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St. Patrick’s Day 2024, a day of pride for Ireland

When is St. Patrick's Day celebrated? It falls on March 17th every year. This day, the focus is on the people of Ireland and everything this culture has to offer. St. Patrick's Day has quite literally conquered the world, not with swords or politics, but with green garments, gallons of beer, and what it means to be Irish! But what is St. Patrick... Show more

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St. Patrick’s Day designs and themes

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Symbols

St. Patrick’s Day symbols to brighten your day

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Pot of gold

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Hat

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Shamrock

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Leprechaun

With a little patience, a Pot of Gold could end up in your possession!

The Luck of the Irish comes from their fascinating folk tale on the notion that if you chase the rainbow long enough, you will reach an abundance of wealth, a Pot of Gold! Whether you believe in it or not, it teaches us something. And the symbol does well to represent the reward of hope and patience. Because to the Irish, only patience will bring you fortune and luck, perhaps even wealth! Perhaps this also links with St. Patrick’s 200-mile trek searching for his fortune, which was not money but something better! Apply these symbols to your St. Patrick’s Day creative projects and help spread hope and wealth to your audiences!

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The Irish Topper hat with buckle

This hat has become an icon for St. Patrick’s Day worldwide. The symbol itself comes from the era in which such hats were fashionable. Trilbies and flat caps were also quite common. However, the image of the leprechaun evolved into favoring the Topper hat with the shiny gold buckle, colored in green, of course. Back in the 1700s, when they were fashionable, they were called a capotain and were worn by all classes. It was later known as a Pilgrim Hat since thousands of Irish migrating to the US wore one as they couldn’t afford to follow the current fashion trends of the new century.

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Spread the teaching of St. Patrick with a Shamrock!

The Shamrock is a symbol that both Northern Ireland and Ireland share. The word itself in Irish means little clover. And yes, they are clovers, of which there are nearly 300 different species found around the world. Its iconic shape is easily recognizable, with three heart-shaped leaves sprouting from its stalk. The reason this little clover became such an icon for Ireland takes us back to the time of St. Patrick’s mission to Ireland. The Patron Saint discovered a profound way in which to teach his methods to the people of Ireland by using the Shamrock and its three leaves to represent the Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Hundreds of years later, it has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Patrick’s Day and of Ireland as a whole!

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Behold the Leprechaun legend!

Coming in at just the height of your knee, Leprechauns are small folk, and legend has it they carry with them a pot of gold that, if caught, are obliged to hand it over. The catch is the catch itself! Nimble and cunning, these creatures are notoriously difficult to catch and will use their mischievous powers to have you look the other way as they make for their escape. The origins of the Leprechaun date back centuries; as talk of extremely wealthy small boys emerged amongst locals, spreading across the land, it became legend. Even to this day, the legendary Leprechaun lives on, so keep your eyes peeled!

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St Patrick’s Day Color Palette

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  • HEX rgb(3, 102, 56)
  • RGB rgb(3, 102, 56)
  • CMYK rgb(3, 102, 56)
  • HSL rgb(3, 102, 56)
Download color palette

File available in .ASE format

Watercourse Green, the color of optimism

This rich green hue will send you into the dense foliage and twisting becks of the Irish countryside. Green is one of the dominant St. Patrick’s Day colors, and so here we have the dominant color of this color palette. Its strong tone is enchanting, symbolizing good health, rebirth, and positivity. Its optimism parallels the Irish people and has become an iconic tribute to the Irish image as a whole. Watercourse Green will quite happily provide strength to your St. Patrick’s Day-themed projects, filling your elements and borders with the colors of the Irish countryside while providing a strong and optimistic atmosphere to your themes.

  • HEX rgb(117, 159, 61)
  • RGB rgb(117, 159, 61)
  • CMYK rgb(117, 159, 61)
  • HSL rgb(117, 159, 61)
Download color palette

File available in .ASE format

Wasabi Green, the voice of balance and harmony

A phosphorescent light green such as Wasabi Green will put a positive spin on your St. Patrick’s Day designs for sure. The name Wasabi comes from the Japanese plant used for cooking. Ground into a paste, it complements the taste of fish and has a short but powerful kick to it. With its close resemblance to nature and its neutral tone, it follows the key principles of Feng Shui, asserting balance and harmony in its environment. Very down to earth. Furthermore, it’s a color that resembles reality, hope, and reason with a pinch of logic. This fascinating hue will compliment your palette, providing you with many reasons to use it!

