The first thing you think about when you hear St. Patrick’s day is beer, leprechauns, and the colour green, but St. Patrick’s day was originally formed after the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, died. From then, Roman Catholics have been holding feasts on the anniversary of his death.
A lot of people that go to BHS have either direct or indirect Irish descent, yet many of us only celebrate St. Patrick’s day to an extent.
Freshman Isabelle Jamison says, “Sometimes we go to Chicago to see the [Chicago] river turn green.”
Others have gone all out in the past. Teacher Tracy Johnson said that today her and her husband will go through their photo album with photos from when they took a trip to Ireland. They hope to visit again in the future and already have a map marked with places they plan on visiting. “On St. Patrick’s day my dad would be dressed all in green, come wake me up in the morning and say, ‘Top of the morning to you, lassie,’ … [We would skip our school’s lunch and] go to my grandma’s house and she would [make us] cabbage stew, then we would come back for the rest of the [school] day. Then at night my family would do all sorts of crazy things. We would write little notes from leprechauns to each other, my dad would also leave riddles around the house from leprechauns to go help us find the ‘pot of gold’. We would always end [the day] talking about our Irish history and how it’s important to us.”
Traditions are important and are a part of what brings all of us together. How will you be spending St. Patrick’s day?
