沪江小编：3月17日是爱尔兰的传统节日——圣帕特里克节，大家有没有在网上看到相关报道呢。说起圣帕特里克节，你知道是怎么来得吗？这一天又有什么传统活动呢？

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, "the Day of the Festival of Patrick") is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in general.
每年的3月17日是圣帕特里克节，一个文化宗教节日。这个节日是为了纪念爱尔兰的守护神圣·帕特里克（公元前387-461年）和基督教传入爱尔兰。这个节日受到天主教徒、圣公会、东正教和路德教会的重视，并于17世纪成为官方确定的盛大节日，现如今已成为爱尔兰传统文化的一部分。

The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services, wearing of green attire and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol, which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
这一天的活动主要有教堂礼拜仪式、身穿绿色衣服和食物斋戒，同时还要喝酒，而一般其他时候是禁止饮酒的。

Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
圣帕特里克节是爱尔兰共和国、北爱尔兰、纽芬兰、拉布拉多和蒙特塞拉特地区的国定假日，同时在英国、加拿大、美国、阿根廷、澳大利亚和新西兰等地被广泛庆祝。现在，圣帕特里克节已成为世界上影响范围最广的圣徒节日。

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave. It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.
圣帕特里克于4世纪出生在一个罗马不列颠家庭，他的父亲是一位助祭，而祖父是教堂的牧师。16岁时他被爱尔兰袭击者绑架，并被掳去爱尔兰当奴隶，他被掳去的地方可能是爱尔兰西部海岸的某地，可能是梅奥，但具体位置不详。据他自述，有一天晚上，他在梦中被上帝告知快逃离囚禁地去海岸，那里有艘船正在等着他，于是他便划着船逃离了爱尔兰。回去后他迅速加入高卢欧塞尔的一个教堂学习成为一位牧师。

In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish church.
432年，他宣称听到主呼唤他返回爱尔兰，作为主教，他号召信仰多神教的爱尔兰人信奉基督教。爱尔兰民间传说圣帕特里克曾以一片三叶草向崇尚自由的爱尔兰人讲解三位一体。做了近30年的福音传道活动后，圣·帕特里克于461年3月17日去世，并在唐帕特里克火葬。虽然也有一些从罗马向爱尔兰传教的成功故事，但帕特里克依然在爱尔兰基督教文化中享有极高声誉，受到人们的普遍尊敬。他去世的这一天也逐渐成为一个传统节日。