  • HEX rgb(173, 191, 33)
  • RGB rgb(173, 191, 33)
  • CMYK rgb(173, 191, 33)
  • HSL rgb(173, 191, 33)
Download color palette

File available in .ASE format

Acid Green, a highly toxic fresh leaf

This third edition of green to our St. Patrick’s Day color palette is the lightest of the three greens. With all three working together, you can add a sense of depth to your creations. The name Acid is associated with high toxicity. However, its appearance correlates with fresh foliage or a new leaf. Starting something new is always exciting therefore, a hue such as this could elevate that promise from a visual perspective, providing the optimistic outlook the people of Ireland are known for. Try your hand at seeing how far you can push this green tone, experimenting with text, and backgrounds, perhaps mixing with the other two greens, creating striking gradients!

  • HEX rgb(250, 174, 3)
  • RGB rgb(250, 174, 3)
  • CMYK rgb(250, 174, 3)
  • HSL rgb(250, 174, 3)
Download color palette

File available in .ASE format

Honey Yellow, full of rich nutrition

Honey is nature’s gold, a fitting color for our St. Patrick’s Day color palette. Its rich, sweet flavor will be sure to attract leprechauns from far and wide to gaze at its beauty, symbolizing wealth, happiness, and energy. Perhaps its kinetic vibe will bring the party atmosphere to the forefront. Honey yellow’s darker tone of yellow also has an almost golden glow which would be great as a fill for your Irish top hat buckle and any other gold artifacts. In addition, you could try experimenting with filling fonts in this hue, adding great value to your words! Honey yellow is the rich feature of your color palette.

  • HEX rgb(252, 202, 71)
  • RGB rgb(252, 202, 71)
  • CMYK rgb(252, 202, 71)
  • HSL rgb(252, 202, 71)
Download color palette

File available in .ASE format

Maize Crayola, the glow of the morning sun

A soft variant of yellow is a fantastic tribute to your St. Patrick’s Day-themed projects. It has a glow that can remind you of the morning sun on an autumn day, providing a comforting feel, which can help to balance out your composition till it’s just right. On the other hand, it captures the glow of the Irish people as their fondness is felt right across the globe. Give this hue a try for yourself! You might find yourself having a lot of fun pushing this color to its limits, finding its multiple personalities work in your favor in creating striking St. Patrick’s day design projects.

St Patrick’s Day Fonts

Mister Honey

Mister Honey
Black Mild

Black Mild
Rhinegold

Rhinegold
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The history of St. Patrick’s Day: origins and some key events

St. Patrick’s Day is a national event that has, against all odds, taken over the entire globe. But why do we celebrate this day, and how has a small country, such as Ireland, managed to extend its cultural heritage across the entire planet? What’s the origin of St. Patrick’s Day? With the help of this in-depth timeline, we will explore how one man single-handedly shaped and inspired a nation into Christianity with such impact that we celebrate his name every year. In pursuing its origins, we can find out just how this explosion of Irish culture has led to celebrations far and wide, asking ourselves what the symbolic color green signifies and why consuming copious amounts of beer plays a heavy part in transforming a national day of mourning into a global phenomenon.

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385 to 461 A.D.

