20 Fun St. Patrick’s Day Facts

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday that many of us enjoy. But how well do we *really* know the holiday? Check out these 20 fun facts for this lucky holiday.

1. There are three pipes in a traditional Irish bagpipe
2. The odds of finding a four-leaf clover are one in 10,000
3. Another name for St. Patrick’s Day is The Feast of Saint Patrick
4. Leprechauns are protected under European law
5. 14 million pints of Guinness are consumed on St. Patrick’s Day each year
6. The real St. Patrick was born in Britain
7. Another term used for Ireland is “The Emerald Isle”
8. Legend says that each leaf on the four-leaf color has a meaning: Hope, Faith, Love, and Luck
9. The Chicago river was first dyed Kelly green in 1962
10. According to Folklore, the best time to sneak up on a leprechaun is when they are mending their shoes
11. The original color of St. Patrick’s Day was blue
12. From 1927 to 1961, the one place in Ireland that legally allowed drinking on St. Patrick’s Day was the RDS Dog Show
13. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in America, in New York City in 1762
14. There are no female leprechauns
15. “Erin Go Bragh” means “Ireland Forever”
16. The world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade is in an Irish village
17. According to Irish lore, St. Patrick drove out all of the snakes out of Ireland
18. Leprechauns earn their gold by making and mending shoes
19. St. Patrick used the shamrock as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when introducing Christianity to Ireland
20. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade lasts for over five hours