The Inquirer and Mirror
(March 17, 2014) Here are five things to know about St. Patrick’s Day:
1. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 every year, the date St. Patrick died. It also is St. Patrick’s feast day.
2. St. Patrick wasn’t an irishman, he was British. He was kidnapped and taken to Ireland when he was 14, where he was a slave for six years. He was freed at age 20, and then, in his 30s, he returned to Ireland as a missionary.
3. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S. was in 1762 in New York City. Today there are more than 100 parades throughout the country. In one of the more unique traditions, Chicago dyes the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.
4. There are 34.7 million people in the U.S. who claim Irish ancestry. That’s more than seven times the population of Ireland today.
5. There are seven places in the U.S. named after the shamrock and 16 places that are named after Dublin. There also are towns named Emerald Isle (N.C.) and Irishtown (Ill.).
Sources: History Channel, LatinTimes.com
For up-to-the-minute information on Nantucket's breaking news, boat and plane cancellations, weather alerts, sports and entertainment news, deals and promotions at island businesses and more, Sign up for Inquirer and Mirror text alerts. Click Here.