St. Patrick’s Day: why it is celebrated on March 17 and how the party was born

Everything is fine March 17thmillions of people around the world gather to celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day. It is one of the most popular holidays in the world, with massive celebrations filled with dancing, music and beer.

However, the origin of this date, which dates back to XVIII centuryis not as well known as the parades and little is known about who St. Patrick was, one of the most influential Christian leaders of Ireland.

Where does St. Patrick’s Day come from?

St. Patrick was born in kilpatrika place near Dumbarton, in Scotlandin the year 387. Son of Roman marriage, he was kidnapped in his adolescence and transferred to Ireland, where he was forced to work as a slave. During her time in slavery, he discovered her faith in christ and he began to preach it when he fled by ship to an island six years later.

Everything he experienced during his imprisonment and how he began his religious journey has been left in writing in an autobiographical book entitled “confession“. Years later, this work was translated from Latin under the name “The Confessions of St. Patrick”.

Despite freeing himself from his captors, St. Patrick decided to come back in Ireland to evangelize the population, which at that time was linked to the beliefs of the druidismthe religion of the ancients Celtic and Breton peoples. Although he was persecuted and imprisoned by his opponents, it is believed that it was his work that caused the conversion of this nation to Catholicism.

He March 17, 493 commemorates the death of St. Patrick, who even became Bishop of Ireland and recognized for various miracles, such as the liberation of an entire island from a plague of snakes.

How the clover and its festivities are born

One of the typical symbols of the party is the clover. It is believed that the origin of this custom lies in the fact that St. Patrick used the three leaf clover explain in a simple way to pagans the concept of Holy Trinity of the Christian dogma, according to which three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, represented by the leaves of the clover), coexist in the same God (represented by the stem).

On March 17, 1601 The first parade in commemoration of St. Patrick was held in the city of St. AugustineFlorida, USA, which at the time was a Spanish colony led by the Irish vicar Ricardo Artur.

Since then this festival began to spread in many countries, in a day of dances, beer -the typical Irish drink- and music. The countries that most celebrate this date are the United States, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Argentina.