March the 17^th Irish people all over the world will gather to celebrate Ireland and everything Irish. It is the one and only day of the year where you can model your most embarrassing woolly green jumper without getting a firm telling off from Gok Wan and drink enough beer to put Homer Simpson to shame!!! Putting aside the Guinness and the Leprechaun costumes what are the origins of Saint Patrick’s Day and how has it developed?

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the 4^th century. At the age of sixteen he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. . According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest. In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity  to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's Day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century. The first Saint Patrick's Day parade held in Ireland was in Dublin in 1931. The biggest celebrations outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, County Down, where Saint Patrick is rumoured to be buried. The shortest St Patrick's Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, co Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards and travels between the village's two pubs.

This Thursday millions will turn Irish or at least Irish for the day, as revellers mark St. Patrick's Day with bagpipes, dancing, emerald lights and green body paint in a flurry of celebration. If we still have a few Euros left after the parades and the silly costumes and the over consumption of the black stuff  we can look forward to horse racing at Cheltenham which usually coincides with Saint Patrick’s Day.

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing

Susan Brown