As many well know, tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. If it has slipped your mind, then I suggest quickly changing your wardrobe plans to include wearing green. I would hate for you to get pinched. Now that we have gotten the obvious out of the way, how about a few facts about St. Patrick’s Day that you may have not known.
- St. Patrick was actually a British guy not Irish. He was kidnapped as a teenager by Irish raiders and brought to Ireland. He ended up staying in the country, even after escaping his captors, to be a missionary.
- Green is not the original St. Patrick color. Originally, the saint’s color was blue. Green came about due to the connection with Ireland and shamrocks.
- Speaking of shamrocks, St. Patrick used these to tell the story of the Trinity. Later, Irish used the clovers to stick in their lapels as a form of national symbolism. So, there aren’t any four-leaf clovers on St. Patrick’s Day.
- Corned beef and cabbage are really an Irish-American deal. To celebrate the special day, Irish-Americans would splurge on a special meal. Brisket was the cheapest meat and cabbage was a cheap vegetable, giving us the traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal.
- Mythology says that St. Patrick drove all of the snakes out of Ireland, but in reality, Ireland never had snakes in the first place.
- The first celebration of St. Patrick’s Day was in 1762 in America.
- For the first several years, all bars were closed during St. Patrick’s Day because it fell during Lent; this was lifted in 1961
- The Chicago River will get 45 pounds of green vegetable dye dumped in it this year during St. Patrick’s Day
- St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in space twice. The most recent was by Chris Hadfield in 2013.
- Traditionally, leprechauns are only male. There are no girls.
So, there you have some facts that I bet you didn’t know. My family will be celebrating the day with green dyed food. There is such a thing as green eggs and ham at my house, at least for one day.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-facts
