St. Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. When Rome withdrew its allegiance from Britain because of the fall of the west, the Irish began to raid Britain and use them as slaves, and one of them was Patrick. Kidnapped from Britain, a roman colony, and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. After ten years he later escaped, and become a priest. He later was called back to Ireland from a dream and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people.
In the centuries following Patrick’s death (believed to have been on March 17, 461), the mythology surrounding his life became ever more ingrained in the Irish culture: Since around the ninth or tenth century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Patrick on March 17. Interestingly, however, the first parade held to honor St. Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On March 17, 1762, before the Declaration of independence was signed. Still today, St. Patrick’s parade is the world’s largest and oldest civilian parade in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5-mile parade marched through New York City featuring drums and bagpipes as their music would reconnect them to their Irish roots.
The traditional color associated with St. Patrick’s was blue not Green. Ireland was also called “The Emerald Isle” due to the frequent rainfall resulting in its green landscape and the three-leave shamrock, which St. Patrick used to explain Holy trinity that became a symbol of Irish/Catholic Nationalism. The tradition of wearing green derives from picking a shamrock and putting it in your lapel; therefore the color green become associated politically, translating green into garments for their uniforms; however the national symbol is the Celtic harp, not the shamrock.
In the 19th century, many Irish American immigrants who lived in the city were the poorest people, and they could not afford to eat meat every night; therefore they bought the cheapest cut of meat called (brisket), brining it to preserve it, and cooked it with cabbage. So Corn beef and cabbage was an Irish American dish, not an Irish dish.
Ireland is 3000 miles from New York and is 32,599 sq. miles. Slightly larger than the state of West Virginia, and the population was over 8 million; today it’s about half that. In the mid 1840’s the great potato famine caused a food crisis and many people starved across the affected areas, causing 1 million dead, as another million escape and made their way to New York.
Ireland’s capital is Dublin, population 1.1milion, the home to the Guinness factory spanning over 60 acres, and is the largest brewery in the world. The Irish flag green, white and orange symbolizes the union of the north and south Ireland in peace.
Although St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, he was not born in Ireland.
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