St. Patrick’s Day 2017: Interesting Facts You Need To Know About The Holiday

St. Patrick’s Day is by far the craziest of all holidays. This is the day when we all wear green, celebrate freedom, parade around, and pretty much get shitfaced drinking green beer and other assorted alcoholic beverages.

St. Patrick’s Day 2017 is going to be massive, no doubt about it, and you should go out and have some crazy fun. However, most of us go berserk for St. Patty’s without even knowing why.

In that name, here are 5 rather interesting facts that may help you better understand this popular Irish holiday.

1. St. Patrick Wasn’t Really Irish

He wasn’t even born in Ireland, actually. His parents were Roman citizens living in modern-day England, or more precisely in either Scotland or Wales (scholars are still unsure and most of them can’t agree on the matter).

This is not really mind-blowing, though. St. Patrick was born in 385 AD, and by that time most Romans were Christians and the Christian religion was spreading like wildfire all over Europe.

2. His Color Was Blue, Not Green

Although St. Patrick’s Day is all about the color green, the original color associated with the holiday was actually blue. In numerous artworks depicting St. Patrick, he is wearing blue vestments, while King Henry VIII used a blue flag to represent the country.

Only later was green associated with the Emerald Isle, presumably due to the greenness of the countryside.

3. St. Patrick Was A Slave

When he was 16 years old, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away and sold him as a slave. He then spent some time in Ireland herding sheep and learning about the Irish culture.

6 years after the kidnapping, Patrick managed to escape and make his way to a monastery in England where he spent 12 years growing closer to God.

4. St. Patrick’s Shamrock Represents Holy Trinity

Although many people believe that the famous shamrock represents faith, hope, and love, the truth is a bit more holy, actually. This symbol was used by Patrick to teach others about the Holy Trinity.

The shamrock represents three things: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to teach people that these three entities could be seen as both separate AND united as one.

5. St. Patrick’s Was A Dry Holiday In Ireland Until 1970

Yes, nowadays St. Patrick’s Day is most commonly associated with the color green and excessive drinking, but Irish law (from 1903 to 1970) actually forbade drinking and declared St. Patrick’s Day a religious observance for the entire country, resulting in all the pubs across the country being shut down for the day.

Luckily, this isn’t the case anymore.