By Lonnie Mays
Staff Writer
Why do we wear green for St. Patrick’s Day? March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day, and tradition requires ev¬eryone to wear the color green to avoid getting pinched.
St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland. He was kidnapped from Scotland and taken to Ireland around the year 403 AD. He was sold into slavery to tend flocks of sheep until six years later when he escaped to the coast. St. Patrick joined the Catholic Church and returned to Ireland with his apostles and per¬formed many miracles over his long life.
Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. The rolling hills and vast val¬leys of Ireland are beauti¬fully green. One third of the Irish flag is green.
Shamrocks are a type of clover that were first named in Ireland. St. Patrick used the sham¬rock to teach the Holy Trinity to the people of Ireland. This has become an international symbol for people of the world to associate with Ireland. Of course shamrocks are green.
So why do we wear green for St. Patrick’s Day? Green is usually only worn in the United States. The tradition of pinching those who didn’t wear green started was by school children. An old Irish toast May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows your dead.