The life and death of St. Patrick

The Patron Saint of Ireland and his god-given mission to evangelize the pagan state

The story of St. Patrick is overshadowed by modern-day traditions. Many of us perhaps know next to nothing of the origin of this celebrated event. The Patron Saint of Ireland was not born of Irish nationality. Born in Roman Britain, he was raised by well-to-do parents, and his father was a deacon of the Christian church. Growing up with such wealth had its advantages. However, at the age of 16, he was kidnapped by a gang of Irish bandits and held captive in Ireland. Enduring forced labor as a shepherd, he succumbed to loneliness and withdrawal, giving him the inspiration needed to find faith in God. After 6 years of slave labor, God came to him in a dream, telling him it was time for him to leave for Britain. And so he did! 200 miles later, he escaped Ireland as a free man. Soon after that, he had a second revelation, this time an angel, telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary. With a clear goal in place, he set out to the monastery to endure 15 years of training to become an ordained priest. Ready and willing, he was sent out to Ireland to fulfill God’s will. Christianity was a relatively new religion to the people of Ireland, who were predominantly pagan. So his mission was clear: to minister to the few Christians already living in Ireland and to convert the rest of the population. This is where the legend was born. Not only did St. Patrick spread Christianity throughout Ireland, but he shared a connection with the Irish people and their language, helping to structure Christianity around them as a people. It is unclear how St. Patrick died. However, living till at least 76, he had a long and meaningful life. Some people believe he lived much longer!

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1601 to 1737

The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade

From cannon fire to marching Parades, the Americans begin to carry the torch in the name of St. Patrick, taking it to the world stage!

It comes as a huge surprise that the first parade to honor St. Patrick’s Day was not in Ireland but in the United States! Furthermore, there are disputes over where it started. The first official St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in New York City on March 17th, 1762, in Bowling Green in lower Manhattan. The parade was a show of national pride as the Irish soldiers of the British army marched through Bowling Green to honor their Patron Saint and to show solidarity for their people. On March 17th, 1737, the City of Boston, Massachusetts, laid claim to the first celebration of the Catholic Feast day. As such, it was more of an occasion for Irish immigrants to come together and celebrate their culture, paying homage to their motherland. Another date we cannot ignore was way back in 1601, when a Spanish colony in St. Augustine, Florida, was discovered to have celebrated the event. The discovery was made from an unearthed document requesting ammunition for celebratory cannon fire in the name of St. Patrick! Led by the Irish vicar Richard Arthur, the celebrations faded soon after he died.

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19th Century

The awareness of Irish pride

A country facing a national catastrophe and a population in search of refuge

In the 19th century, Ireland suffered a national catastrophe known as the Potato Famine. With an entire population facing starvation, disease, and suppression from the British, 2 million Irish folk jumped ship, quite literally, setting sail for the promised land of the United States. Sprawling out in cities such as New York and Boston. With such an influx of foreigners, you can imagine there was trouble along the way as the people of Ireland integrated into American society. Many refugees had, in desperation, spent the last of their money on the perilous journey, taking on the least favorable living conditions and jobs at the lower end of society, but the determination and courage of the Irish people sought to be admired by Americans, and the rest of the world for that matter. Foundations like the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Hibernian Society were organizations that set out to consolidate a relationship between Ireland and America to protect the Irish people, create jobs, and protect the Catholic faith. This, in turn, saw the popularity of the feast day of St. Patrick grow bigger with each year, with thousands attending the greenest of parades. The city of Chicago even goes to the lengths of turning its river green every year!

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1600 to present day

The expansion of St. Patrick’s Day

A small country propagating its Irish charm to the USA was just the beginning!

As we all know, the popularity of St. Patrick's Day has exploded with mass effect with help from the Americans, and their huge parade celebrations have now spread from country to country. It has become a global phenomenon, and whether it’s just the luck of the Irish or our sheer love for their people and culture, it’s a source of inspiration and a day when anyone can be Irish. One aspect of the celebration we cannot ignore is the abundance of alcohol, which today is one of the driving attractions the celebration influences. For this reason, we all have become too familiar with the pint of Guinness. This iconic dark beer has grown with the festivity, forming an unbreakable bond and boosting recognition worldwide.

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Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Discovering its worldwide influence

It seems as though, at least for one day of the year, the whole world aspires to be Irish. And its circulation across the world has seen the event evolve into something quite different from the times of the traditional feast it once was. Each country that participates has their own St. Patrick’s Day traditions. However, the color green and the clear association the day has with drinking traditional Irish ale has stood the test of time.

