What is St Patricks Day about?

The exact birth date of the man who would become known all over the world as St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is not known - but it is thought he was born somewhere between 380AD and 390AD.

What is known is that he was born as Maewyn Succat in the Welsh part of what was then Roman Britain. His father Calphurnius was a Roman official.

History has it that when he was 16, the teenager who considered himself a Pagan, was kidnapped and sold into slavery by a group of Irish Marauders who raided his village. It was during his period of captivity that he apparently grew closer to God.

Six years later he escaped by boat to Britain and went to Saint Martin's monastery in France, where he studied for the priesthood. Fueled with a desire to convert Pagans to Christianity and encouraged by Pope Celestine I, he returned to Ireland in 431AD - complete with the new name Staint Patricius.

Patrick was quite successful at winning converts, although he upset some Celtic Druids as he did so and was arrested and escaped several times.

Over the next 30 years, he travelled throughout Ireland establishing monasteries, schools and churches, until he retired to County Down. Records show that he died on March 17 in 461AD - a day which has been commemorated as St Patrick's Day ever since.

Green has long been the colour associated with St Patrick's Day because it is the colour of spring, Ireland and the the shamrocks.

Leprechauns, or Irish Fairies, are also associated with this holiday. According to Irish legend, leprechauns were unsociable, unfriendly and lived alone, hiding their treasure of gold and making shoes. If the leprechaun was caught by a treasure hunter, he was bound to tell where the treasure was - unless, of course, he could trick the hunter and disappear.

It is said that he used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity, which refers to the combination of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Others say that the shamrock is an ancient symbol for the triple goddess Brigit.

Other folklore associated with St Patrick's Day includes kissing the blarney stone, finding a four-leaf clover for long time good luck, and of course, wearing the green. School children in Ireland are said to have started a little tradition of their own - they pinch classmates who don't wear green on the day!