St. Patrick's Day is named after the patron saint of Ireland.St. Patrick was born Magonus Sucatus in Roman
Britain approximately 390. At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped by pagan Irish Raiders. While in bondage his
spirituality grew. Six years later he escaped and fled to safety. He would later return, as a Bishop, to Christianize
the pagans of Ireland in the year 432. Most historians believe Patrick died and was buried around 461 at Saul
on Strangford Lough, where he had built his first church.
There are many Irish legends involving St. Patrick. For example, he supposedly drove all the snakes out of
Ireland. While there are no snakes at all in Ireland most see this reason as just a myth.
Another tale reveals the reason why St. Patrick's Day is on the seventeenth of March. They say that the
months of February and March are the worst. "February kills the sheep," some say, "March the people." It may
be said to women whose health is failing that, "She'll never go up the March hill." Well, halfway to the top of
that hill is St. Patrick's Day. After this day, is the supposed end of the bad weather and the beginning of
farming.
St. Patrick is also associated with the shamrock. He supposedly used its three-part leaf to help his uneducated
followers understand the concept of the Holy Trinity. St. Patrick's Day was the one day during lent when
everyone was free to eat and drink all they wanted, and drowning the shamrock (to go drinking in honor of the
shamrock on St. Patrick's Day) is now a well established tradition that dates back at least a hundred years.
