10 Surprising Facts About St. Patrick`s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated every year on March 17 by the Irish and the Irish-at-heart all over the world. This tradition began as a religious feast day but has morphed over the years into international holiday.

St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about parades, drinking green beer, dancing, shamrocks, and wearing green. It’s another opportunity for family and friends to get together and enjoy spending a day outdoors. And only, few are aware of what they are honoring and why St. Patrick’s Day is so popular, especially in the US.

Here are 10 surprising facts about St. Patrick to share with your friends:

– March 17 is the day when Patrick died.
St. Patrick is a saint of the Catholic Church, and the day a saint dies is a holy day because this day he enters heaven.

– St. Patrick is not even Irish!
St. Patrick was actually born in Britain, or more precisely in Scotland or Wales (it’s debatable) in 385 A.D. His parents were Roman citizens.

– St. Patrick was a slave.
At age 16, St. Patrick was kidnapped and taken to Ireland by slavers, where he tended sheep for several years. At the age of 22, he ran away to England and took refuge in an abbey for more than 10 years, where he was taught to be a priest. St. Patrick later took his teachings back to Ireland, where he spent 30 years converting the pagans of Ireland to Christianity.

– Patrick’s color is blue.
Should we drink blue beer rather than green? The original color associated with St. Patrick (who would think) was blue. Blue was used to represent Ireland on flags and coats of arms. Green was associated with Ireland after St. Patrick’s life, presumably because of the greenness of the landscape.

– Snakes never existed in Ireland.
Patrick is said to have banished the snakes, or in some sources “toads” from Ireland but there is no evidence that snakes have ever existed in Ireland. The weather was too cold for them. Some think that the banished snakes were symbolic of the pagan priests.

– There are more Irish in the US than in Ireland.
The population of Ireland was estimated to be 4.8 million people. Whereas, there are 34.7 million Irish-Americans living in the US. This fact has a lot to do with the potato famine in Ireland when millions of Irish left the country for the US.

– No beer on St. Patrick’s Day?
St. Patrick’s day was a dry, religious holiday in Ireland from 1903 to 1970. That meant no beer, no drinking at all, all pubs were closed for the day.

– Chicago first dyed its river green.
In 1961, the Chicago River turned green for a full week due to 100 lbs of vegetable dye poured into it.

– Good luck finding a four-leafer.
Your chances of finding a four-leaf clover are about 1 in 10,000.

– 13 million pints of Guinness are sold on St. Patrick’s Day.
Drink, drink, and be merry! 5.5 million pints of Guinness are sold every day, but it’s nothing in comparison to 13 million that are consumed today.

Find out more about St. Patrick’s Day, its origins, symbols, how it is celebrated worldwide with our History tutors or read an article St. Patrick`s Day. Turn Yourself Green.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you and your families, and may God’s grace continue to be upon us all.