By Gracelyn Skilling ‘26
St. Patrick’s Day: the closest thing to a nationally celebrated holiday landing in March and perhaps the only opportunity to wear that bright green shirt under your bed. At least, that’s how March 17 is viewed by the majority of Americans. It’s safe to say that the average uncultured American citizen, such as myself, isn’t fully aware of the roots of this somewhat of an oddball holiday. If you, too, find yourself wondering who Saint Patrick is and why we put pot-of-gold window clings everywhere on March 17 every year, here are five myths about this holiday debunked to help you get your facts straight before you go off to bake your irish soda bread.
#1: Saint Patrick was Irish
While he is indeed a patron saint and national apostle of Ireland, Patrick was born in Britain. According to the traditional narrative, he was enslaved by Irish raiders at age sixteen and remained a captive in Ireland for six years, until he escaped and fled to England. He later returned to Ireland to serve as a missionary and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland.
#2: Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland
Actually, he didn’t bring Christianity to Ireland. Or at least, he wasn’t the first Christian to preach to the Irish; for one, there was an abundance of Christian slaves already inhabiting the nation, likely eliciting a slow spread of the faith. Additionally, a bishop known as Palladius had been sent to the island earlier, reportedly “to the Irish believing in Christ” as told by Pope Celestine, suggesting that there were already Irish that had converted before St. Patrick entered the scene.
#3: St. Patrick’s Day traditions come from Ireland
A reasonable assumption; however, it may come as a surprise that nearly all St. Patrick’s Day traditions–beer, celebrations, parades, green food, even correlation with the color green itself–are all American-born, evolved from the Irish immigrants that used the holiday to celebrate their identity. Much later, the celebratory atmosphere and festive traditions we associate with the holiday spread back to Ireland from America. In years prior in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated as a solemn holy day, starkly contrasting the secular all-things-green festivities that sweep America every March 17.
#4: St. Patrick’s Day and all things green
Nowadays, St. Patrick’s day and green are as mutually intertwined as white on rice. However, blue was traditionally the color emblematic of St. Patrick; knights of the Order of St. Patrick even wore a color dubbed St. Patrick’s Blue. Association with the color green likely originated in the 18th century with the use of green by advocates of Irish independence to support their cause.
