then he returned to his native country as a missionary, preaching Christianity.
Holiday customs
Despite the fact that, logically, St. Patrick's Day is closely connected with Christianity, this holiday is an interweaving of both pagan and Christian traditions. The veneration of the saint's actions, for example, includes climbing Mount Kro-Patrick, on which, according to legend, the saint expelled all snakes from the country.
Another tribute to Christianity is the decoration of houses and clothes with a green shamrock, which symbolizes the cross.
The folk traditions include the fact that on St. Patrick's Day you need to drink at least a glass of alcohol in an Irish pub, and before that you need to put a leaf of shamrock in it. This is called "drain the shamrock." After that, you must take out the sheet from the glass and throw it over your left shoulder.
The traditional color of clothes on this day is green. It symbolizes Ireland, spring and the trefoil. In general, the Irish are guided by the rule: the more green - the better! And in Chicago, even the river is painted green every year!
On St. Patrick's Day in Ireland and around the world, mass parades are held in extravagant costumes, in which famous brass bands with bagpipes also take part.
In addition to all this, leprechauns are mythical characters, each of which, according to legend, has a bag of gold. But if gold falls into the wrong hands, it will immediately dissolve in the air, so there is no sense in asking or taking away their wealth from leprechauns. In honor of funny characters, holiday participants always wear tall green top hats.
Festive cuisine
Although St. Patrick's Day falls on Great Lent, the Irish are fed up with meat dishes to their fill, without violating the restrictions. How is this possible? This is another holiday magic. According to the Catholic tradition, fish is considered a lenten dish, so it was believed that the meat put in the pan on this day, St. Patrick makes fish. So people are happy, and the post is not broken.
Cabbage and bacon used to be a traditional dish, but later it was replaced by salted meat, which American immigrants brought to Irish cuisine .
Another characteristic feature is that almost all holiday dishes on this day, even sweet ones, add ... beer!
St. Patrick's Day is impossible to miss. If you went outside in the spring, and everything is green, the river pours beer and the bagpipe sounds loudly - don’t hesitate, it’s the favorite holiday of all Irish!