A Bit About St Patrick’s Day…

St Patrick was born ages ago in about 387. When he was 16 he was captured in Wales by mean Irish raiders and taken as a slave to the Emerald Isle. He lived there for six years before running away and returning to his family. Then he entered the church and got ordained. He went back to Ireland and worked as a Christian missionary, before dying in 461 on the 17th March – St Patrick’s Day. By the seventh century he had become revered as Ireland’s patron saint.

The End.

st patricks day infographic

St. Patrick’s Day Fun Facts

Fun Facts!

  • 13 million pints of Guinness will be enjoyed on St Patrick’s Day. That’s 7.5 million more than any other day
  • St Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the US in Boston in 1737. Nowadays, around 34 million Yanks claim Irish ancestry
  • St Patrick never chased any snakes out of Ireland. The snakes apparently represented the pagan and druid beliefs that died out in favour of Christianity
  • The original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000-year lease
  • Bram Stoker was working as a civil servant in Dublin when he wrote Dracula in 1897
  • The actual colour that represents St Patrick’s Day is blue. Green became popular thanks to its association with spring and crop production
  • There are about 10,000 regular three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf version. If you’re lucky enough to find a four-leafer, each leaf means something. The first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck
  • The famous Oscar statue handed out at the Academy Awards was designed by Cedric Gibbons who was born in Dublin in 1823
  • The phrase, ‘Drowning the Shamrock” comes from the custom of floating a shamrock on top of whiskey before drinking it. Neck it down and legend has it you will have a prosperous year
  • The longest place name in Ireland is Muckanaghederdauhaulia which has an impressive 22 letters
  • Irish rockers the Pogues were originally called ‘Pogue Mahone’ which translates to ‘kiss my arse’ in Gaelic . And speaking of Irish rockers, U2 have sold over 150 million records

Commemorate St. Paddy’s Day or any special occasion with old newspapers from our historic archive.

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