St. Patrick's day

Saint Patrick's Day (also St. Patrick's Day and Paddy's Day) is the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and a day of cultural and religious celebration for Irish people. 

It is celebrated on March 17 all over Ireland and everywhere in the world where Irish people or their descendants live. The feasting and celebrations include traditional Irish music, drinking beer, and eating bacon and cabbage. Green is the color that is associated with Saint Patrick's Day as it is the national color of Ireland. 

People often wear green on that day or have some type of shamrock on their clothing. A tradition of the day is to pinch those who are not wearing green. The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Waterford in 1903. New York City has a large parade on Saint Patrick's Day.

Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from his book Declaration, which is mostly biographical. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. 

His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to the Declaration, he was kidnapped at the age of sixteen by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. He spent six years there working as a shepherd and during this time he found God. 

The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest.

According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland and helped convert thousands to Christianity. 

Patrick's efforts against the druids were eventually turned into a legend in which he drove "snakes" out of Ireland. Since Ireland never had any snakes, one theory about this story is that God used Saint Patrick to drive the pagan religions out of Ireland.

Tradition holds that he died on March 17, 461, and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries, many legends grew about Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.