17th March St Patrick's Day

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17th March is St Patrick’s Day and we went to the St Patrick’s Day parade at Vancouver Downtown! It’s rather crowded and it’s a smaller scale of Chingay! Haha.. Here are some history of Saint Patrick.

“The person who was to become St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. His given name was Maewyn, and he almost didn’t get the hob of bishop of Ireland because he lacked the required scholarship. Far from being a saint, until he was 16, he considered himself a pagan. At that age, he was sold to slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. During his captivity, he became closer to God. He escaped from slavery after 6 years and went to Gaul where he studied in the monastery under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for a period of 12th years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity.
His wishes were to return to Ireland, to convert the native pagans to Christianity. But his superiors instead appointed St. Palladius. But 2 years later, Paladius transferred to Scotland. Patrick, having adopted that Christian name earlier, was then appointed as second bishop to Ireland.

Patrick was quite successful at winning converts. And this fact upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled through Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity.

His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St Patrick’s Day ever since.

Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick’s Dat gas evolved into more of a secular holiday.

One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. “