Why Do We Celebrate St. Patrick's Day? 10 Facts About History Of Irish Holiday

It's almost March 17 and that only means one thing... St. Patrick's Day! We hope you all will be wearing green because if you're not, you know you'll get pinched. As everyone goes out to celebrate drinking green beer, gather with friends at a pub, eat the yummy corned beef or reading up on the famous Irish personalities, we need to know why we celebrate this holiday. It's fun to gather knowledge as to why we do the things we do. It's a tradition, but we don't always know how or why it was started. Here are 17 fun and historical facts around the Irish holiday:

1. Who Was St. Patrick? He was the beloved patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Britain and around the age of 16 he was captured by Irish raiders and became a slave. Patrick escaped after six years in captivity and went received religious training. He was ordained as a priest and his mission was to convert the Irish pagans into Christians.

2. Celebration: St. Patrick's day had been celebrated by the Irish in Europe as far back as the ninth and tenth centuries. In the early 1600s the feast day, as it was known, was placed on the universal liturgical calendar. It was until 1903 when it became an official public holiday in Ireland.

3. Parade: As part of the tradition, a parade is done to celebrate St. Patrick's day. The very first one was held in Waterford in 1903.

4. St. Patrick's Day In The US: In the states, St. Patrick's Day is not a federal holiday, but its tradition of feast has caught on. The first observance was in 1737 when the Charitable Irish Society of Boston organized an event to honor its homeland.

5. Parade In The US: The first parade on record in the US was in New York 1766. Irish soldiers in the British Army celebrated to remember their roots. Soldiers were homesick and this was a way for them to listen to their music and eat their food.

6. Legal Holiday In The US: The only two places where St. Patrick's Day is a legal holiday in the US are Suffolk County, Massachusetts and Savannah, Georgia.

7. Shamrock: This traditional symbol is said to have been used by St. Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

8. Wearing Green: Ireland has been associated with the color when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation.

9. Promote Ireland: The Irish government took the opportunity in the mid 90s to use St. Patrick's Day to promote Ireland and its culture. The first festival was organized in 1996, taking away the relation to religion.

10. Christian Leaders: With the holiday becoming more mainstream, church leaders want to reclaim the holiday and take it back as now it's only an excuse to get drunk.