5 St Patrick's Day Facts

Ginger at Ginger's Journey issued a challenge to post 5 things about St. Patricks Day, St. Patrick or Ireland.

My 5 facts about this fun Irish celebration are from:

http://holidays.kaboose.com/saint-patricks-day/quick_facts.html

Facts about St. Patrick's Day Holiday

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, people traditionally wear a small bunch of shamrocks on their jackets or caps. Children wear orange, white and green badges, and women and girls wear green ribbons in their hair.

St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.

34 million Americans have Irish ancestry, according to the 2003 US Census. That’s almost nine times the population of Ireland, which has 4.1 million people.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14!

Check out the site for more St Patrick's Day facts and fun.