Today, Wednesday, March 17^th is St. Patrick’s Day. While St. Patrick’s Day now is associated with wearing green, parades, traditional Irish meals, green beer, and enjoying good times with friends and family. St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated around the world and the holiday celebrations date back to the 17^th Century. 

St. Patrick’s Day is a day honored for the patron saint of Ireland and is celebrated with cultural and religious celebrations around the world. Not many know how the holiday and celebrations today came to be. Here are some interesting facts about St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick the patron Saint of Ireland was born in Britain not Ireland near the end of the 4^th Century. At age 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and was brought to Northern Ireland. During his days in Northern Ireland, St. Patrick was a shepherd and eventually escaped by to Britain before returning to Ireland as a Christian missionary years later. He is associated with Ireland because he was one of the first people to bring Christianity to the country in the 5^th Century.

Green was not always the color. Historians believe that St. Patrick’s color was blue not green. The use of green became popular during the 1600s and 1700s when the clover became the symbol of nationalism in Ireland.

The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in America. The parade was first held in New York City on March 17^th, 1895.

The famous Corned Beef and Cabbage meal was an American innovation. While ham and cabbage were eaten in Ireland, corned beef was a cheaper substitute for Irish immigrants, who escaped the potato famine, and were living in Manhattan in the late 19^th and early 20^th Century.

Every year, Americans spend about $6 billion dollars celebrating the holiday and roughly 13 million pints of Guinness are consumed every year.

A Shamrock’s three leaves are said to symbolize faith, hope, and love. A fourth leaf symbolizes luck, which is why a four-leaf clover is considered to be lucky and are rare to find.