Why students celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

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There’s only one time of year that it’s acceptable to dye food green—St. Patrick’s Day.

Some BYU students embrace family traditions and Irish culture this weekend, while others choose to leave green eggs and ham in the past.

Sarah Bain, an undecided major from Draper, said St. Patrick’s Day food has been a family tradition.

“My mom made green pancakes, green muffins and green eggs in the morning,” Bain said. “She has done it as long as I can remember.”

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St. Patrick’s Day celebrations include green food. (Elliott Miller)

Rosemary Wolfe, a geography major from Homer, Alaska, lived in Ireland for four months last year. She said her reason for celebrating revolves around her memories of the music and environment.

“I fell in love with the place,” Wolfe said. “It’s exactly what you see in movies. It’s beautiful, and the people are so nice and welcoming.”

Wolfe had wanted to go to Ireland since she was a little girl. She attributes this to an experience in the library when she was seven years old.

“The book I checked out had beautiful pictures of Ireland, and I knew that I wanted to go,” Wolfe said.

Wolfe’s tribute to her trip will include a variety of traditional Irish and dyed food.

“We’ll have traditional corned beef and cabbage, reuben sandwhiches, pistachio chocolate chip cupcakes, and we’ll try dying juice green,” Wolfe said. “We are telling people to bring anything green.”

Wolfe’s hometown friend, Shannon Quiner, also shares a love of Irish culture. Quiner is a BYU graduate and plans to go to Ireland this summer.

“I love Irish music and dancing,” she said.

Quiner said St. Patrick’s day celebrations in Ireland are quite elaborate.

“I think they have a parade,” Quiner said. “The celebrations last more than a day.”

Her reasons for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day are to celebrate her Irish heritage and to have a good time like the Irish.

“I have some Irish heritage, but I like to pretend I have more than I do,” Quiner said. “It’s fun. It’s just an excuse to have a party.”

While some students embrace the leprechaun, others leave finding the rainbow to children.

Johnathon Chichoni is double majoring in economics and informations systems. He is from Elkridge, Utah. His St. Patrick’s Day food is also based on childhood memories, but Chichoni said when adulthood begins, dying food green should stop.

“It’s a childhood thing,” Chichoni said. “As a kid we would do green eggs and ham in elementary school, but as we got older we just stopped.”

Some students feel St. Patrick’s Day is about spending time with that special someone and little ones. Without a spouse, the holiday gets skipped over.

Jordan Wilde, a nutritional science major from Pittsburg, Kan., said his reason for not celebrating St. Patrick’s Day is related to an empty ring finger.

“As soon as I find someone, I’ll start doing the traditions that my family did,” Wilde said.

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