Have Fun on St. Patrick’s Day

On March 17^th everyone’s Irish. Who can resist a day devoted to leprechauns, legends, and green galore?

One traditional symbol of the day is the shamrock.

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The Irish have considered four-leaf clover as good-luck symbols since earliest times. According to the legends, one leaf is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love and the fourth one God added for luck!

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Another symbol of St. Patrick's Day is a leprechaun. He is a very busy type of fairy! According to Irish folklore leprechaun looks like a short old man with red beard wearing either red or green coat and a hat. He enjoys creating mischief! The Leprechaun spends all his time busily making shoes, and stores away all his coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The legends says, if you will ever captured him he will grant you three wishes in exchange for his freedom and if you follow the rainbow to it's end you will find his pot of gold.

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Believe it or not, the color of St. Patrick was not actually green, but blue! In the 19th century, however, green became used as a symbol for Ireland. Wearing the color green is considered an act of paying tribute to Ireland.

It is said that it also brings good luck, especially when worn on St. Patrick's Day.

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May the luck of the Irish be yours today!

Story & photocollages by Albina (Aroundbeads)

St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated all over the world on March 17th. It is a religious holiday that evolved into a secular celebration of Ireland's culture. The holiday is named after Saint Patrick who is the most widely known patron saint of Ireland.

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The person who has later canonized as St Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century. At the age of 16 he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. He remained captive for about 6 years until he had a dream in which he was told by God to flee and return to Britain. The dream came true and he returned to Britain and studied to be a priest.

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In 432 St Patrick returned to Ireland as a bishop and proceeded to convert Irish to Christianity. He used the shamrock, a three- leaf clover, to explain the concept of Trinity to the Irish.

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Saint Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland in 1903. And in the mid-1990s the Irish government began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture. Wearing green and displaying images of shamrock have become a tradition for Saint Patrick's Day all over the world.

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Story by Alla (FleetingStillness)