Did You Know?

• St Patrick was taken as a slave after being captured from Wales by the Irish during the 5th century AD. St Patrick(Pádraig in Gaelic) eventually escaped but returned to Ireland as a bishop. March 17th is celebrated in honour of his life as this was the day St Patrick died (493AD) and is an official holiday in Ireland.
• Although St Patrick is most famously known for banishing snakes from Ireland, it appears there were never any snakes living there! Snakes are symbolic of evil (the serpent) (or the pagans) and this is what the bishop St Patrick tried to rid Ireland of by introducing Christianity!
• The Shamrock(Trifolium dubium or Seamróg- Gaelic) was used by St Patrick to show how the holy trinity can exist as one (ie The Father, The Son, The Holy Ghost).
• 'Downing the Shamrock' on St Patrick's Day is putting a shamrock leaf in your last drink(usually Whiskey) to give you a prosperous year. This is why people wear green on St Patrick's Day.
• The first ever St Patrick's Day march happened in the US by migrant Irish.
• Guinness, an Irish drink, sells 13million pints across the world on St Patrick's Day, often with a shamrock patterned into the head of the drink.