1. The Irish can’t claim credit for the invention of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
The world’s first recorded Saint Patrick's Day Parade took place in Boston on 18 March 1737 followed by the New York Parade, which first took place in 1762.
Ireland took over a century to jump on the parade float with the rest of the world and only had their first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin in 1931.
2. This St. Patrick’s Day we’ll all be wearing green, but shouldn’t it be blue??
The original color associated with St. Patrick was blue but because the Saint preached about the Holy Trinity through the symbol of the shamrock and the Irish ‘little folk’ were also associated with green, it became the most common shade in connection with him.
Parade committee organizers across the world wouldn’t take too kindly to us changing the colour now, so maybe we’ll leave it at green.
3. 100 lbs. of green dye was poured into the Chicago River in honor of St. Patrick’s Day
In 1961, business manager of Chicago’s Journeymen Plumbers Local Union, Stephen Bailey, received permission to turn the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.
Due to uncertainties about the amount of dye it would take to turn the river green, a massive 100 lbs of vegetable dye was used in comparison to the 25 lbs used today.
The Chicago River stayed green for a full week.
4. Saint Patrick banished the Snakes from Ireland
… and not a snake in sight. Patrick is said to have banished the snakes from Ireland but in fact, Ireland never had any snakes as the weather was too miserable for the cold-blooded reptiles.
The banished snakes were thought to be symbolic of the pagan druid priests with whom Patrick might have had a few issues to iron out.
5. George Washington ordered that “St. Patrick” be the response to the password “Boston” on Evacuation Day
On Evacuation Day, March 17 1776, the General Orders issued by Washington were that those wishing to pass through Continental lines should give the password “Boston,” to which the reply should be “St. Patrick”.
6. The resting place of Saint Patrick
Though never fully proven, Down Cathedral in the town of Downpatrick, Ireland, is thought to contain St. Patrick’s remains and, according to legend, he lies beside Saints Columcille and Brigit.
Apparently he’s missing a few things like a jaw and a tooth but these can be seen in Dublin Museum.
7. Saint Patrick’s Relics
A few of the Saint’s relics can still be viewed in Ireland today: St. Patrick’s Bell and shrines of the Saint’s jaw and tooth can be viewed in Dublin National Museum while Patrick’s four gospels are held at the The Royal Irish Academy.
Saint Patrick’s Crozier, with which he banished the imaginary snakes, was venerated for centuries in Dublins Christ Church only to be publically burned in 1538 under the orders of the archbishop, George Browne.
Sounds like George had a few issues too.
8. Drink, drink, and yet more drink!
The global corporate-relations director of Guinness says 5.5 million pints of Guinness are sold on any given day but this figure rises to an astounding 13 million on St. Patrick’s Day.
IBISWorld also reports that Saint Patrick’s Day 2012 brought in $245 million in beer sales.
Who’s up for making March 18 into International Hangover Day?
9. The Royal Dublin Dog Show was the place to be on St. Patrick’s Day
Due to strict laws on the curtailment of sales of alcohol on Holy Days in Ireland, from 1927 to 1961, the only place a thirsty Irish person could legally get a drink on Paddy’s day was at The Royal Dublin Dog Show.
One TD was reported to complain that it was a grand occasion “except for all the dogs.”
At the time, the church and state were worried that the Irish would drink too much on the day.
Turns out they were right. Oh well.
10. And after all that, he’s not even Irish!
Saint Patrick was actually born in Roman Britain at the end of the 4th century AD and taken to Ireland by slavers as a teenager.
The exact place of his birth is debatable as some say Scotland and some say Wales but, either way, he’s Irish now.
Sources: Ripley's and Rev Patrick Comerford
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Seanmor | Mar 13, 2013, 09:06 AM EDT
Number 5 reminds me of a TV news item I say in the spring of 1986, which stated that the Irish language was widely used by Irishmen in Washington's army at Valley Forge.In early 1962 I was the Duty NCO for my company of marines at Camp Lejune, N.C. and my Tennessian buddy who loved Irish music was my assistant. We placed a record player on the balcony upstairs in our barracks and played Irish records for about 2 hours- no one objected.
