St. Patrick’s Day Interview and Facts

I asked my 8-year-old son about St. Patrick’s Day and this is what he said (with the actual facts).

1. Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

8yo: It’s for kids cause March needs a holiday and the kids try to trap Leprechauns.

Fact: After nearly thirty years of evangelism, Saint Patrick died on 17 March 461. In Ireland it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation and outside of Ireland, it is a celebration of Ireland.

2. Who is Saint Patrick?

8yo: The one who invented St. Patrick’s Day.

Fact: at the age of 16, he was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

3. What is the color of St. Patrick’s Day?

8yo: Green.

Fact: Green but originally the color associated with Saint Patrick was blue.

4. What is the purpose of the shamrock?

8yo: Well, March is in spring and they happen to grow in the spring.

Fact: Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

5. What is a Leprechaun? and what do they do?

8yo: A Leprechaun is a tiny version of a human with magic powers and they are sneakier. They try to avoid traps and pinch people. Kids try to capture them and then they get all their gold.

Fact: A Leprechaun is a type of fairy in Irish folklore. The Leprechauns spend all their time busily making shoes, and store away all their coins in a hidden pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If ever captured by a human, the Leprechaun has the magical power to grant three wishes in exchange for their release

6. Why do we wear green on St. Patrick’s Day?

8yo: If we don’t wear green, the Leprechauns will pinch us.

Fact: The phrase “the wearing of the green”, meaning to wear a shamrock on one’s clothing, derives from a song of the same name. The song represents Irish rebels.

7. In what year did St. Patrick’s Day become a holiday?

8yo: 1777

Fact: In 1903, Saint Patrick’s Day became an official public holiday in Ireland.

8. Where was the first St. Patrick’s Day parade?

8yo: Germany

Fact: The first Saint Patrick’s Day parade held in the Irish Free State was held in Dublin in 1931 and was reviewed by the then Minister of Defense Desmond Fitzgerald. Although secular celebrations now exist, the holiday remains a religious observance in Ireland.

Now you (and I) can teach your kids the real facts of St. Patrick’s Day.

Fact source: Wikipedia