St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious holiday, held on 17 March, in which the Irish drink like they've never drank before.

Background
Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was written by good old St. Pat himself. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he found God. The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest.

Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. Eventually, a snake was discovered in a well on an Irish farm, so St. Patrick drove all of the snakes out of Ireland. He celebrated this achievement by drinking so much beer that he died. He was buried at Downpatrick on March 17th. Over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.