The Origins of St. Patrick's Day!

Saint Patrick's Day Origins

Written by Jonathan Fife

          Why do we celebrate Saint Patrick's Day? Let's go back to 415 AD when Maewyn was born. Maewyn grew up as a Roman-British from 415 to 431. At age 16, Maewyn was captured and put into slavery. He was brought to Ireland where he looked after animals for 6 years. He escaped back to his family and converted to Christianity. He changed his name to Patricius (which after a lot of translating is Patrick) and he became a cleric. Around the year 440, Saint Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary to spread Christianity even though it was already common in Ireland. He convinced the Druids at Tara to give up their ancient Irish religion for Christianity, making it more widespread. When Patrick died on March 4, 461, he was named Ireland's patron saint and people in Ireland held small celebrations for him every year. When Irish people emigrated to America in 1840, they needed to bring some of their culture and religion along with them, so they held parades dedicated to Saint Patrick. Now the culture has spread, and people all across America celebrate Saint Patrick's day whether Irish or not. Although I don't celebrate it myself, many people wear green to represent peace, and whoever isn't wearing green gets pinched! Other ways that are celebrated are by watching parades, dyeing the Chicago river green, and spending time with family. So go out and have some St. Patrick's day fun!

Thanks to all my sources: 

http://www.gpb.org/education/origins-of-st-patricks-day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick

https://www.rd.com/culture/wear-green-st-patricks-day/