Fun Facts about St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The actual color of St. Patrick is blue. Green became associated with St. Patrick's Day during the 19th century. Green, in Irish legends, was worn by fairies and immortals, and also by people to encourage their crops to grow.
St. Patrick did not actually drive snakes out of Ireland; the snakes represent the pagans that he converted to Christianity.
The very first St. Patrick's Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.
In Chicago, on St. Patrick's Day, the rivers are dyed green. Mayor Daley is also of Irish descent.
In Seattle, there is a ceremony where a green stripe is painted down the roads.
Most Catholics attend mass in the morning and then attend the St. Patrick's Day parade.
Shamrocks are worn on the lapel on this day.
In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair
Many young people dye their hair green for the special day.
Many people wear green on this holiday to avoid being pinched.
The phrase, "Drowning The Shamrock" is from the custom of floating the shamrock on the top of whiskey before drinking it. The Irish believe that if you keep the custom, then you will have a prosperous year.
Many bars in the United States, and abroad, serve green beer to celebrate St. Patty's Day.
Lucky Charms, a favorite cereal brand among many, young and old, was created in 1963, with its popular mascot, Lucky the Leprechaun. Its jig is a memorable tune for many, including the young at heart:
Hearts, Stars, and Horseshoes
Clovers and Blue moons
Pots of gold and rainbows,
And the red balloon
That’s the luck of me lucky charms!
Their magically delicious!
Multi-published and Best-Selling author Cynthia Hickey had
three cozy mysteries and two novellas published through Barbour Publishing. Her
first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational
category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy,
Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All
three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary
Agency, along with a new cozy series, all of which stay in the top 50 of Amazon’s
ebooks for their genre. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013
and 2014 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents. She is active on FB, twitter,
and Goodreads. She lives in Arizona with her husband, one of their seven
children, two dogs and two cats. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy
and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at www.cynthiahickey.com
Thanks for sharing, Cynthia. I will certainly be wearing green on St. Patrick's Day.
ReplyDeletemauback55 at gmail dot com
Learned somethings I didn't know about St. Patrick and being Irish. FYI Mayor Daley has not been the Mayor of Chicago for a few years. Mayor Emanuel is definitely not Irish. But the Chicago River is still died green every year. (I don't get that.) I always tell people I am wearing orange on St. Patrick's day because my Irish ancestors were Protestant. The Scots were given land grants in Northern Ireland from King William and Queen Mary in the 1600s(I think) for their loyalty to the crown. These Scots were Presbyterian. This is present day Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jubilee, for giving me some facts :) I love finding out important trivia.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I see I was beaten to the punch. I was going to correct that Mayor Daley hasn't been mayor for several years, but there are a lot of people of Irish descent living in Chicago. Irish immigrants came to Chicago since way before the Great Chicago Fire and many who live in Chicago today descend from those immigrants.
ReplyDeleteSome bars even serve green beer. I think I'll stick to my green smoothie made in my Nutribullet LOL.
Cynthia, instead of kissing the Blarney stone, put the St. Patrick's Centre in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland on your bucket list. There are a lot of sites in Northern Ireland associated with St. Patrick. http://saintpatrickcentre.com/ Here's an article I wrote several years ago: http://celticvoices.blogspot.com/2010/03/why-we-need-st-patrick.html
ReplyDeleteI did not know that blue was the color of St. Patrick. Interesting post. sm wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI love St. Patricks Day. We always had fun with the custom of pinching someone who didn't wear something green that day. People still do that. I have a shoulder Pin of a clover that I like to wear, but my clothes usually has some green also. I also am part Irish. That would be a nice place to visit since my Ancestors were from there. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteMaxie mac262(at)me(dot)com