St. Patrick's Day Fast Facts: Beyond the Blarney

National Geographic News ^ | March 15, 2005 | Sean Markey

[FeliciaCat]

Millions of revelers will celebrate St. Patrick's Day on Thursday. A portion of them will undoubtedly find their way to an Irish pub, where they'll raise a pint of stout—not a glass of green beer, God willing—and wish their companions "Slainté!" The Irish word, pronounced SLAN-cha, means "health."

There may be scientific truth to the toast. At a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, two years ago, researchers reported that Guinness may be as effective as daily aspirin in reducing the blood clots that cause heart attacks. (The benefit derives from antioxidants, which the researchers said reduce cholesterol deposits on arterial walls. The compounds are found in dark Irish stouts but not their paler cousins.)

In the spirit of the holiday, National Geographic News rustled up other facts related to St. Patrick's Day festivities. Take heart—we skipped the blarney.

• St. Patrick's Day marks the Roman Catholic feast day for Ireland's patron saint, who died in the 5th century. St. Patrick (Patricius in Latin) was not born in Ireland, but in Britain.

• Irish brigands kidnapped St. Patrick at 16 and brought him to Ireland. He was sold as a slave in the county of Antrim and served in bondage for six years until he escaped to Gaul, in present-day France. He later returned to his parents home in Britain, where he had a vision that he would preach to the Irish. After 14 years of study, Patrick returned to Ireland, where he built churches and spread the Christian faith for some 30 years.

• Many myths surround St. Patrick. One of the best known—and most inaccurate—is that Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland into the Irish Sea, where the serpents drowned. (Some still say that is why the sea is so rough.)

But snakes have never been native to the Emerald Isle. The serpents were likely a metaphor for druidic religions, which steadily disappeared from Ireland in the centuries after St. Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on the island.

• Colonial New York City hosted the first official St. Patrick's Day parade in 1762, when Irish immigrants in the British colonial army marched down city streets. In subsequent years Irish fraternal organizations also held processions to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The various groups merged sometime around 1850 to form a single, grand parade.

• Today New York's St. Patrick's Day parade is the longest running civilian parade in the world. This year nearly three million spectators are expected to watch the spectacle and some 150,000 participants plan to march.

• Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade is little more than 75 years old. This year festival organizers will launch 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of fireworks to cap their celebration, which is expected to draw 400,000 spectators.

• By law, pubs in Ireland were closed on St. Patrick's Day, a national religious holiday, as recently as the 1970s.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 34 million United States residents claim Irish ancestry, or nearly ten times the entire population of Ireland today, which stands at 3.9 million. Among U.S. ethnic groups, the number of Irish-Americans in the U.S. is second only to the number of German-Americans.

• Since 1820, 4.8 million Irish have legally immigrated to the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The agency reports that only four countries—Germany, Italy, Mexico, and the United Kingdom—have sent more native-born residents to become naturalized U.S. citizens.

• Chicago is famous for dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. The tradition began in 1962, when a pipe fitters union—with the permission of the mayor—poured a hundred pounds (45 kilograms) of green vegetable dye into the river. (On the job, the workers often use colored dyes to track illegal sewage dumping.) Today only 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of dye are used, enough to turn the river green for several hours.

According to the Friends of the Chicago River, a local environmental group, more people are likely to view the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day than on any other day.

• Guinness stout, first brewed by Arthur Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, in 1759, has become synonymous with Ireland and Irish bars. According to the company's Web site, 1,883,200,000 (that's 1.9 billion) pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every year.

• Robert Louis Stevenson, the 19th-century Scottish author of Kidnapped, Treasure Island, and other novels, brought a store of Guinness with him during a trip to Samoa in the South Pacific, according to the Guinness Web site.

• Ireland is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) long and 200 miles (320 kilometers) wide. Those facts, along with other features, led Swedish geographer Ulf Erlingsson to recently conclude that the Atlantic Ocean island is the same one identified by ancient Greek philosopher Plato as Atlantis in his famous dialogues Timaeus and Critias.

[missyme]

What was that movie with Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford?
GOOD MOVIE!

The end was this is not an American Story It's an Irish One!

