Here’s some things I learned about Saint Patrick while
researching for this post that I never knew until now.
March 17 is not Saint Patrick’s birthday, it is his date
of death. He was born in 387 AD in Britain and died March 17, 461 AD. When he
was sixteen years old, he was kidnapped from his home in Britain by Irish
Pirates and taken to Ireland where he became enslaved. At the time, Ireland
practiced paganism led by the Druids. Saint Patrick converted many of the Irish
to Christianity over his lifetime, and he did so by using traditional Celtic
symbols like the Bonfire and the Sun. He demonstrated the Holy Trinity by using
the Celtic symbol of the Shamrock.
Here are a few factoids you may not know about Saint
Patrick:
1. Patrick was not his given name. "Patrick’s ‘real’
name was Maewyn Succat, or in Latin, Magonus Succetus," according to
Giraffe Childcare and Early Learning, citing Irish legend, in a recent
educational infographic it created for the holiday. He took on the name Patrick
when he became a priest.
2. The shamrock is
not the symbol of Ireland. That honor goes to the harp. A popular icon of the
holiday, the shamrock was used by St. Patrick to teach the Holy Trinity.
There is an Irish tradition called the “Drowning of the
Shamrock” in which a shamrock is worn on the lapel for St. Patrick’s Day and
tossed in the last drink of the evening.
3. You may not
know this, but there are no female Leprechauns—only males. Just sayin’…
4. About those
snakes Saint Patrick supposedly cast into the sea: some say the snakes were
symbolic of the druids and paganism, others say the snakes were really snakes.
Ireland never had snakes. When the ocean receded from the land, Ireland had
never connected to other land that had snakes, so there were no snakes.
5. If it seems like Guinness is everywhere—it is. Approximately
13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed worldwide on St. Patrick's Day,
according to WalletHub, which released a St. Patrick's Day by the Numbers
report this week.
6. The first St.
Patrick's Day celebration took place in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in
1737.
7. St. Patrick's Day rakes in a lot of green. The
average amount American St. Patrick’s Day revelers will spend this holiday is
$36.52 per person, totaling a combined $4.6 billion.
8. “Everyone is
Irish on St. Patrick's Day”, but 33.3 million in America really are, which is
seven times the population of Ireland. You’d think we’d get to vote in their
elections.
9. That Pot O'
Gold won't go as far as you think. Should you be lucky enough to actually find that
mystical pot at the end of a rainbow this St. Patrick's Day, and it contained
1,000 gold coins weighing one ounce each, WalletHub estimated the total current
worth at $1.26 million. Now that’s a bummer. Maybe it would be better to enter
the lottery.
10. St. Patrick's
Day beers were forbidden for decades in Ireland. Despite the majority of
modern-day St. Patrick’s Day celebrations centering around bar crawls and drink
specials, from 1903 until 1970 all pubs were closed on the holiday due to
religious observances. So, maybe it’s more fun to be in America on St. Patrick’s
Day than to be in Ireland.
I hope all of you, no matter your religion or national
origin, have a wonderful day on Saint Patrick’s Day. Have fun, drink
responsibly, and don’t forget to wear some green or you’ll get pinched.
Sarah
J. McNeal is a multi-published author of several genres including time
travel, paranormal, western and historical fiction. She is a retired ER and
Critical Care nurse who lives in North Carolina with her four-legged children,
Lily, the Golden Retriever and Liberty, the cat. Besides her devotion to
writing, she also has a great love of music and plays several instruments
including violin, bagpipes, guitar and harmonica. Her books and short stories
may be found at Prairie Rose Publications and its imprints Painted Pony Books,
and Fire Star Press. Some of her fantasy and paranormal books may also be found
at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery and Victory Tales Press. She
welcomes you to her website and social media:
Do we consider ourselves Doers? I do. But am I a Doer all the time? No, not at all. Sometimes I do kick back, pull away, fall out, or stand by...and watch. However, this is only a respite--I have not lost my Doer persona.
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