Facts All Philadelphians Should Know About St. Patrick (and St. Patrick’s Day)

Since Philadelphia is home to the second largest Irish population in America, it’s only fitting that we should go all in for the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint. (Don’t worry if you aren’t blessed with an Irish heritage, everyone can claim Irish ancestry on St. Patrick’s Day!) To celebrate this weekend’s upcoming holiday, we’ve collected some of the best facts about St. Patrick for you to share with your friends over a frothy pint of Guinness.

1.      Irish Americans should actually celebrate St. Brendan. The Irish Saint Brendan of Clonfert might have been the first explorer to discover North America, almost 1,000 years before Columbus. St. Brendan set sail from Ireland in a leather boat with his fellow monks and voyaged across the ocean and might have landed at what is now Canada.

2.      St. Patrick’s Day used to be a dry holiday in Ireland. No, really! Since the day was a holy day, businesses (including pubs) were given a holiday in Ireland. That meant that the Irish weren’t in pubs celebrating this saint. They were more likely in mass. In the 1970’s, this changed and the Irish began celebrating in local pubs and the holiday became what it is today.

3.      St. Patrick wasn’t born in Ireland. He was actually British! His parents were Romans who lived in Wales or Scotland when their son Maewyn Succat (later to become Patrick) was born in the fourth century.  

4.      St. Patrick might have gotten pinched. Liturgically, the holiday was celebrated by wearing pale blue, not green, for much of the time after St. Patrick was canonized. The color was even referred to as “St. Patrick Blue.”  Green only became the color for the holiday in the last couple hundred years. St. Patrick might receive a pinch for not wearing the appropriate color on his own feast day!

5.      Have some bacon with your brew! Traditionally, St. Patrick’s feast was celebrated with lamb or bacon! Only when Irish Americans needed a substitute for bacon were they introduced to the delicious deli classic, corned beef, by Jewish Americans. It’s hard to imagine this holiday without a feast of corned beef and cabbage but until the mid 19^th century, the Irish feasted on a very different fare. If you aren’t a corned beef fan, know you’ve got several more traditional options to munch on with your green beer.

6.      Go big or go… short? Of course we love our rambling St. Patrick’s parades in and around Philadelphia. Hot Springs, Arkansas takes a different approach and boasts the shortest parade in America. Their St. Patrick’s parade marches a mere 98 feet before calling it quits. We guess they’re extra anxious to get back to their green beer down in Arkansas!

7.      Philly has had a parade for St. Patrick for 248 years. While Arkansans may be going small with their parade, we do it big here in Philadelphia and have been for almost two and a half centuries. To say our annual parade is a big deal is a gross understatement.

Have a happy and safe St. Paddy’s day this weekend. And from us here at The Silva Group, Erin go Bragh!