St. Patrick’s Day: St. Patrick, Green Attire, and the Leprechaun Connection
Each year on St. Patrick’s Day my parents would tell me to wear green, and ‘the leprechauns’ would dye our milk green, but that was about as involved as we ever got. Since St. Patrick’s Day is here again, I wanted to take a deeper look into this strange holiday. Why do we wear green? I know it’s supposed to be good luck, but where does that idea come from?
A few months ago, I led a hike for a group of people, one of which was an Irish man. If you’ve seen some of my other articles, you’ll know that I love learning about all things Irish. Naturally, I picked his brain.
We talked for a few hours about folklore, meat and potatoes (yes, they do in fact eat them for every meal, though he said hash browns were an abomination), and various other Irish topics. Through it all, we managed to touch on St. Patrick’s day only once. Still, the little he said jumped to the front of my mind as we approached the holiday this year.
That one bit of information was this: Patrick probably came from the word “Pater” which meant father. Meaning there’s a good chance that the real “St. Patrick” wasn’t named Patrick. People just called him “father” like they would any other priest. I don’t know how much truth there is to that bit of info, but that’s why I’m writing this blog. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
Who Was St. Patrick?
From what I can find, it looks like my Irish hiking friend was right. There is evidence that St. Patrick actually changed his name to “Patricius (or Patrick), which derives from the Latin term for “father figure,” after he became a priest.” (Time) In any case, it’s also important to point out that St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish.
Turns out St. Patrick was British, and he first found his way to Ireland as a 16 year old slave. Eventually, however, he escaped and returned later as a missionary. It should come as no surprise that his efforts made a lasting impact, as we now call him a saint, even though he’s never officially been recognized as such by the Catholic church.
There’s plenty of history surrounded the accomplishments of St. Patrick in Ireland, but the largest one is that he’s credited with being the person who brought Christianity to Ireland.
Why Do We Wear Green?
It might surprise you to know that the original color of St. Patrick’s day was blue. There’s a lot of speculation as to why the color changed, but I couldn’t find any hard facts. Chief among them are the fact that its the color of the Irish flag, it represents the green hills of Ireland, or it represents the color of the shamrock, which St. Patrick famously used it when teaching about the holy trinity.
Before you ask. No. It isn’t the color of leprechauns. Read any old folklore about leprechauns, and you’ll quickly learn that they typically wear red. That said, it’s undeniable that leprechauns have become a large part of the holiday. It’s hardly surprising though. Irish folklore runs rich and deep, and stories of fairies and leprechauns are still widely believed today.
If you didn’t already know, leprechauns are a part of the Irish fairy world. Like all Irish fairies, they can come in various shapes, sizes, attitudes, and any other aspect you can think of. Simply put, most stories say that leprechauns are shoemakers to the fairy kind, they wear read, and they are quite crafty. As fairy folk, also called good folk or little people, a lot of superstition surrounds them. For example, you should never offend the good folk, and those who find their favor often find great reward.
That’s one of the most fascinating reasons for the green. I’ve read that green might be the favorite color of leprechauns. Wearing it keeps you in their favor, keeping them from causing mischief and messing with you. I don’t know how much merit that has, but I like the idea of it. It certainly fits with the whole “don’t wear green, you get pinched” thing.
How Do We Know All This?
Any time I do research on a subject, I like to know where all the information comes from. It isn’t hard to find info on St. Patrick, but most of the mainstream articles fail to share their sources.
So I did some digging.
St. Patrick actually told us a lot of what we know himself. Written texts like “St. Patrick’s Confessio” are words written by the man himself. Beyond that, like many historical things, it’s a matter of using historical text and documents to build a puzzle and find the facts.
As for my own sources, you can find a list of the articles I read below: (There are plenty more interesting facts, so I highly recommend reading them!)
- Time: How Green Became Associated With St. Patrick’s Day and All Things Irish
- History.com: History of St. Patrick’s Day (Great info on how St. Patrick’s Day became worldwide! Turns out the first St. Patrick’s Day celebration was in America!)
- Biography.com: Saint Patrick
- Time: The True History Behind St. Patrick’s Day
- Britanica: Saint Patrick’s Day
