All Things Green

Why do we wear green on St. Patrick’s Day… and where did the whole pinching thing even come from?

In this episode of Beautiful Chaos, Tammy and Staci dig into the surprising history behind St. Patrick’s Day. From the real story of Saint Patrick, to the origins of shamrocks, parades, green rivers, and festive traditions, we explore how a religious feast day turned into one of the most celebrated holidays around the world.

Along the way we share some laughs, a few myths, and the fascinating story behind one of the most recognizable “green” holidays of the year.

Grab something green and join us for the conversation!

☘️ Topics we cover:

• The real history of St. Patrick

• Why March 17th is celebrated

• The story behind shamrocks and wearing green

• Where St. Patrick’s Day parades began

• Why people pinch if you’re not wearing green

• Irish traditions, food, and celebrations

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Okay. Serious question. Like, how serious can you be on this subject? But did you wear green in school on St. Patrick's Day? So you wouldn't get pinched?

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Well, of course. So I think we all wore green. We didn't want to get pinched. It was like a survival strategy. March 17th in elementary school was like the Hunger Games. I liked it when it fell on the weekend and I didn't have to think about it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Right. And I was always the kid that forgot to wear green. So I was constantly being pinched. I did on birth. So you know me. I back then as a child, I couldn't keep a calendar in my head then. I know. So anyway, but nobody ever explained why we were wearing green. It was like wear green or suffer the consequences. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

And now that uh we're adults, wearing green, wearing green. But we're realizing like, why are we wearing green? What's the deal behind St. Patrick's Day? What's the deal behind all of it?

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah. So there's a lot of celebrating. There's, you know, we're drinking green drinks, whether it's green beer or green lemonade, whatever. I'm sure at schools today, they're or not today, yeah. On the day that they're going to be having all these green things, right? And there's parades and the the pinching, the getting pinched. This is what got me to want to do this episode is just the flashback of the horror of the pinching.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

So today we're gonna dig into the real story behind St. Patrick's Day. And it turns out the history is way more interesting than what we were taught in school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

There are pirates and missionaries, Irish folklore, and somehow a river in Chicago that gets dyed green.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

So on today's episode, it's called Things That Are Green. And we're not trying to be Oscar the Grouch here. It's the uh real story of St. Patrick's Day.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

It's a beautiful pay. This beautiful chaos.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Welcome to Beautiful Chaos. I'm Tammy Ramsey. And I'm Stacey Miller. And today's episode is All Things That Are Green. Yes. And kind of a discovery of who St. Patrick really was. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Happy St. Patrick's Day. So um I I'd had to do some research because I never really knew who St. Patrick was. And um some of this information kind of threw me off, and it was interesting and kind of wild. Um did you know that he wasn't even born in Ireland?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

I did not know that, no.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, and and he was like way back, you know, it's 385 to 461 uh AD. And uh he was born in Britain and uh was part of the Roman Empire. So probably started off pretty rough then. Yeah, so from what I read when he was 16 years old, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. So could you imagine that's how you end up in Ireland? No, not at 16, of course. No, it's not a vacation.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So he spent six years there working as a shepherd during the time, and he became deeply religious.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yeah, and eventually escaped, he returned home, so woohoo, all things good. But then, interesting enough, in the later part of his life, he decided to go back to Ireland. And I'm gonna say, what a message from God he must have received.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, considering being enslaved there, I can't imagine wanting to go back.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Right. So he he went back as a Christian missionary missionary, words are hard, and his goal was to spread Christian Christianity through Ireland, which I'm guessing, you know, he probably thought a lot of them needed forgiving and saving because, you know, they were enslaving people. That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

And so is that where the shamrock story comes in?

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Yeah, so I guess that um because he was religious, he chose to use the Sam Shamrock, which is three-leafed, uh showing the holy uh Trinity concept of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So and uh just and let's bring everybody up to par here. So I I am not Catholic at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

You are not Catholic, but I was once baptized Catholic. I do have a little bit of knowledge when it comes to this. I am not practicing Catholic um any longer, but I lived in Pennsylvania for a long time, and so I went to an Irish Catholic church, and I lived in a very uh Irish slash Italian neighborhood uh area altogether. So yeah, I have a a little bit of uh history here.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, and I actually was going to convert a friend of mine because that's how it, you know, it starts for me. Like I was already on the road to to finding God. I'd read the Bible front to back, and so then my friend invites me to go to church and it was a Catholic church, and honestly, the reason why I wanted to continue to go was because I liked that you didn't just sit there. You know, you got up, stand out, you stood, you sit, yeah, all the things, and then you know, Ash Wednesday, you got ashes on your forehead. Like, I don't know, I liked the whole idea of all the ritual stuff that they were doing.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I was also attracted to that when I first went to a Catholic church, but the other thing that got me was I was back east, so I went to a beautiful cathedral, and it was, you know, just gigantic vaulted ceilings and marble floors and huge sculptures and paintings and the the whole, you know, history of Christ and the windows along the wall. And I mean it was just stunning, but I also really liked you always knew what to expect. You walked in, you sang a song, you got a reading out of the New Testament, a reading out of the Old Testament, a homily, you got your uh communion, you sang a song and you went home. And it was always the same thing. You knew exactly how many minutes you'd be in there, in, out, done with it.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Yeah. So so and let's get back to our um I mean we could see where the attraction is, uh, I think, because of all the things that you just said, as to why anybody would want to want to convert or find God. Like that's a really good place to find God and guilt. But that's another story. So so why why the 17th?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

