March 17th as most of you know, is St. Patrick’s Day. The day that most of the western world becomes Irish for a day. St. Patrick’s day is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (Left, credit:Irish indeed), the patron saint of Ireland.
Today is actually a great day for brewers as well, while the day is a religious and cultural celebration. It has become a day that is almost synonymously remembered for drinking a lot of green beer (or just any colour of beer), and wearing green clothing that says “Kiss Me I’m Irish”, even when most people aren’t even Irish. Guinness, has come out and said that they sell over 10 Million pints of their black beer on St. Patrick’s day, which is about double of what they sell on a regular basis.
I researched some facts about St. Patrick’s day that you probably didn’t know, but probably should. You could even quiz your friends and family over some green pints later today, if you really want. Here’s the List (or you could watch a video of me saying some of these facts, so you don’t have to read below):
- St. Patrick isn’t actually Irish, he was born in Wales to a British-Roman family.
- March 17th is synonymous with St. Patrick, because that is the day he unfortunately passed away.
- Blue was actually the original colour of St. Patrick’s Day, Green was thought to be unlucky in the old days. Blue was also the colour that he wore on his garments in old Tapestries and Paintings.
- The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade took place in NYC in 1762, and as of now, more then 100 cities in the U.S. alone have a parade today.
- Last but certainly not least, in Ireland of all places, St. Patrick’s day used to be a “dry” holiday. It’s true, the day of the year that has become one of the biggest days for drinking during the year, used to be a non-alcoholic holiday in the country that it is mostly linked to. Why you ask? From 1903-1970 Irish law made St. Patrick’s day (March 17th) a religious holiday, meaning that all of the pubs in the country were closed.
If you would like to hunt across the internet for more facts about St. Patrick’s day, be our guest, you’re family and friends will probably be tired of them by the end of these five anyways.
Whatever you decide to do on St. Patrick’s day, we all hope you have a safe and fun March 17th. Please drink responsibly.
