Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated around the world

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated around the world today.

This holiday is celebrated all over the world, and the first celebration is connected to the city of Boston in 1737

The most famous celebration of the holiday is in New York, where about a million visitors and 150.000 direct participants attend today, while numerous pubs across the US serve green beer today.

On this day, everyone dresses in green, eats Irish food, drinks Irish beers, liqueurs and whiskey and goes to numerous parties or parades. The color green, as a symbol of Ireland, is reminiscent of the popular shamrock, although it is little known that the color blue was associated with the very beginnings of this festival.

It is assumed that Saint Patrick was born at the end of the fourth century and died in the second half of the fifth century. He is revered as the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland.

There are several legends related to his life, the most interesting of which is the one about snakes, which says that he banished them all. It is a fact that today there are no snakes in Ireland, but it is believed that this legend was used as a metaphor for the disappearance of pagan beliefs.

The main Irish symbols, and thus the entire festival, are Irish music, with the characteristic sounds of bagpipes and flutes, Celtic crosses, shamrocks, traditional drinks, etc.

There is a very interesting story about the origin of the Celtic cross. Namely, in order for St. Patrick brought Christianity as close as possible to the pagans, and knowing that they respect the Sun, he placed it within the cross, thus combining the two traditions, and in this way the recognizable form was created today.

Clover was a sacred plant among the ancient Celts. It symbolized rebirth and spring, and later Saint Patrick explained the symbolism of the Holy Trinity to the people with it and its leaves.

On St. Patrick's Day, men wear shamrocks on their collars, women wear green ribbons in their hair, and children wear green, white, or orange socks.

The youngest also look for hidden money around the house, believing that they will find a wizard.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Day of St. Patrick's Day was celebrated as a religious holiday, while it became a national holiday in 1903, and it was declared by the parliamentary representative James O'Mara. The first public celebration in Ireland was held in Dublin in 1931, while from the mid-1990s a major campaign and promotion of the festival itself and Irish culture began.

In addition to Ireland, St. Patrick is the patron saint of Nigeria and engineers, but also of all those who are afraid of snakes.