Student Development will host a communal St. Patrick’s Day breakfast event Mar. 12 at 9 a.m. in the Lawrence Hall lobby. The event will feature several games and activities for students to enjoy as well as food. 

St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday that most people in the Western world have heard of; however, many students, when asked, are not able to give much information about the origins of St. Patrick’s Day and why it is celebrated. 

“[I know that] it’s an Irish holiday, and I’m English…so, [it’s] not really our kind of holiday,” sid freshman Sam Morrison.

Freshman Alexandra Levi said she knows very little about the holiday as well.

“[I don’t know] that much, which is really bad, because I’m Irish,” said Levi.

Perhaps Point Park students, Irish or otherwise, would benefit from a history lesson detailing the origins of St. Patrick’s Day and the meanings of the symbols associated with the holiday.

National Geographic writes that contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick wasn’t Irish at all.  He was English and was captured at the age of 16 and sent to Ireland to be a shepherd.  During his time in Ireland, he became a devout Christian. 

Folklore states that one night, St. Patrick had a dream in which a mysterious voice told him to escape and return to England, after which he boarded a ship headed to his home, where he was finally able to see his family again. 

However, not long after, he had another dream where the same voice instructed him to travel back to Ireland once again. After becoming ordained as a priest, he did go back, and spent the rest of his days converting Irish pagans to his Christian religion.

The foremost symbol associated with St. Patrick’s Day is the shamrock – more commonly, a three-leaf clover.  According to National Geographic, Irish mythology states that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the concept of the Christian holy trinity to the people whom he was trying to convert. One leaf represented the Father, another one the Son and the last the Holy Spirit.  They were three separate manifestations, but in the end, they were all the same being.

As for the food, Tom Flynn-Ricci, a Point Park freshman and certified Irishman, says that he hopes for “Irish soda bread…bangers and hash [sausage and potatoes]…[and] probably some bacon.”

Hopefully the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast will be an event to remember and will live up to students’ culinary expectations.