So it is believed to be the day that St. Patrick died. Obviously, he was uh given sainthood at some point.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

And through the church, because of his ministry and his uh missionary work. Um, but originally it was the day of a religious feast, not a party day. So those of you that are Catholic or you Lutheran, you celebrate these holidays, you know there's actually a lot of saints that we celebrate a certain feast day for, but this one kind of took its own turn between the green and the shamrock, and and I think there was just little things that like like modern day people just sort of clung on to, and it won't no longer was really as connected to the religious thing. I mean, look at Christmas, we we've commercialized that completely, yeah. But you know, but with this one, it's kind of the same thing. It started off as a very religious holiday, but with these couple of things that m anybody could cling on to. Uh green beer, I mean, come on. Yeah. And it's just kind of ran with it.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Yeah. And so, and what I thought was interesting that what um what created this event in the church was this what started the feast, and it's okay to drink and it's okay to feast was during Lent when you give up certain foods and certain things and definitely give up alcohol. You had this one day on March 17th, because of St. Patrick's death, that you could celebrate and feast and drink all the all the time. All the good stuff. All the good stuff for that one day, and then you had to go back to to doing Lent. Um, and I think that where things changed were when um a lot of people immigrated from um Ireland to America and they were homesick, and so they brought some of those traditions over here. So who wouldn't want, like you said, green beer and what's the food? Cabbage and corned beef and cabbage. Beef and cabbage.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Mm-hmm. So um And not me. Who wouldn't want that is me.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Yeah. I mean, I don't I don't mind it, but that's not like I could do it once a year. Like we have a friend that lives for and he's Irish, and he lives for this holiday, and he has a big party in his garage, and he loves to cook all the all the things and drink the Guinness. And drink the Guinness.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

And I will go and partake and and do, you know, the all the foods and stuff, but um, so the other thing is is that when people came over from um Ireland and they immigrated over here, part of the homesick was to just continue to grow those celebrations. So some of that it became um the Irish parades. And so if if you know anybody who's ever participated in a St. Patrick's Day parade, they're very lively. If you watch the one in Chicago, it gets really fun. Um, but they everyone dresses in green, and there's you know, four-leaf clovers everywhere, and everybody's very excited, and there's lots of food and drink and being merry.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Very merry, very merry. The first parade happened in 1601 in St. Augustine, Florida. I thought that was kind of fun. That is interesting. That is very interesting. And I love watching the parades on like just on TV. They have some of those parades on TV, and it's like, man, those guys know how to party. And then, like Chicago, you mentioned, yeah, they do a big thing. Yep, they uh dye their the river green. Yep. Like how?

SPEAKER_01 10:03

And I've seen pictures and it's vibrant, it's very vibrant, yeah. And I think that that's also where a lot of other traditional parades have grown from is things like this that they would celebrate the Irish culture. There's also like Puerto Rican Day parades and a lot of other parades that are celebrated. Um a lot more on the East Coast than maybe over here, but I just think it's beautiful when we see people celebrate their culture, their history, their backgrounds, and just more ways for the rest of us to just learn more about other cultures and other people and what kind of makes them happy.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Right, like Cinco de Mayo, too. I mean, we have that's what we have a bigger celebration for out this direction. Um so I I wondered why, for one, that green is associated with St. Patrick when what I read was that Saint Patrick's color, the original color, was blue, not green. So was it because of the four leaf clover? Partly, and because they call um Ireland the Emerald Idol. Ah, yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Oh, wouldn't it be pretty to see that?

SPEAKER_02 11:11

Yeah, one day. Someday. One day I so want to go.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Okay, so we know why we wear green, but why the pinching?

