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10 things you didn’t know about St. Patrick’s Day

WASHINGTON — Think you know your St. Patrick’s Day stuff? Find out more than you ever wanted to know about the origins and the celebrations of the holiday.



Who was St. Patrick? Why are shamrocks connected to the holiday? What’s with the whole green thing? Click through and find out.

<p><strong>Who was St. Patrick?</strong></p>
<p>He’s the patron saint of Ireland. His birth and death dates aren’t precisely known, but he was allegedly active in the second half of the fifth century.</p>
<p>He was born in Britain; he was kidnapped at about 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. He lived and worked there for about six years before he escaped. As a priest, he went back to the Emerald Isle, and is known as the man who brought Christianity to the country. (He’s also credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, which is probably a metaphor since no one has seen any indication that there ever were snakes in Ireland anyway.)</p>
<p>March 17 is his feast day, the day he’s reported to have died. It’s not a Holy Day of Obligation among Catholics worldwide, but it is in Ireland.</p>
Who was St. Patrick? He’s the patron saint of Ireland. His birth and death dates aren’t precisely known, but he was allegedly active in the second half of the fifth century. He was born in Britain; he was kidnapped at about 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. He lived and worked there for about six years before he escaped. As a priest, he went back to the Emerald Isle, and is known as the man who brought Christianity to the country. (He’s also credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, which is probably a metaphor since no one has seen any indication that there ever were snakes in Ireland anyway.) March 17 is his feast day, the day he’s reported to have died. It’s not a Holy Day of Obligation among Catholics worldwide, but it is in Ireland. (Nheyob via Wikimedia Commons)
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<p><strong>Who was St. Patrick?</strong></p>
<p>He’s the patron saint of Ireland. His birth and death dates aren’t precisely known, but he was allegedly active in the second half of the fifth century.</p>
<p>He was born in Britain; he was kidnapped at about 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. He lived and worked there for about six years before he escaped. As a priest, he went back to the Emerald Isle, and is known as the man who brought Christianity to the country. (He’s also credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, which is probably a metaphor since no one has seen any indication that there ever were snakes in Ireland anyway.)</p>
<p>March 17 is his feast day, the day he’s reported to have died. It’s not a Holy Day of Obligation among Catholics worldwide, but it is in Ireland.</p>
<p><strong>For that matter, where did the whole green/Irish thing come from?</strong></p>
<p>Early representations of the first kings of Ireland, as well as the mythical figure Flaitheas Eireann, are associated with blue. When King Henry VIII turned Ireland into a kingdom in 1542, the flag was a golden harp on a blue background. When King George III set up a new order for Ireland, he picked a light blue for the Order of St. Patrick, which was the color used for the early St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.</p>
<p>So where did the green come from? There are a few theories: One says it’s a nod to the nickname The Emerald Island; another says that new colors were picked for the Irish flag because between Scotland, England and Wales had blue among their colors and the Irish wanted to stand out.</p>
<p>Notice the mix of green and blue sported by the marcher in D.C.&#8217;s 2015 St. Patrick&#8217;s Day parade, pictured above.</p>

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to WTOP, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child. He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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