St. Patrick's Day
Everyone is a tad Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.
This long standing traditional celebration and religious event is from the Irish “Day of the Festival of Patrick.” It is recognized as an official national holiday in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Many traditions go along with the celebration, even in places that don’t have it as a national holiday, such as the United States. With so many Irish immigrants settling in America after the potato famine of the 1840s, many people have a strong Irish heritage. However, the celebration of St. Patrick’s is also popular in England with parades and the placing green food coloring in the fountains. Both Manchester and Liverpool in England have large concentrations of families with Irish ancestors. In Scotland there are the cities of Glasgow and Coatbridge also with many Irish descendants, so celebrations are big there.
The green three-leaf clover (a shamrock) is a big tradition. It was believed that St. Patrick explained the Catholic belief of the Holy Trinity using the Irish clover. That goes in hand with the wearing of anything green also or making anything green, such as green beer.
Again, everyone loves to celebrate this event and places around the globe do activities, mostly parades, dances, parties and the making things ‘green’ to recognize the event. 
Look back on your family tree and see if there are any true Irish in your tree.
My Irish side was from Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
Photos: Shamrock and White House fountain with green dye.
Related FamilyTree.com genealogy blogs:
Irish Terms, Words and Phrases
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