We celebrate Washington and Lincoln on (or near) the days
they were born. We celebrate St. Patrick on the anniversary of his death. St.
Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, but there’s no evidence
snakes EVER lived there. Too cold, I guess. Come to think of it, I never saw a
snake in England, Scotland or Wales, either. The shamrock isn’t the symbol of
Ireland; the harp is. The shamrock is associated with St. Patrick because he
supposedly used them to teach pagans about the holy trinity. There are 4.2
million people living in Ireland today, and about 34 million Americans who can
claim Irish ancestry (I’m one of them). So I guess you could say there are a
lot more Irish in the U.S. than in Ireland. Here’s the oddest fact about St.
Patrick I’ve dug up: His color was blue, not green. So why do we wear green
March 17? I’ve no idea.
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