Lucky draw

Students celebrate St. Patrick’s Day,
a holiday filled with history, tradition

By KIRSTEN TATE
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

Shamrocks, pots of gold and leprechauns are all modern day signs that St. Patrick’s Day is here, but the roots behind the legends and traditions extend more than 1,000 years.
Today’s holiday celebrates the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick in A.D. 460, according to the Web site historychannel.com.
The Web site reports that St. Patrick was a Britain-born priest who had been held captive in Ireland for six years before returning to Britain for religious training. When he returned to Ireland, he converted much of Ireland to Christianity.
When he returned to Ireland, most people practiced pagan religions, so he incorporated Christian beliefs into their traditions.
The sun was an important symbol to the Irish, so he put the sun into the traditional Christian cross, making what is now known as the Celtic cross.
In Ireland, the holiday is observed by attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon, the Web site reported.
Because the holiday falls during Catholic Lent (the traditional season of penitence between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday), the prohibition of meat is waived, and people eat traditional Irish bacon and cabbage.
Historychannel.com reported the first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in the United States in 1762. The holiday grew in popularity as the number of Irish immigrants grew and wanted to remember their Irish heritage.
Candice Elkins, a junior political science major from Riverton, said she doesn’t think the holiday is celebrated enough. She said she thinks there aren’t enough Irish or Catholics in Cedar City to make the holiday popular.
Some of the symbols traditionally recognized as part of St.
Patrick’s Day didn’t originate in Ireland.
Not wearing green for the holiday is considered punishible by pinch, but it wasn’tuntil the 1900s that green became associated with the holiday, the Web site reported.
The tradition began with Irish immigrants who used their growing numbers to gain political clout.
The voting block was known as the “green machine,” and suddenly St. Patrick’s Day parades were used as political events, historychannel.com reported.
Amanda Nielson, a senior elementary education major from Las Vegas, said she likes wearing green because she gets to go around and pinch people and because it makes her feel lucky.
“I like it; you know what you’re wearing that day because you have to wear green,” said Amber Ekker, a sophomore

 

Rebecca Jaramillo of Cedar City colors a picture of a leprechaun for St. Patrick’s Day.
KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

communication major from Hanksville.Some people hide where they wear their green so people will pinch them, and then they can pinch back.
“I know some people who wear green on their underwear; no one will see it there,” said Sarah Lambert, a senior elementary education major from American Fork. “I usually wear green earrings.”
Historychannel.com reported that the idea of leprechauns being associated with St. Patrick’s Day is purely an American invention. The creatures originate in Celtic folklore as tiny men and women who use magical powers for both good and evil. They are known for their crankiness and trickery.
Then in the 1959 Disney film Darby O’Gill and the Little People leprechauns were protrayed as friendly and cheerful. They quickly evolved into a symbol of the holiday, according to the Web site.
Today, eating corned beef and cabbage is the traditional meal eaten on St. Patrick’s Day.
But numerous other green foods are eaten to incorporate green into meals.
“My favorite thing is having green pancakes and green milk,” said Chelsea Call, a sophomore family and consumer sciences major from Layton.
If a green-themed dinner is desired, a meal of green salad and split pea soup is a possibility, with sugar cookies decorated with green frosting for dessert. The beverage can be any lime drink, or simply colored with food coloring.