St. Patrick’s Day is an annually celebrated holiday observed on March 17. 

You may think of the tradition as one wacky day of the year when you are forced to wear green in an attempt to escape the pinch of your peers. However, this holiday is rooted deeper than the traditional “pinch.”

St. Patrick was a patron saint of Ireland during the fifth century. At the age of 16, he was kidnapped from his hometown and forced to serve as a slave in Ireland. St. Patrick was fortunately able to escape enslavement later in life. In his older years, St. Patrick returned to Ireland and brought many people to Christianity. 

Historians believe St. Patrick passed away on March 17, 461 A.D. His life later began to be well-known and celebrated within Irish culture. 

St. Patrick’s Day is known as the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick. This day has been considered a religious holiday for the Irish for over a millennium. By tradition, the Irish typically attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon of March 17. The annual celebration usually includes dancing, drinking and feasting. 

Many people associate St. Patrick’s day with a green clover. This is due to the legend that he used the three leaves of an Irish clover, or shamrock, to explain the Holy Trinity. 

The “pinch” on St. Patrick’s day is one of the most well-known traditions of March 17. If you do not wear green, prepare to be randomly pinched. This tale began due to people believing that wearing green makes one invisible to leprechauns. Leprechauns are a fictional being in Irish folklore that are known to pinch anyone they could visually see. People pinching those who do not partake in wearing green are simply an imitation of the leprechauns that would sneak up and pinch them. 

St. Patrick is celebrated all around the world to this day. Many cities hold parades where they throw vegetables at parade goers. Others feast on cabbage, leprechaun cookies or ice cream shamrocks. Many iconic landmarks even glow green every year on March 17. 

Make sure that you eat some cabbage and put on your green; Happy St. Patrick’s Day!