Ireland

St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, where it all began! In Ireland, this celebration has been going on since the 5th century A.D. However, since then, there have been a few developments! In the event's early days, it was inspired by the catholic religion. St. Patrick’s Day was a feast focusing more on the teachings from this legendary missionary and his spread of Christianity using symbols such as the shamrock to help teach the Holy Trinity. Nowadays, the celebration in Ireland has taken some inspiration from their American cousins, with a national holiday and a huge parade in Dublin and other cities across the country. It involves thousands of inhabitants dressing green and wearing silly hats, often with a pint of Guinness at hand, the staple drink of the occasion when poured correctly! Not only is it a celebration for the Irish people, bringing tourists in their droves to populate the city festivals. The more rural parts of Ireland may take a more traditional approach to the occasion, heading to the local pub to feast with their closest family and friends, as they would have done for hundreds of years.

United States

We should really be thanking this nation for what they have done for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s not often a country as grand as America takes a religious occasion from another country and turns it into a supermassive party to celebrate the people of that country! Perhaps it’s just the luck of the Irish? Colorful parades, big green hats, even dying the Chicago river green are some of the best St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the USA. The sizes of the events in America are astronomical, pulling in hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. They even dye their pints of Guinness green! In New York, they hold the biggest parade of them all on 5th Avenue, with an estimated 2 million participants! In Boston, their basketball team, bearing the name Boston Celtics, shows their massive appreciation for their Irish roots, naming the squad after an ancient Irish civilization, accompanied by a logo consisting of an Irish fella wearing old traditional attire covered in the iconic shamrock or three leaf clover. The city also hosts a procession. With 20% or more of the city’s population claiming Irish descendants, it is no surprise that nearly 1 million people fill the Irish pubs and flood the streets with their green costumes. America is clearly very proud of its Irish roots, certainly helping bolster celebrations worldwide.

Spain

The attractive alternative! Historically, Spain and Ireland have always had a fruitful relationship, only strengthened by their shared catholic beliefs. There is a healthy population of Irish folk living in Spain. Many sought refuge from British suppression and the famine in the 19th century. Today Spain hosts St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that will rival most countries. With the hundreds of Irish pubs already lining the streets of major cities like Madrid and Barcelona, it has become a day to mark in the diary. Many Irish people will come over to enjoy their national holiday in the warm sun, with Spain welcoming them with opening arms, making the event that extra special. The day is a celebration for Irish people. The wearing of green garments is strongly encouraged, and with a well-calculated amount of Guinness imported into the country, everyone can have a go at being Irish!

Mexico

The Irish Battalion and St. Patrick’s Day in Mexico! Surprising to some, the Mexicans celebrate this day with personal gratitude, hailing the Irish people as martyrs for their country and as people who stood against oppression! During the 1846 American-Mexican war over territory, Irish soldiers fighting for the Americans defected to the other side. After all, they were treated discriminately and suffered anti-catholic prejudice. Subsequently, the Mexicans offered them land and payment to fight for a side on which they shared the same religion. A 200-strong battalion of Irish soldiers named The San Patricios were remembered for their bravery and sacrifice, even naming some streets in their honor! Along with the current traditions of Guinness, green garments, and jolly old Irish folk songs, St. Patrick’s Day has become a day of remembrance for some Mexicans, even hosting the second date of celebration on the 12 of September!

Argentina

Spreading far and wide! With half a million Argentinians claiming Irish heritage in Argentina, it comes as no surprise the country has the 5th largest Irish community in the world. With this in mind, we may be able to comprehend the magnitude of celebrations held in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. On the 17th of March, the color green dominates the city center, accompanied by lush green palm trees! A show of Irish culture in the form of Irish river dancing and folk music. Celebrating the most famous Irish contributions to the world with a tribute to the world-famous superband U2! The Irish pubs you can find dotted around the city will invite curious visitors to feast on traditional Irish cuisine, such as Irish stew and Bangers and Mash, washed down with a dark ale that will certainly turn you Irish if you let it! All this for a community of Irish folk who love their motherland and Irish roots. Of course, anybody is welcome to become Irish for the day!

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