Smyrnian | Mar 13, 2013, 06:51 AM EDT
Stevenstar - Take your meds now; there's a good lad.
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 09:00 PM EDT
@@@@@anglo-norman | Mar 12, 2013, 01:40 PM EDT >>>>>>> FOR A MOMENT I WAS WONDERING WHAT THE DREADFUL SMELL IN HERE WAS AND THEN I REALISED IT WAS YOU AGAIN !!! YUCK !!! YUCK !!! YUCK !
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 08:58 PM EDT
@@Smyrnian | Mar 12, 2013, 04:19 PM EDT ?>>>>>>>> GREAT EXCELLENT NOW DO US ALL A FAVOUR MATE AND STAY THERE ...!! CHEERS !!
Seanmor | Mar 12, 2013, 08:21 PM EDT
At least one of these comments reminds me of an article I read in an NYC Irish newspaper about 20 years ago. It told how a group of Children from the U.S. were denigraded and ridiculed by people in Ireland for conversing in Irish. Their Irish hosts thought there was no need to use this language in Ireland, much less in the U.S. For the past 2 decades, I and my wife (a New England Methodist) exchange cúpla focal Gaeilge gach lá. Does this mean that the Politically Correct in Ireland do NOT have a Céad Mile Fáilte for us?
Smyrnian | Mar 12, 2013, 04:19 PM EDT
STEVENSTAR - Wrong yet again. I am Irish born and probably lived more years in Ireland than you are alive. I have an Irish passport. I have a home in Ireland. I pay taxes in Ireland. I don't have a great auntie Mary. I don't have any Boston relatives. I am not obsessed and fanatical about Irish people because I AM one. I told you all this before. Have you no ability to process and retain information or are you so clouded with your anti-American obsession the facts escape you? Get a grip on yourself man and please don't be skippin g your meds....it shows.
Tipperaryson | Mar 12, 2013, 02:19 PM EDT
Anglo-norman- I agree 100% Stevenstar statement makes little sense and he has done nothing but embarrass himself
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 09:50 AM EDT
@@Smyrnian | Mar 11, 2013, 06:02 PM EDT Stevenstar - The US is a multicultural society and Irish ethnicity is strongly represented in the population. People with Irish forebears celebrate their ethnicity, of which St. Patrick's day is a part. Get it now??? >>>>>>> THERE ARE NEARLY 1 MILLION IRISH BORN PEOPLE LLIVING IN ENGLAND AND GOD KNOWS HOW MANY MORE IN AUSTRALIA AND CANADA .. SO WHY DO YOU THINK ITS COOL TO BE SO FANATICAL AND OBSESSED WITH IRISH PEOPLE JUST BECAUSE YOUR GREAT AUNTY MARY LEFT HERE 100 YEARS AGO TO WORK IN BOSTON ?? YOUR AMERICAN BE PROUD TO BE AMERICAN FOR GODS SAKE... PEOPLE ARE ONLY LAUGHING AT YOU PEOPLE .. GET IT NOW?
STEVENSTAR | Mar 12, 2013, 09:47 AM EDT
@@@anglo-norman | Mar 12, 2013, 03:53 AM EDT StevenStar- Better a circus act than a puke & piss fest son..>>>>>>>>>>>DO YOU NOT HAVE A JOB MATE ? YOUR ON HERE POSTING YOUR BITTER COMMENTS MORNING NOON AND NIGHT ? GET A LIFE AND STOP POSTING SILLY COMMMENTS..AND SPREADING YOUR BITTTERNESS ITS NOT COOL !!
DLeader | Mar 11, 2013, 09:39 PM EDT
Recent research (Marcus Losack, 2012) indicates that Patrick, was most likely from Brittany, France, even though his family was from Wales or Scotland (which at the time was Wales). The family estate n Brittany was sacked and his parents were killed. Patrick was then taken as a slave, probably to Co, Antrim.
Seanmor | Mar 11, 2013, 06:05 PM EDT
Green, White and Orange flag: One account has it that the firtst time a military force used this flag was in the late 1860s, when a unit of Fenian soldiers, many of whom were Civil War veterans, invaded Canada in the hopes of conquering a hunk of what then considered British territory and ransom it for Irish independence.
