St. Patrick's Day

While a lot of people celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it seems that very few know why the holiday is celebrated.

For many, St. Patty's is a day for celebrating Irish heritage, wearing green, and drinking Guinness. It's day where "everyone is Irish" and an excuse to get fall-down drunk without consequences. But the real reason behind the holiday is much more subdued.
Celebrated every March 17, St. Patrick's Day began as a Catholic holiday but evolved into a more secular celebration of all things Irish.

St. Patrick was the most commonly recognized patron saint of Ireland. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped back to Britain and became a priest, returning to Ireland to convert it's people to Christianity. According to folklore, he used the shamrock to teach about the holy trinity.

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all ethnicities and religions all over the United States. Boston has the longest-running parade, dating back to 1737, while Chicago uses vegetable-dye to color it's river green, and Seattle paints the traffic stripe green along the parade route. Several professional baseball and basketball teams, notably the Boston Red Sox and New York Knicks, have special green jerseys they wear in games around the holiday.