St Patricks Day Clipart

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A little history on the origin of Saint Patrick's Day: March 17

Saint Patrick, also known as Maewyn Succat, was born in Scotland around 373 A.D. After he was sold into slavery at 16, he began to have religious visions. He was ordained as a deacon, then priest, then bishop before Pope Celestine sent him to Ireland to spread the gospel -- it is thought that his "driving out of the snakes" is a reference to his appropriating of the pagan culture, as serpents were pagan symbols.

While not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, it was Patrick who encountered the Druids at Tara, converted the warrior chiefs, and baptized them in the Holy Wells which still bear his name. Shamrocks are significant to Saint Patrick's Day because Patrick used its three leaves to teach about the holy trinity; four-leaf clovers, being harder to find than the three-leaf variety, were seen as "special" and became symbols of good luck.

First observed in America in 1737, "St. Paddy's Day" has lost most of its religious significance. Today, many spend the holiday celebrating Irish culture.