Happy St. Patrick’s Day and faith and begorrah to you all. Everybody loves to be Irish on this day and I love to find fun trivia about the day. The following is what I unearthed.
About St. Patrick
- St Patrick was born in Firth of Clyde in Northern Britain (Scotland).
- His birth name was Succath.
- When he was sixteen, Succath was kidnapped by Irish raiders along with his two sisters. They were all sold into slavery in Ireland.
- He was a slave for six years before he escaped and returned to his home and family in Briton
- He came to believe that his kidnapping and enslavement was because he didn’t believe in God.
- Years after he returned to Briton he had a vision from God. This compelled him to study Christianity and eventually led him to Rome where he was baptized as “Patrick.”
- He became a bishop and then returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary.
- The legend goes that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, but since Ireland never had any snakes, it is believed that this was a metaphor. And the snakes were symbolic of ‘evil’ or pagan idols.
About St. Patrick’s Day
- St. Patrick’s Day was a relatively minor religious holiday in Ireland until the 1970s.
- In America, New York City hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1762, and by the mid-19th century parades were common.
- In 1962, officials in Chicago decided to dye a portion of the Chicago River green.
- The tradition started when parade organizer Steve Bailey who was also the head of a plumber’s union noticed how a dye used to trace sources of river pollution had stained a worker’s overalls a brilliant green. Bailey thought, why not use the dye to turn the whole river green on St. Patrick’s Day? And a tradition was born.
- Corned beef and cabbage isn’t an Irish traditional dish and is more American than Irish. The dish is a variation of a traditional Irish meal that included bacon. But because early Irish-Americans were poor, corned beef was a cheaper alternative, and cabbage happened to be a springtime vegetable. And thus deliciousness was born.
- Irish stout is the drink of choice on St. Patrick’s Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, about 3 million pints of Guinness are downed.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day. Be safe, be free and be Irish.
Writer O’ Chick
Copyright 2014