Smyrnian | Mar 11, 2013, 06:02 PM EDT
Stevenstar - The US is a multicultural society and Irish ethnicity is strongly represented in the population. People with Irish forebears celebrate their ethnicity, of which St. Patrick's day is a part. Get it now???
citizen69 | Mar 11, 2013, 01:28 PM EDT
forgedinulster.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/ulster-scots-held-first-st-patricks-day.html
Will Hamilton | Mar 11, 2013, 07:51 AM EDT
It is not know if the foreign religious fanatic for whom the day is named was Welsh or French. He is credited with establishing a foreign religion that became so embedded and politically powerful that it's uniformed members have been raping children ever since and mostly getting away with it. The more dedicated native acolytes act as traitors working as agents on behalf of a Mafia of sinister male virgins in Rome. For this they can sometimes received medals or titles but mostly just some mumbo jumbo promise of a reward from an invisible man after they die.
Will Hamilton | Mar 11, 2013, 07:36 AM EDT
The tradition of a parade in honour of "St" Pa at the instigation of the Irish Protestant organisation The Knights of St. Patrick. The inaugural parade took place on 17 March 1783. In what has been describe as an act of cultural re-orientation the British established a new focus of ritual and spectacle in the figure of St. Patrick, a pre-reformation saint who appealed to both the Roman Catholic and Irish Protestant traditions in Ireland (Cullen, 1997, p.67) Guarding the inaugural procession were the mainly Protestant Volunteers who were charged with keeping order on the streets and at the service in the Protestant St. Patrick's Cathedral. It supposedly commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[1] It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general.[4]
Will Hamilton | Mar 10, 2013, 10:23 PM EDT
A few issues to iron out with. The bringer of genocide has a few issues. Let's have Irish Pride day and thumb our noses at Patricus.
STEVENSTAR | Mar 10, 2013, 09:41 PM EDT
NO SORRY THE WEIRDEST THING TO ME IS THAT YOU PEOPLE CELEBRATE IT OVER THERE IN AMERICA .. WE DONT CELEBRATE JULY 5TH OR THANKSGIVING OVER HERE ..SO IM BAFFLED WHY YOU SHOULD CELEBRATE OUT NATIONAL DAY ..... AND NOT ONLY THAT.. TURN IT INTO A RIGHT CIRCUS ACT...CHEERS :)....
Maureen Hawkins | Mar 10, 2013, 08:00 PM EDT
The colour green did not become associated with St. Patrick because the Saint preached about the Holy Trinity through the symbol of the shamrock and the Irish ‘little folk’ were also associated with green. His colour was always "St. Patrick's blue," which was also the colour associated with Ireland from at least the 12th century on (note that the quartering for Ireland on the British royal coat of arms is a harp on St. Patrick's blue & has been since the Middle Ages; it has not been altered since the late 12th century, after the Anglo-Normans conquered Ireland). Green first became associated with Ireland and, by extension, with St. Patrick in the 1790s when the United Irishmen created a new green flag for Ireland (with a harp on it) by mixing St. Patrick's blue with orange to symbolize an Ireland of all religious persuasions united against British control. The present Irish flag, a symbol also of such unity, thus, ironically, has orange in it twice despite Orange Unionist rejection of such unity (Northern Irish Protestant Unionists generally believe the tricolour is green, white, and gold for the Papal flag, but its prescribed colours are green, white, and orange-- the white represents the hope for peace between Orange Unionists & "Green" nationalists ).
nosoupforU | Mar 10, 2013, 07:53 PM EDT
His name wasn't Pat, he was'n Irish and he is not a Saint.
Seanmor | Mar 10, 2013, 01:42 PM EDT
Regarding #6: I visited the orthern part of the homeland in 2008, accompanied by my wife, a New England Methodist. While in Downpatrick, she led me to the Church of Ireland cemetery and down the path to the reputed graves of Patrick, Bridget and Colun Chille. By other half (and by far the better half) has enough uinfo on that cemery and church that she could be a tourist guide.