[Dan from Michigan]

Murphy won the Irish Sweepstakes $100,000.00 and was on a long holiday in America. He went on a bus tour and traveled for hours and hours through desert country and oil fields. Murphy said, "Where are we now?" The guide said, "We're in the great state of California." "It's a big place," said Murphy. The guide said, "It's so big, that your County Cork would fit into the smallest corner of it."

And Murphy said, "Yes, and wouldn't it do wonders for California!!!!"

[Dan from Michigan]

An English man and an Irish man are driving head on , at night, on a twisty, dark road. Both are driving to fast for the conditions and collide on a sharp bend in the road. To the amazement of both, they are unscathed, though their cars are both destroyed. In celebration of their luck, both agree to put aside their dislike for the other from that moment on. At this point, the Irish man goes to the boot and fetches a 12 year old bottle of Jameson whiskey. He hands the bottle to the English man, whom exclaims,'' may the English and the Irish live together forever, in peace, and harmony.'' The English man then tips the bottle and lashes half of it down. Still flabbergasted over the whole thing, he goes to hand the bottle to the Irish man, whom replies: '' no tanks, I'll just wait till the Garda get here!''

[Dan from Michigan]

His wife had been killed in an accident and the police were questioning Finnegan. "Did she say anything before she died?" asked the sergeant. "She spoke without interruption for about forty years," said Finnegan.

[matymac]

Maybe I'm an idiot...but what are those implications...?

[FeliciaCat]

"The Devils Own"...?

[CollegeRepublican]

I like #43.

[missyme]

Exactly! Great Movie!

[JimVT]

An Irishman's been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender finally says that the bar is closing. So the Irishman stands up to leave and falls flat on his face.

He tries to stand one more time, same result. He figures he'll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that will sober him up.

Once outside he stands up and falls flat on his face. So he decides to crawl the 4 blocks to his home and when he arrives at the door he stands up and falls flat on his face.

He crawls through the door into his bedroom. When he reaches his bed he tries one more time to stand up.

This time he manages to pull himself upright but he quickly falls right into bed and is sound asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. He awakens the next morning to his wife standing over him shouting at him.

"So, you've been out drinking again!!"

"What makes you say that?" he asks as he puts on an innocent look.

"The pub called, you left your wheelchair there again."

[leftover]

What is Irish and stays outside all winter long?

[CollegeRepublican]

Wearing Orange on St. Patrick's day identifies you as a Protestant.

[leftover]

Answer: Paty O'Funiture.

[FeliciaCat]

LOL!!! I like it!

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

A meal unto itself, it satisfies all my daily recommended dietary allowances.

Try it with breakfast sometime.

[matymac]

I know that Orange in Irlenad represents the Protestants, but in America isn't St. Patircks Day more of a Secular day meant to celebrate Irish Culture...?

[timydnuc]

The words "pub", "closed", and "St Patrick's Day" should never be used in the same sentence. It's blasphemy to an Irishman. I ought to know, I am one.

[CollegeRepublican]

Yes, in Ireland St. Patrick's Day is more of a religious festival. In America it is an excuse to get loaded, have fun, march around, eat corn beef and cabbage, drink dark or green beer, and act silly.

I am of Welsh decent and I like the music and the dark beer. Yummy. I wear the green so I don't get pinched.

[leftover]

correction: Paty O'Furniture

[Moleman]

Oh it was the bigest mix up that you had ever seen.
My father he was orange and me mother she was green.

[timydnuc]

A little story about Guinness and Ireland:

While visiting Ireland many years ago I went to a real Irish pub in Dublin. I ordered a Guinness and just sat at the crowded bar and "drank" in the atmosphere. Pretty soon a man setting next to me, an Irishman, looked at my glass (it was only about an eighth full), then looked at me and said, "You're a Yank". He said it in the form of a statement of fact not a question. I replied that I was and asked how he knew. He said, "Your glass". I questioned how he could tell I was an American by my glass. He said, "Rings! You have 4 soon to be 5 when you finish". I asked him to explain. He took his pint and downed half of the remaining Stout and slammed it to the bar, wiped his lips and said, "One ring, that's the sign of a true Irishman".

Boy,did I get drunk that night, and made a bunch of new friends. I spent 2 days in Dublin and went on to the birthplace of my grandmother, aunts and uncles, and my maternal grandfather and grandmother. It would take a book to describe those 5 days, and many, many pints of Guinness.