St. Patrick's Day in Austin
St. Patrick's Day Party Music

St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday for the people of Ireland. Although it is celebrated in several other countries, including the United States, these countries do not recognize St. Patrick's Day as an official holiday. St. Patrick's Day is also celebrated by people of both Christian and non-Christian denominations. In Ireland, the celebrations of Saint Patrick's Day are much more subdued than they are in North America. Generally there are religious services and reverent moments that are taken to reflect on the life of Saint Patrick and his contributions to the church. Traditional Celtic and Irish crosses are worn to show ones devotion to their Irish upbringing and heritage and also their devotion to their religious beliefs.

St. Patrick himself was a Christian missionary and became the patron saint of Ireland in the eighth century. St. Patrick was captured by English raiders when he was only sixteen and when he escaped and returned to his family he entered the church. There is not a lot of evidence to give exact details into the life of St. Patrick including the exact date of his birth and time in the church. However, the evidence that does exist supports that St. Patrick was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century, implying that he lived from roughly 373 to 493 A.D. and that his ministry in Ireland started in roughly 433 A.D.

While the Irish celebrate St. Patrick's Day with historical reminiscence and religious importance, in the United States St. Patrick's Day is generally celebrated by wearing the color green, eating Irish foods, drinking traditional Irish drinks and attending local festivities such as fairs and parades. Traditionally, those who are caught not wearing green are pinched. And the "traditional Irish drink" usually provides opportunity for Americans to be free flowing with their libations.

St. Patrick's Day parades are common in the United States. The first public and civically recognized celebration of Saint Patrick's Day took place in the city of Boston, Massachusetts in the year 1737. Since that time parades have been common and even during war time, Irish Americans were relieved of their duties by General Washington in 1780 in order to take part in the celebrations. Some cities paint the traffic stripe of their parade routes green in honor of the celebrations. The city of Chicago, Illinois even dyes its river green. Savannah, Georgia dyes its downtown city fountains green. Indianapolis, Mississippi dyes its Central Canal green. And there are many more cities that roll out the green welcome mat, so to speak, in order to make the streets as green and festive as possible. Some recent trends in the methods by which St. Patrick's Day is celebrated include the making and selling of green bagels and popcorn on and near the 17th of March.

Irish Americans typically take the opportunity to proclaim their pride to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day and take place in traditional celebratory events with family and friends that share the same heritage. Whether you are celebrating St. Patrick's Day as a celebration of your heritage, religion or love of partying, March 17 th is a fun time to dress up and have a good time.