St. Patrick’s Day: spiritual meaning

What is the spiritual meaning of St. Patrick’s Day?

Introduction

St. Patricks Day is a well-known holiday that observes the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

It holds spiritual meaning to many Christians seeing how St. Patrick brought Christianity to different parts of Ireland.

The Irish immigrants later brought St. Patrick’s Day tradition to the United States, and the holiday is now celebrated across the world as a day of getting lucky and the color green.

Origins

This holiday began on March 17, 461, when a church began honoring St. Patrick’s death by holding a feast in his honor.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late 4th century; he was later kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave when he was 16.

He eventually ended up escaping, only to return to convert the Irish to Christianity.

He was said to have used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish Pagans.

St. Patrick found a correlation between the three leaves on the shamrock with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Many Christians practiced the Lent ritual during this time, where they would fast for 40 days. However, these practices were lifted on St. Patrick’s Day to commence the celebration.

Irish people believed on this day, if they were to imbibe a beverage with a shamrock leaf at the bottom and swallow it at the end of consumption, doing this act would bring them good luck. This practice was known as “drowning the shamrock” and was said to be a prevalent custom.

The early celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day were relatively low-key; it wasn’t until the Irish immigrated to America that we began to see the holiday as it is now.

Initially patron St. Patrick chose the color blue to represent this holiday.

It was later changed to green after the 1798 Irish Rebellion against British rule. The rebels chose the color green to represent the struggle for Irish independence.

The color green is now associated with this holiday as we see people wearing, eating, and drinking anything that is green.

Themes throughout the holiday

There are many themes and traditions associated with this holiday.

The first one is that many people believed if you didn’t wear the color green, you would get pinched by a Leprechaun. This tradition ties in with folklore which says that wearing green would make you invisible to Leprechauns, who are likelier to pinch people they can see.

Some people believed if you were to catch a Leprechaun, you could make him tell you where he hid his pot of gold which in most cases was hidden at the end of a rainbow.

Many people also believed wearing the color green or something with a Shamrock on it would bring them good luck.

They would drink green beer, ale, or stout and color their food green to bring them as much luck as possible.

During the beginning of the celebrations of this holiday, people used to celebrate the Day by having a feast and going to church.

Now the holiday is more focused on drinking, wearing green, and Ireland pride.

It was considered extremely lucky if you were to find a four-leafed clover seeing how the Celtics viewed this leaf as a charm that offered magical protection and was said to ward off bad luck.

The spiritual meaning behind St. Patrick’s Day

Gold

So the legend says if you catch the Leprechaun, you can force him to show you where he has hidden his pot of gold.

The spiritual meaning of this folklore basically implores us to stop chasing the Leprechaun to find his pot of gold and to build our fortune with “gold.”

This could mean bringing more light, gratitude, and happiness into your life. Find your pot of gold within, and you will be the wealthiest man in Ireland.

Rainbow

St. Patrick believed that the rainbow was a sign from God that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood and that to see a rainbow was a blessing from heaven.

In tarot, when we see the 10 of Cups appear, we see a couple standing in the sun with 10 cups arched above them to symbolize a rainbow.

The rainbow symbolizes blessings, and a new happy life awaits them. This is a time of peace, celebration, and only good fortune from here on out.  

Drinking Alcohol

Since then, traditions have changed, and everybody now celebrates this holiday by drinking.

Now many celebrations consist of people drinking green-colored alcohol to further their luck and celebrate the holiday.

This is still a time for everyone to come together and be around people and have them let go and be fully present in the moment.

It’s a time of gathering and community where we can bring people together from different parts of the world and celebrate the luck of the Irish.

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Leprechauns

Leprechauns play a big part in this holiday; spiritually, the Leprechaun represents cunning and mystery but, most importantly, luck.

They are a symbol of allowing ourselves to connect with all the opportunities that come our way.

They help us realize it’s not about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but instead help us to re-learn how to manifest fortune on our own.

Leprechauns are connected with the earth element and have a deep connection with nature, healing, and magic.

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Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick brought fun and celebration back into the Christians’ lives.

They celebrated his teachings and brought their community together in the process.

The holiday is still celebrated to this day; it just doesn’t hold as much value as it once did.

It is still a time for celebration and a time to have fun.

We wear green to bring us luck; we drink, we laugh, and we search for the pot of gold.

St. Patrick’s Day is still a significant holiday to many people of all different cultures and is still celebrated everywhere across the world.

Many places hold parades and fairs to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and to celebrate the Irish.

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