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St. Patrick’s Day Origins

   St. Patrick Day is celebrated on March 17th, which is St. Patrick’s feast day and the day he died in the fifth century. 

   St. Patrick was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church for preaching the good news of God in Ireland.

    With his fame came many new traditions. One of these is the three leave clover. St. Patrick used the clover to teach the people of Ireland their catechism.

    After the great potato famine in Ireland it caused many to flee to the Americas. When March 17th came around they took to the streets to celebrate their ancestry. Newspapers scoffed and called them drunk and violent.

   With great numbers the Irish fought against the prejudice and in 1948 succeeded when President Truman attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

       St. Patrick’s Day soon spread to the Americas where everyone was celebrating it regardless of whether they were catholic or Irish or neither.

    And the first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States, not in Ireland. It took place on March 17, 1762 in New York City.

   Today the parade is one of the largest parades in history and has over 150,000 participants.

   According to history.com every year three million people line up at the 1.5 mile long line to watch a parade in New York City that takes 5 hours in entirety.

   While today the biggest parade is held in New York City and Boston there are over a hundred parades in the U.S.    

    Each state has their way to celebrate. Chicago even takes the opportunity to dye the Chicago River green which once lasted for ten days.

   While St. Patrick Day used to be celebrated by the Irish it is now recognized by people all over the world. While the United States and Ireland remain the most central locations to celebrate. Other places like Japan, Singapore, and even Russia have been known to celebrate it.

   Due to increased interest in St. Patrick’s Day Ireland changed their rules so they could celebrate similar to how Americans were. And last year close to one million took part in Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day parade located in Dublin.

   Something that started off as one man’s mission has now turned into a holiday celebrated internationally.

Photo Credit: http://www.jan-leasure.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/stpats.jpg