Your Daily 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.
Saint Patrick was not Irish by birth; he was a Romano-Briton Christian missionary born in England.
St. Patrick’s given name was Maewyn Succat.
According to the United States Census, 36 million Americans have Irish ancestry. Yet the population of Ireland is only 4.4 million.
O’Neill is the “Irish Capital of Nebraska,” and home to the world’s largest shamrock.
In 1995, Congress proclaimed March to be Irish-American Heritage Month.
The color originally associated with St. Patrick was blue; green became associated during the 19th century.
The color green is also commonly associated with Ireland, also known as “The Emerald Isle.”
The Irish flag is green, white and orange. The green symbolizes the people of the south, and orange, the people of the north. White represents the peace that brings them together as a nation.
In 1737 in Boston the first St Patrick’s Day parade took place.
Today New York’s St. Patrick’s Day parade is the longest running civilian parade in the world.
On any given day 5.5 million pints of Guinness, the famous Irish stout brand, are consumed around the world, but on St. Patrick’s Day, that number more than doubles to 13 million pints.
St. Patrick’s Day did not become a national holiday in Ireland in 1903.
On St. Patrick’s Day, Hallmark usually sells anywhere from 8-15 million St. Patrick’s Day cards each year.
There are four towns in the United States named Shamrock located in Texas, West Virginia, Indiana, and Oklahoma.
Corned beef and cabbage is an American Saint Patrick’s Day meal.
At the beginning of March, McDonalds offers its Shamrock Shake.
Many people wear green on this holiday to avoid being pinched.
Nine of the people who signed our Declaration Of Independence were of Irish origin.
Lucky four-leaf clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.