Student's Times 2014-2018 2015/17/03 Šesté číslo | Page 8

St. Patrick‘s Day
Who was St. Patrick?
Well, you probably wonder who was this Patrick and why so many people all around the
world celebrate this holiday.
Many people connect this man and holiday just with Ireland, but St. Patrick came from England
originally. At first, Patrick didn’t have any relationship with God or religion, although his
grandfather was a priest.
It is said that once Irish pirates came to the English coast, where his family lived - they rubbed their farm and kidnapped
Patrick. After that they sold him into slavery to Ireland. He was just 16 and he was forced to look after sheep, but the
worst of all was the famine which he suffered fortunately. In those hard times he found his faith, started to pray a lot
and completely changed. He learned Irish and also their habits. After 6 years of slavery he managed to escape back to
England. He found his parents, became a priest and later also a pontiff. When the pope gave
him a permission to preach gospel in Ireland, he started his mission there.

St.Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick´s Day is celebrated on 17th March.
It was national holiday only in Ireland, Isle of Montserrat, Newfoundland and Labrador
(both in Canada) originally.
Nowadays it is celebrated almost all around the world, mostly in the Great Britain, the USA
and Australia, where many Irish people live.
The main colour is GREEN, people wear green clothes, eat green food, bake special St. Patrick´s cakes and sometimes
even paint green shamrock on their faces. Really, green is everywhere, even beer and some rivers get this colour on 17th
March.
The holiday is not about praying actually, it’s about celebrating, having fun, dancing, singing and drinking dark beer –
most of all Irish people love celebrating in the streets with their friends and
others.

If you wonder why one of the symbols is shamrock, than you would (or
wouldn’t) be surprised. St.
Patrick used shamrock to explain pagans the Holy Trinity.
And why green? That’s easy! Shamrocks are green, so it became the symbol of St. Patrick, Ireland and also symbol of St.
Patrick’s Day.
Do you want to know what is it to celebrate this holiday? Then don’t wait and find some Irish pub anywhere and be sure
that on 17th of March there will be lot of fun, beer, people and green colour!
If you´re
which you can

interested in the traditional Irish music - which is really amazing - there are some tips
listen to, or you can visit a website of St. Patrick´s Day and listen the music there
(http://www.st-patricks-day.com/irish-songs-lyrics-and-audio/).