St. Patrick’s day is here! Thursday, March 17, many students participated in wearing green on the holiday. St. Patrick’s Day is known as an Irish religious holiday, an anniversary of St. Patrick’s death in the fifth century, but does anyone actually know the history behind this green leprechaun holiday?

St. Patrick was originally born in Roman Britain, but was kidnapped at 16, and brought to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but at some point returns to Ireland and was credited to bringing Christianity to its people. He also had demonstrated and explained the holy Trinity (son, father, and holy ghost) using a three leaf clover, native to Ireland, a shamrock.

That explains the reasoning behind the holiday and the shamrock, but why are leprechauns so prominently known in this holiday? Well, there isn’t much of a good reason for this. A lot of people just come to the conclusion that leprechauns are a prominent symbol of the holiday because of its appearance in Celtic folktales. (Fun fact: leprechauns have their own holiday on May 13) .