St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of Christianity being brought to Ireland in the 5th century, and a celebration of the Irish culture and heritage. It is also a day where Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by wearing green and decorating with shamrock shaped decorations. The reason the shamrock is a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day is because St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity to the Irish.
Corned beef and Reubens are also a traditional food for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. Corned beef is not something typically eaten by the Irish, as the cow was a sacred animal used to plow fields. Corned beef wasn’t associated with the Irish until Britain, a beef eating country, took over Ireland. Cattle was raised in Ireland and sold to the British as a cash crop. The Cattle Acts of 1663 and 1667, which prohibited the export of live cattle to England, drastically lowered the cost of beef in Ireland, and therefore the Irish created a lot of salted beef to make use of the beef surplus. Salted beef is known as corned beef because of the size of the salt used to preserve it. This is what made Ireland famous for their corned beef.
Be a fun-loving outgoing American and celebrate St. Patrick’s day with your friends, drink green beer, eat corned beef, and wear a sassy green shirt and some shamrock decorations to show your support of the Irish community. Have fun!
