St Patrick’s DAY

March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day but what does this holiday really mean and how did it come to be? St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated for over 1,000 years in honor of Saint Patrick the patron saint of Ireland. History shows he was a Roman Britain slave who was kidnapped and sent to Ireland at age 16, and after escaping slavery he returned to Ireland and brought Christianity to its people. Ireland has celebrated his life ever since his death on what is believed to be March 17, 461 with the cultural story Legend of St. Patrick. The first known celebration of St. Patrick’s Day using a parade was recorded in what is now St. Augustine, Florida on March 17, 1601. On March 17, 1772, Irish soldiers marched in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City, then in Boston and other cities. By 1848, the New York City parade was the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the nation and led to many other cities adopting their own parade. After the Great Potato Famine brought many Irish immigrants to the U.S. the Irish went from being portrayed as drunks or violent monkeys to a political power, which could swing political hopefuls into office. In 1948, President Harry Truman attended the New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade to show how strong the Irish vote had become. From that moment on many cities across the country have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in their own way other than parades, like the city of Chicago dyeing the Chicago River green to celebrate the day.