Do Atheists celebrate St. Patrick's Day?
@ servant: nowhere in your bible does it say jesus was born on Dec 25th. Dec25th was celebrated by the Pagans long before that jewish carpenter was born, and continue to do so today, so if anything, the Winter Solstice festival has only adopted a name off your jesus.
Why do Non-Catholics celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Do they even know that St. Patrick was a Catholic Bishop?
I can understand why Catholics and Orthodox venerate St. Patrick of Ireland. But what about Protestants, Reformed Catholics, Conservative Christians, Fundamentalist Christians, Atheists, Agnostics and other Non-Christians. Do you even understand that your honoring a "Saint" or what some of you call "pagan god" when going out and getting tanked? Or do you use this holiday as an excuse to just get drunk in ignorance of St. Patrick and what he stood for?
Why do so many non-Irish people celebrate St. Patricks Day?
You don’t have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.It’s not just an ethnic pride and national festival, it’s also a religious festival that is observed by Catholicism, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodoxy.As a result of this observation, it is celebrated in England, Malta, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Scotland, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Montserrat, Canada, Mexico, the US, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.It has even been celebrated in the International Space Station, in orbit. It has literally spread around the world and beyond.A significant proportion of the world’s population has Irish descendancy or at least claims it. While there are attempts of political correctness to recast St. Patrick’s Day as a multicultural event, from a religious standpoint, it’s a legitimate festival for adherents to follow. Irish or not.
Why do Americans celebrate St Patrick’s Day? Are they aware he wasn’t Irish (evidence of Welsh), kidnapped at age 16, and enslaved? Is that worth celebrating?
St Patrick is not celebrated for being enslaved.After he managed to escape slavery, he became a priest. He then traveled back to Ireland, and managed to introduce Christianity to the Irish.He may not have been Irish by birth (he was a Roman from Britain, by the way, not Welsh), but he is known for his works in Ireland, and is the patron saint of Ireland (and, incidentally, of New York City).Regardless of St Patrick’s life and works, most Americans who celebrate St Patrick’s day do it not so much out of veneration for St Patrick himself, but either as a way of celebrating Irish heritage (there are significantly more people of Irish descent in America than there are in Ireland), or simply as an excuse to get drunk. I personally brew an Irish red ale for St Patrick’s day, and drink quite a bit of it.
Why do the Dutch wear orange of St. Patrick's Day?
I'm not sure about the Dutch thing, but maybe this will help you too. Orange represents the Irish Protestants. They wear orange on St. Patrick's Day in protest to the Catholics. The green symbolizes the Catholic Irish, while Orange represents the Protestant Irish. Although Green, has become a "national" color, so the Protestants wear Orange to remind the world that Ireland is more than just Catholic.