| 聖派屈克節｜好文分享 If you live in Asia, the shamrock—a common low-growing plant with three heart-shaped leaves on each stem—probably doesn't mean much to you. But show a shamrock to a Westerner, and the first thing that will pop into his or her mind is "St. Patrick's Day!" Celebrated on March 17 each year, St. Patrick's Day is the day when the people of Ireland commemorate their patron saint. And in other parts of the world, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into an ethnic holiday celebrating Irish heritage, especially in places with a significant Irish immigrant population, such as the United States. But nowhere in the world does the holiday bustle with more noise and excitement than Dublin, the Irish capital. Dublin's St. Patrick's Festival, the largest St. Patrick's Day celebration in the world, abounds with carnival-style parades, spectacular fireworks, and outdoor dance events. People dress in green (the color of Ireland) from top to toe, drink Guinness® (Ireland’s signature dark beer), and dance and sing from morning to night. But who was St. Patrick, and why is he so important to the Irish? St. Patrick was the man who, in the 5th century, introduced Ireland to Christianity and successfully transformed the country into a Catholic nation. St. Patrick's gift was that he could explain complicated things to people in ways that were easy for them to understand. For example, he used the common shamrock in his sermons to explain to people the concept of the Christian Trinity—that God is three separate persons but is still only one God. He said the shamrock's three leaves represented God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—all separate but joined to form a whole. The shamrock became the saint's symbol, and its green color became representative of the saint, the holiday, and then Ireland itself. 若你住在亞洲，三葉草可能對你而言沒有什麼意義。三葉草是一種矮小的植物，每根莖上都長著三片心形的小葉子。倘若你給西方人看三葉草，第一個湧上他/她念頭的是「聖派屈克節」。 聖派屈克節於每年三月17 日舉行，是愛爾蘭人紀念主保聖人的日子。在世界其他地方，聖派屈克節已演變成為慶祝愛爾蘭傳統的民族節慶，在愛爾蘭移民人口眾多的地方尤甚，例如美國。 但世上再也沒有其他地方，比愛爾蘭首都都柏林用更震耳欲聾的聲響和熱情迎接這個節慶。全世界最盛大的聖派屈克節慶祝活動是都柏林的聖派屈克慶典，充滿嘉年華式的遊行、壯觀的煙火和戶外舞蹈活動。人們從頭到腳會身著綠色服裝（愛爾蘭的代表色），飲用健力士啤酒（愛爾蘭的著名黑啤酒），並從早到晚歌舞不歇。但是，聖派屈克到底是誰？他又為何對愛爾蘭人如此重要？ 在西元五世紀時，聖派屈克將基督教引進愛爾蘭，並成功地將其轉化為天主教國家。聖派屈克的天賦是他能用簡明易懂的方式解釋複雜的事物以讓人們了解。舉例來說，他在講道中用常見的三葉草向會眾解釋基督教三位一體的概念──神是一位有三種位格的唯一真神。三葉草的三片葉子代表神的三種位格，聖父、聖子和聖靈，他們有不同的形象，卻又能合而為一成為一體。三葉草成為這位聖人的代表符號，而綠色則先成為此聖人的象徵色，接著代表節慶，最後成為愛爾蘭的代表色。 | 
