17 Fun Fact About St. Patty’s Day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Transworld, Inc. Electrical Contractors!

Here are 17 fun facts about this historical holiday.

1. Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feat of Saint Patrick is a cultural and religious celebration held on March 17 which is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick.
2. In 1903, St Patrick’s Day became an official public holiday in Ireland and that same year the first St Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland was held in Waterford.
3. St. Patrick was actually not born in Ireland. It is believed that he was born in modern day England.
4. He first went to Ireland after he was kidnapped from his home in England and forced to work as a shepherd for Irish invaders.
5. While in captivity, he became very religious. He eventually escaped back to England but later returned to Ireland as a missionary and introduced Christianity to the Irish.
6. In Irish folklore, Saint Patrick gets credit for driving all the snakes out of Ireland.
7. There are 34.7 million U.S. residents with Irish ancestry. This number is more than seven times the population of Ireland itself.
8. Irish is the United States second most frequently reported ancestry, ranking first is German.
9. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was on March 17, 1762 in New York City by Irish soldiers who were serving in the English military
10. Today there are over 100 St. Patrick’s Day Parades across the United States.
11. There are seven places in the United States named after the shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland including Mount Gay-Shamrock, WV; Shamrock, TX; Shamrock Lakes, IN; and Shamrock, OK.
    12. Corned beef and cabbage is the traditional St. Patrick’s Day Dish.
12. Irish soda bread gets its name from the use of baking soda rather than yeast as the leavening agent.
13. For many years, blue was the color most often associated with St. Patrick. St. Patrick’s blue was considered symbolic of Ireland for many centuries and the Irish Presidential Standard is still blue.
14. Why green? St Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.
15. The phrase “wearing of the green” comes from a song of the same name, which laments United Irishmen supporters being persecuted for wearing green.
16. Since 1962, Chicago dyes their river “Kelly” green. The dye lasts for about five hours.