Every year on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day—also known as the Irish nation’s patron saint—is observed. 17 March 2023 falls on a Friday. Ireland’s national holiday, Saint Patrick’s Day, marks the beginning of the tourist season with a number of festivals and festivities. St. Patrick’s Day celebrations were truly sombre and holy up until roughly 40 years ago. Even bars stayed closed. The modern St. Patrick’s Day originated in American festivity.
Saint Patrick, who was captured by Irish invaders at the age of 16, wasn’t even Irish; he was born in Britain at the end of the fourth century. He was held captive in Ireland for six years, where he eventually converted to Christianity. He was convinced that God’s voice instructed him to leave Ireland in a dream, and he managed to flee. Later, in another dream, he said an angel had instructed him to go back to Ireland as a missionary; following a 15-year period of study, he was ordained as a priest. Saint Patrick is still considered to be a saint today despite never having been declared so by the Catholic Church. The day we commemorate Saint Patrick and the Irish today, March 17, 460, is also the date of his death. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the United States took place in 1600 in the Spanish colony that is now St. Augustine, Florida. Irish Aid groups and yearly parades with bagpipes and drums were the results of decades of developing Irish nationalism before they merged to create one official New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1848.
Up until the 1970s, Irish law required that bars remain closed on St. Patrick’s Day, but in 1995, the Irish government started pushing for larger March 17 celebrations to boost tourism. Particularly in regions with sizable populations of Irish immigrants, Patrick’s legacy persisted in the United States. One of the most well-known cathedrals in the nation, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, was built to proclaim the triumph of religious tolerance and freedom.