7 Things You Didn’t Know About St. Patrick

Do you know this about St. Patrick?

March 17 marks St. Patrick’s Day, patron of Ireland. What began as a religious celebration has become a popular and massive party where the color green, clovers and beers are a distinctive part of the celebration.

Not only is it celebrated in Ireland, but indeed the Irish community that exists around the world takes the opportunity to celebrate it big, whether in Boston, Buenos Aires, London, or Sydney. And it is that in the nineteenth century, many Irish emigrated to avoid famine, and took with them their traditions, including the world-famous St. Patrick’s Day, although there are things that may not be as well-known, like the ones we tell you below.

1. He was neither Irish nor his name was Patrick

St. Patrick’s Parade in Dublin, Ireland (MediaProduction / Getty Images)

The name of this saint was Maewyn Succat and he was born in a small Scottish town at the end of the fourth century. He arrived in Ireland after escaping from pirates, and from there he spent six years learning the Celtic language. He went to France to be a priest and changed his name to Patricius, After 46 years he decided to return to Ireland to evangelize its inhabitants, and there he remained until his death.

2. The green that I love you blue

The order of St. Patrick used the color blue, not green (SharapaAndriy – iStock)

In the celebrations of St. Patrick, everything is dyed green, but in fact, the original color with which the order of St. Patrick was identified was light blue.

The use of the green color for this holiday began to spread through the color of the shamrocks of the Irish independence movement at the end of the 18th century, and if on March 17, there is some clueless who goes out without something green, it is tradition to give him a pinch.

3. Alcohol Prohibited

St. Patrick at The Temple Bar pub in Dublin, a day when you drink a lot of beer (Aitormmfoto / Getty Images)

During most of the twentieth century, St. Patrick’s Day was considered a strictly religious holiday, which meant that the pubs were closed that day, so there was neither beer nor any excess. The 1903 law was annulled in 1970 and beer ran again through the streets.

4. The first parade was not in Ireland

An old photograph of Boston, Massachusetts, USA (ilbusca / Getty Images / iStockphoto)

Everyone who lives in Boston will claim, at some point, that they have Irish roots, even if it is not entirely true. But there was something when the first celebration of St. Patrick’s Day took place, in 1737, in this city, long before the first parade in Ireland, in 1931.

5. New York, place of the biggest parade

St. Patrick’s Parade in New York, USA (stu99 / Getty Images)

Although the Dublin parade is the most famous, the largest and most impressive takes place in New York, where Fifth Avenue is “taken” by goblins and floats adorned with green. More than two million people attend each year.

6. A green river?

The Chicago River is dyed green on St. Patrick’s Day (stevegeer / Getty Images / iStockphoto)

Although everything turns green, including beers, this tradition reaches its maximum madness in the city of Chicago, where the waters of the Chicago River have been dyed green since 1962, but using a mixture of biodegradable vegetable dye that does not contaminate.

7. Not without my Guinness

During St. Patrick’s the number of Guinness beers consumed in the world triples (mediaphotos / Getty Images / iStockphoto)

Guinness beer sales soar on St. Patrick’s Day. The average is 5.5 million pints of black beer in the world per day. That day, that figure doubles, according to an estimate by WalletHub, there will be 13 million Guinness pints consumed this year.

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