Every year on March 17th, people of every nationality around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The modern view of the day has changed drastically from the original celebration in Ireland. If you were to visit New York City on St. Patricks Day, you would see green flooding the crowded streets, parade floats, pubs filled to maximum capacity, and intoxicated people tripping over their own feet.

  Some people use this holiday as an excuse to “party ’til they’re green”, which results in the true meaning of St. Patrick’s Day and its impact on Ireland often being overlooked.

  Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was kidnapped by Irish pirates when he was 16 years old. He was imprisoned in Ireland for 17 years before he escaped back to Britain. After he escaped, he became an Irish missionary.

  When asked ¨What is a general symbol for St. Patrick’s Day?”, many people reply with ¨Shamrock¨ or ¨four leaf clover¨. It is said that St. Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Christian Holy Trinity- The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Although this might be a myth, people in America see the four leaf clover as a lucky charm.

  Margaret Boland lived in Ireland in the 1930s. On March 17th, she and her seven brothers and sisters would go out to the fields to look for shamrocks.

  ¨Four-leaf clovers were everywhere, but the three leaves were so hard to find. If you were lucky enough to find one, you really tried not to lose it.¨

  The biggest rumor surrounding St. Patrick’s Day was that Patrick ran the snakes out of Ireland. Although snakes do not exist there today, researches came to the conclusion that they never did.