St. Patrick’s Day evokes a variety of images and traditions. There are the leprechauns, those mischievous sprites dressed like shoemakers, who, if successfully captured, must reveal the secret locations of their hidden pots of gold. Also part of the folklore is the Blarney Stone, that part of the wall of a castle, built in 1446 in the village of Blarney, that bestows the gift of persuasive eloquence to anyone who can twist himself into position to kiss it. School children will pinch any of their classmates who have failed to wear green on that day, despite the fact that the Irish are not fond of green, since it is the color of the old flag that flew over an Ireland that was not free. The color green, corn beef and cabbage, and green beer are strictly American touches to the holiday.

Oddly enough, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in America. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762; the music and marching helped the soldiers connect with their Irish roots.

A rich tradition of oral legend and myth surrounds St. Patrick himself. Some of this lore includes the belief that Patrick gave a hilltop sermon that drove all the snakes from Ireland. Since snakes were never native to Ireland, this incident may have been more of a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans.

Patrick’s given name was Maewyn Succat, and he was born to wealthy parents in Wales about AD 385. Although his father was a Christian deacon, it appears that the role was assumed primarily for tax incentives, and there is no evidence that the family was particularly religious. Somewhere between the ages of 14 and 16, Maewyn was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders who had attacked his father’s estate and kidnapped him. He was transported to Ireland, and made to work as a shepherd. His isolation and loneliness led to much introspection, inspiring him to become a devout Christian. He escaped from slavery after six years, walking nearly 200 miles from County Mayo. where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast, then traveling on to Britain. He began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years, and he assumed the Christian name of Patrick. After his ordination he was sent, as the second bishop to Ireland, with a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland, and to convert the Irish.

Familiar with Irish language and nature-based culture, Patrick wisely chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity. He superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross (creating what is called a Celtic cross) so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. He used the three-leafed shamrock to explain how the Father, Son and Holy Ghost all could exist as separate elements of the same entity. He also used bonfires to celebrate Easter, as the Irish had long honored their gods with fire.

Patrick found much success winning converts, a fact that upset the Celtic Druids, who arrested Patrick on several occasions. Each time, he managed to escape, continuing his work throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries, schools, and churches. Christianity did not become the national faith of Ireland in the thirty years of Patrick’s ministry, but he is credited with converting thousands of people to his faith during his extensive travels, and his legacy survives. Today, 93% of the Republic of Ireland’s population is Catholic.

After his ministry in Ireland, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17, in about AD 460, and that day has been commemorated as St. Patrick’s Day ever since. It is Ireland’s greatest national holiday, as well as a happy day for Irish who have immigrated to other lands. In the United States it is an occasion for them to celebrate their Irish ancestry and the fact that they have overcome prejudice and stereotyping to become valuable citizens in this country.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated as a secular holiday by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada and Australia, and, on a smaller scale, in Japan, Singapore. and Russia. Ireland traditionally has viewed St. Patrick’s Day as a religious occasion, and until the 1970s mandated that pubs would be closed on March 17. In 1995, however, St. Patrick’s Day began to be used by the Irish government as an opportunity to showcase Ireland and to encourage tourism. Now Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day multi-day celebration typically is attended by a million people, and features parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and fireworks displays. St. Patrick’s Day has become as much an American holiday as an Irish one, having evolved into an event where the “wearing of the green” adorns the lapel of many a person whose forefathers never have been acquainted with the shores of Ireland. Why shouldn’t it?