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Yeah, this is where the folklore comes in. You know, there's always got to be some underlying story that is really interesting and crazy. So is this where we talk about the leprechauns? Yeah, okay. You know, somebody had to come up with leprechauns because and I don't I just don't even get it. But supposedly people. Yes, the fairy people where you follow the pot of gold. But um, so supposedly if you're wearing green, the leprechauns can't see you. And if you're not wearing green, they can see you, so then they pinch you.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

So where did this become okay for all the boys to pinch all the girls in school?

unknown 11:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

It did definitely create a holiday sport out of that. It was boys against girls.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

It was always boys pinching the girls. Yeah. It drove me crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah, because you didn't you didn't see girls pinching girls. No, you didn't wear green.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Well, you didn't want to start like a cat fight in school, so you didn't pinch the other girls.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

Yeah, no, that's true. Well, and I wasn't about to pinch a boy like that. Just no. Yeah. I just hid from the boys when they pinched us. So, you want to talk about the food now? Well, we kind of mentioned the corned beef and cabbage. But is that a true, is that really an authentic Irish meal?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

I I would say so, but I also think there's got to be a lot of the one thing we have in common for sure where we are is gonna be potatoes.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Yeah, and I think that um wasn't it the great potato famine that caused everybody to um come to America because they were all starving because they really relied on on potatoes. So yeah. Um I've read it was Irish stew, soda bread, and potatoes lots. Ever had those potato pancakes?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Lot goods. Ooh, look at that. That would be uh uh something I miss from the old church fairs back in Pennsylvania is potato pancakes. Those are good. Ooh, that sounds good.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So um what kind of things do you do any celebrations for St. Patrick's Day?

SPEAKER_01 13:23

I don't. I mean, I try and wear green and you know, just respect the people that are celebrating for whatever reason. Yeah. And um, like you said, the friend of ours, you know, I'm always interested in seeing how the party's going and what what he's up to. But um, no, no, I mean I don't say think that we do. You know, it's changed a little since even my kids were younger because you know, we do the Easter basket and the Easter bunny and Santa Claus and all those things, but I've noticed a lot of families today they they make traps for the leprechaun. Oh my god. They set up uh like a trap, and the leprechaun brings them something on um the morning of St. Patrick's Day, and they try to catch the leprechaun. And I've seen something about maybe Lucky Charm cereals. I don't know, but I somehow I completely missed that one. I think it took off right after my kids were young enough to like do a whole kid-related thing when they were little. But it seems like there's some fun traditions people are doing today. If you guys are doing something for St. Patrick's Day, comment, let us know, tell us about your leprechaun traps, send us some pictures because I've seen some really fun ones.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Well, I would think that would be a really good project to work on in school. And I think that St. Patrick's Day falls on a Tuesday. So maybe the kids at school are working on projects. So if you'd like to share a photo of your kids' project, if they did something in school or you just want to create as a family, yeah, put it on our Facebook page or Instagram page or email us at beautiful chaos one.buzzsprout.com.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Also, if there's any fun Irish music you like, I love a good Irish song, Irish music that jigs the whole thing. So if you have anything fun you want to share with us that way or anything else that you're interested in, share it with us, let us know. We'd love to hear some more from you guys.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yeah, we'd love to hear how people celebrate and enjoy. And I know the friend of ours that we're talking about, Jim, he also goes to the Celtic Celtic Celtic Celtic. It's like a concert. Yeah. Yeah. And they they just posted something saying it was their tenth year doing that. Bagpipes and cool dancing and it's all yeah, that would be cool. And I'm sure I imagine they wear kilts too. Love a good kilt. Yeah. Because I didn't know they don't wear anything under their kilt.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

They don't. Nope. Not traditionally. That could be interesting for everybody. Okay. So, um, I mean, I think we kind of covered it, right? We learned why we're wearing green. We learned a little bit more about the holiday and kind of where it came from and also sort of where it's growing into because there's so much more commercialization, which can be sometimes unfortunate. But if it brings more awareness to a holiday and it helps people um, you know, just dig in and maybe pay a little bit more attention to something that might be an important part of history, then that I'll take the commercialization for that.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Right. I agree. I agree. That's uh that's awesome. And and I think that all of this is um shows resilience of a culture because there's we're still celebrating that. Yep. Um, so I think that's really, really pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

And there's a cool faith background to it. So I think that's really nice to know that it it comes from a place of faith and a place of trying to convert and and bring people to God. So that's uh that's great.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Yeah, and a community because it was a it was a community celebration, not just within the church, I don't believe. It was like it became a big bigger.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

So, what could we change about about St. Patrick's Day? I think that we should start a tradition of not pinching people. That's my thought.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

And you know, uh, I mean, could we just wear green ribbon? Does that count? Because any green counts.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Any green, because I just remember green people being like, no, there's like green inside this one flower right here. Yeah. I would find it wherever I could if I forgot to wear green.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

I love that. But I do think that it would be great to uh maybe refocus it on not the pinching, not the pinching, not the pinching. The hissing reprochant leaves you something.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

The eating, the drinking, and the being merry sounds like a lot more fun.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yes, yes, all of that.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

So we think that's it.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Is that it? I think so.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, so happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you. Hope you learned something new today. Yeah, share it with a friend.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Yeah. All right, thanks for joining us on the Beautiful Chaos. And stay empowered.