Community Corner

Show Patch Your St. Patrick's Day Green!

If you are celebrating the Irish Holiday this weekend, show your green, or we might have to pinch you.

Whether you're really Irish or not this St. Patrick's Day, that doesn't mean you can't celebrate with a funny hat, shamrock sunglasses and plenty of green.

So, when you're out having fun this St. Patrick's Day, show off your green (it is Patch's favorite color)! Just hit "Add Photos and Videos" on this article and you're on your way.

In the meantime, impress your friends with some St. Patrick's Day trivia:

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Fun Facts

  • In the United States, it's customary to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. But in Ireland the color was long considered to be unlucky because folklore says that green is the faeries favorite color. In Irish folklore, faeries were likely to steal children who wear too much of the color.
  • Shamrocks are believed to represent rebirth and life because of its green color. The four leaves of the clover represent faith, love, hope and luck.
  • On average, a new Irish pub opens in the U.S. every day.
  • According to Guinness, 13 million pints of the beer are consumed around the world on St. Patrick's Day. 30 percent of those 13 million pints are consumed in the U.S. alone.
  • One in 161 Americans is named Patrick. That's about two million people - more than the entire population of Ireland.

History behind the Holiday

St. Patrick wasn’t Irish

The man whom the holiday honors was born in Britain in the third century. He was kidnapped as a teenager and taken to Ireland, where he was enslaved and forced to work as a shepherd. He eventually escaped, and returned home, but legend says he heard a heavenly voice commanding him to return to Ireland and convert the people to Christianity.

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There were never snakes in Ireland

Legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from Ireland by chasing them into the sea after they assailed him during a 40 day fast. However, all evidence suggests that Ireland never had any snakes because, as an island, snakes were unable to migrate across open ocean.

First St. Patrick's Day held in New York, not Ireland

Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets to reconnect with their Irish heritage.

St. Patrick's Day: a minor religious holiday in Ireland

St. Patrick's Day did not become a national holiday in Ireland until 1903 and the first parade wasn't held in Dublin until 1931. It was originally a minor religious holiday, where a Catholic priest would acknowledge the feast day and families would celebrate with a big meal.

For more

  • St. Patrick's Day Events in Southeast Michigan


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