Our team at Whitlock Orthodontics wants to know: Will you be wearing your green this Saturday? Whether Irish or not, millions of people around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with toasts, parades and “the wearing of the green.” Here are some fun facts about St. Patty’s Day we know you will enjoy:
• St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17th because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history.
• The name “lephrechaun” has several origins. It could be from the Irish Gaelic word “leipreachan,” which means “a kind of aqueous sprite.” Or, it could be from “leath bhrogan,” which simply means “shoemaker.”
• Some American towns have Irish names. They include: Shamrock Lakes, Indiana; Shamrock, Oklahoma; Shamrock, Texas; Dublin, California and Dublin, Ohio and Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia
• Despite what you may have heard, St. Patrick never banished snakes from Ireland. In fact, no snakes exist or ever existed in Ireland. Ireland is surrounded by icy ocean waters, much too cold to allow snakes to migrate from Britain or anywhere else.
• St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737. Approximately 34 million Americans claim Irish ancestry. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.
If you have something special planned for St. Patrick’s Day, let us know by posting a comment on our Facebook page.
