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Who Was St. Patrick?

How to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in the United States: Cover yourself in green (bonus points for shamrocks), put a smiling leprechaun cut-out on your front door, head to your local "Irish Pub" after work, get rowdy and wasted.

How to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in England: Eh, maybe pop down to the local pub for a nice pint.

How to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Ireland: Go to church.

Those who recognize St. Patrick's Day celebrate it very differently depending on where they're from, and believe it or not, it's the United States that has turned the Emerald Isle's namesake tradition into a huge party scene, when its original intent was to be observed as a religious holiday.

For thousands of years, Irish Catholics have traditionally celebrated St. Patrick's Day by attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon with a huge feast, honoring Ireland's patron saint. Even though March 17 falls in the middle of Lent when Catholics were forbidden to eat meat, this was waived in Ireland for feasting -- mostly on cabbage and Irish bacon, according to History.com....

Read entire article at Discovery News