Most of us know St. Patrick's Day as the Irish drinking holiday, but where did it come from? Who was St. Patrick, and why is it celebrated on March 17th? Well, let me tell you!
St. Patrick was not actually born in Ireland-- he was born in Wales. The first time he went to Ireland was not by choice; when he was 16 years old he was kidnapped and forced to be a herdsman. He escaped and returned to his family only to be called back to Ireland a few years later by God through a vision in which the Irish people said to him, "we appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us." And so St. Patrick began his missionary career.
Another thing that St. Patrick is known for is chasing all of the snakes out of Ireland. Well, most people agree there probably weren't snakes in Ireland to begin with, but this could have been some kind of metaphor for converting pagans who used a serpent as their symbol.
And why do we celebrate on March 17th? That was the day that St. Patrick died. He is believed to be buried in the town of Downpatrick in Ireland.
And what would this blog post be without a factoid about alcohol?! Did you know that more Guinness is consumed in Britain than in Ireland? It's true. But even more interestingly, the second top consumer of Guinness in the world is Nigeria, with Ireland coming in third.
1 comment:
Thanks for the info, I got to be part of the group making Guinness drunk more in England than anywhere else. Although, I didn't have my own pint, just drank a little of Ashley's.
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