With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner what better way to celebrate than some interesting facts that you may not have known about the holiday. So, grab a Guinness or green beer and check out these 10 interesting St. Patrick’s Day facts.
St. Patrick was not in fact Irish.
He was born in Britain but captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16. He spent 6 years in captivity before escaping back to Britain. During his time as a prisoner, he took to religion to keep his spirits up. Later he brought the religion back to Ireland.
Blue was the original color for St. Patrick.
Though we now associate the color green with the holiday, the saint originally wore the color blue. It was changed sometime in the 1600 to 1700s when the clover started to be used to symbolize nationalism in Ireland.
A Dry holiday.
Originally St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated as a church holiday and was a dry day for many years. It changed to a national holiday around 1970 when the country realized that it could capitalize on the tourism that the day attracted.
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The three leaves of a shamrock mean hope, life, and love.
It’s believed that St. Patrick used the clove to explain the holy trinity (father, son and holy ghost) to the pagan worshipers. Sometime later the meaning changed to hope, life and love. The fourth leaf is thought to represent luck, which is why they are considered good luck.
Pork was the original meat.
The original meal of the day included pork, not corned beef. Irish immigrants to America quickly realized that beef was much cheaper and started to use that instead.
Boston has one of the largest Parades.
Because Boston has a large population of Irish Americans it also has one of the largest parades in the U.S. It is over 3 miles long and over 1 million people watch it each year.
Why March 17?
The holiday is celebrated on the 17th of March each year because that is the day that the Saint died in 461. He is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland and converting the pagan worshipers.
Guinness is one of the most popular beers to drink.
Over 5 million pints of Guinness are sold throughout the year. That number more than doubles on the world’s biggest day for drinking.
It’s not just beer that is dyed green.
All over the world, different buildings glow green in honor of the day. Chicago even dyes the Chicago River green in celebration of the day.
The Irish in America
There are more than 34 million people in the U.S. that have Irish ancestry. Which is more than the population of Ireland.
So there you go. 10 Interesting St. Patrick’s Day Facts! If you know of any others let me know in the comments!
Hi Shannon, this is good.
Thanks Dad!!
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