St. Patrick's Day

Who was St. Patrick?

 St. Patrick was a Christian saint who was a priest in Ireland who converted the Irish to Christianity. St. Patrick was born in Great Britain in the year 387 A.D. to wealthy parents.  When St. Patrick was 16 years old he was captured by Irish raiders and taken captive. The Irish raiders took him to Ireland and made him a slave to work in the fields for 6 years. During St. Patrick's 6 years of captivity he turned to his religion for help and became closer to god through prayer. 6 years after St. Patrick was captured he had a dream that told him to leave Ireland according to his writings. After 6 years of captivity he escaped and it is believed that he walked almost 200 miles to the Irish coast and went back to Great Britain.

    When St. Patrick got back to Great Britain he was greeted by all of his friends but instead of spending time with them he went to an monastery to become a priest. St. Patrick had another dream telling him to return to Ireland as an missionary. After 15 years of religious training he was finally ready to go back Ireland. St. Patrick went to Ireland to convert the Irish to Christianity and to help the Christians already in Ireland to become closer to god. When St. Patrick got to Ireland he realized that the Irish wouldn't convert right away, so he decided to include ancient Irish cultures in Christianity.  St. Patrick lived the rest of his life in Ireland and working as an missionary. St. Patrick died on March 17, 460 A.D.

History of St. Patrick's Day:

    St. Patrick's day is celebrated on March 17, on the day of St. Patrick's death. In Ireland this day has been celebrated for thousands of years. On St. Patrick's day in Ireland families go to church in the morning and have a big feast and dance and party all day. The first St. Patrick's day parade first took place in the United States in 1762. Irish soldiers serving in the U.S. army marched in the streets of New York City. In years after the first parade more parade took place including bagpipes and drums. In 1845 the potato famine hit Ireland and a lot of poor Irish immigrants started coming into the U.S. in the early 1900s. St. Patrick's day is celebrated all around the world today even in Japan, Singapore and Russia.

Here are some great ways you can celebrate St. Patrick's Day:

	Go see the Chicago river while it's still dyed green
	Wear GREEN!!
	Go to/be in a St. Patrick's day parade
	Make St. Patrick's day crafts
	Eat Irish food
	Watch fireworks!

Links:

Here are some other great St. Patrick's Day craft and recipe ideas...

http://holidays.kaboose.com/saint-patricks-day/

http://www.alphabet-soup.net/hol/stprecipe.html

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/craft-index.htm

MSS Home  ||  Holidays Home Page

This website explains when St. Patrick's Day started and how it had begun and why. It has many more interesting facts on it. It also has several poems you can read. They also play music once you log on to their main page The Happy St. Patrick's Day.
You may also return to the South Campus Home Page or the Holiday Menu Page

Section Author: P.J. J. Todd M.

Page Sponsor: Mr. David Gardner-Principal
Page Author: Cait M.
Webmaster: Mr. A. Willer
Created: January 2009
Graphics and background from: www.hellasmultimedia.com/webimages/