St. Patrick's Day Facts ~ I bet you didn't know

"Patrick’s ‘real’  name was Maewyn Succat, or in Latin, Magonus Succetus," reveals Giraffe Childcare and Early Learning, citing Irish legend, in a recent educational infographic it created for the holiday. He took on the name Patrick when he became a priest.

Despite the majority of modern-day St. Patrick’s Day celebrations centering around bar crawls and drink specials, from 1903 until 1970 all pubs were closed on the holiday due to religious observances.

Approximately 13 million pints of Guinness will be consumed worldwide on St. Patrick's Day, according to WalletHub, which released a St. Patrick's Day by the Numbers report this week.

The first St. Patrick's Day celebration took place in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737.

The average amount American St. Patrick’s Day revelers will spend this holiday is $36.52 per person, totaling a combined $4.6 billion, according to a report by the National Retail Federation.

If, by chance, one did happen to find a mystical pot at the end of a rainbow this St. Patrick's Day, and it contained 1,000 gold coins weighing one ounce each, WalletHub estimated the total current worth at $1.26 million.

If Irish folk tales are to be believed, the mystical beings are expressly male.

St. Patrick came to Ireland when he was sold into slavery at the age of 16 by Irish raiders. 

Although it's true that Ireland has no snakes, this likely had more to do with the fact that Ireland is an island and being separated from the rest of the continent the snakes couldn't get there.

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated each year on March 17^th. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day is both a holy day and a national holiday.  Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland as he was the one who brought Christianity to the Irish.

According to legend, Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain about God. The shamrock, which looks like clover, has three leaves on each stem.  Saint Patrick told the people that the shamrock was like the idea of the Trinity, that in the one God there are three divine beings: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The shamrock was sacred to the Druids, so Saint Patrick's use of it in explaining the trinity was very wise.