Saint Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. He was born in A.D. 385.

Saint Patrick’s Day (aka Feast of St. Patrick, La Pheile Padraig) is a celebration of the death of St. Patrick. St. Patrick died in A.D. 461 A.D. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world with great enthusiasm, partially due to the fact that the restrictions of lent are lifted for the day, and all are encouraged to eat and drink with gusto.

Alcohol consumption on this day, March 17, has made it a most popular holiday. Not only does it celebrate the death of this popular saint, but it also commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. St. Patrick is also associated with Irish heritage, culture, drinking beer, wearing green and, of course, shamrocks.

Maewyn Succat was St. Patrick’s real name. He took the name Patrick himself when he became a priest. Many stories and legends have been told over the centuries about St. Patrick, but in actuality, little is known about his life.

The most famous story of all is one in which he banished all snakes from Ireland. This is false, the product of exaggerated stories. However, this story may have been symbolic, since snakes were worshiped by the pagans; thus, when St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, people no longer worshiped snakes. It is believed that Ireland separated from the rest of the continent during the last Ice Age, so there were probably no real snakes there to begin with.

According to St. Patrick himself, he was born in Britain to a wealthy Roman British household. At the tender age of 16 he was kidnapped by the Irish and served as a slave for six years. During this time he worked as a shepherd and then claimed to have come to believe in God. His grandfather had been a priest, and thus he had the knowledge. He claims God told him to escape to the coast, which he did, and he was able to find his way home to his family. He returned to Ireland at the age of 30, bringing Christianity with him and converting the pagans of Ireland into Christians.

It is customary to wear shamrocks on St. Patrick’s Day because he used the leaf of the shamrock to describe the Holy Trinity to the pagans.

The color green has long been associated with Ireland in many ways. In the United States, many people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing green, wearing shamrocks, paying homage to the saint, enjoying St. Paddy’s Day parades, eating Irish foods and drinking beer.

And while you’re drinking that beer, here’s an Irish toast for you: “May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends beneath it never fall out.”

Most people in the U.S. automatically think of corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and green beer for the dinner table on St. Patrick’s Day. In Ireland you might eat boiled bacon (more like ham or Canadian bacon) and potatoes. My favorite Irish dishes are colcannon, beef stew, yeast bread made with oat flour and a green sponge cake topped with green whipped cream. Colcannon is a mixture of mashed potatoes, cabbage, Canadian bacon and lots of butter. I can eat it by the plateful.

Beer is definitely a choice of beverage for most on St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed worldwide on this day.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Drowning the shamrock?” In Ireland, one wears a shamrock on the lapel all day – and then tosses that shamrock into the last Guinness of the evening. THAT is drowning the shamrock.

May the Irish hills caress you;

may her lakes and rivers bless you;

may the luck of the Irish enfold you;

may the blessings of St Patrick behold you.

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig 2015.

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. If you’d like to be part of the solution, join the Community Hiking Club’s Stewardship Committee. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.