No Blarney

15 St. Patrick’s Day Facts

St. Patrick’s Day always falls on the 17th of March.

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in America—not in Ireland.

The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade is the world’s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States.

Chicago began its annual tradition of turning the Chicago River green on St. Patrick’s Day in 1962.

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day had been viewed mostly as a religious observance, and up until the 1960s, they even had laws that forbid bars from being open that day.

It wasn’t until 1798 (the year of the Irish Rebellion) that the color green became officially associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Before then, another color was originally associated with St. Patrick (see the trivia below!).

St. Patrick’s Day switched over from a strictly holy day for Catholics to an official Irish public holiday in 1903.

Although St. Patrick’s Day falls within the period of Lent—a time when the Catholic Church prohibits eating meat, the ban is lifted on this specific day of celebration.

The annual shamrock ceremony in the White House started in 1952.

Each year, 5.5 million people visit New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Before St. Patrick became a missionary, he had been kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave.

St. Patrick is said to have been buried in the town of Downpatrick, County Down, in Northern Ireland.

There are two autobiographical writings from St. Patrick himself, including Confessio and Letter to Coroticus.

Traditionally, Catholic families go to church in the morning on St. Patrick’s Day, and partake in a meal that includes cabbage and Irish bacon.

Dublin’s first official celebration of St. Patrick’s Day did not occur until 1931.

15 St. Patrick’s Day Trivia Questions

Question: What’s another name for St. Patrick’s Day?
Answer: The Feast of Saint Patrick.

Question: Where was Saint Patrick actually born?
Answer: Roman Britain (What is now either England, Scotland or Wales).

Question: How many hours does the NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade take?
Answer: Over five hours.

Question: How many pounds of green vegetable dye are now used to turn the Chicago River green?
Answer: 40 pounds.

Question: What do some historians believe was St. Patrick’s real name?
Answer: Maewyn Succat.

Question: According to legend, what happened during one of St. Patrick’s sermons on the Irish hillside?
Answer: Legend has it that while he was speaking, all of the snakes were driven out into the sea.

Question: What color was originally associated with St. Patrick?
Answer: Blue.

Question: According to legend, what did St. Patrick use to describe the Holy Trinity?
Answer: The shamrock.

Question: What is another term used for Ireland?
Answer: “The Emerald Isle.”

Question: What does St. Patrick’s name mean?
Answer: “Patricius,” or “Patrick,” comes from the Latin term for “father figure.”

Question: Why did it take until 1998 for the city of Belfast (in Northern Ireland) to have a St. Patrick’s Day parade?
Answer: Because of Protestant hostility toward the display of Irish national symbols.

Question: According to Hallmark, how many Americans exchange St. Patrick’s Day cards each year?
Answer: 12 million Americans.

Question: Why was St. Patrick’s Day once celebrated in May instead of March?
Answer: In 2001, a foot-and-mouth outbreak ran rampant in Ireland, so Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day parade was moved to May (with a great turnout of 1.2 million!).

Question: From 1927 to 1961, where was the one place in Ireland that legally allowed drinking on St. Patrick’s Day?
Answer: The RDS Dog Show.

Question: Is St. Patrick’s Day the most popular drinking day in America?
Answer: No, it’s actually the fourth most popular (behind New Year’s Eve, Christmas Day and the Fourth of July).

Source: Parade

215 thoughts on “No Blarney

  1. look at this attempt to rehab rhonda’s NON support of TRUMP during the Mar-a-lago raid…quickly rallied? rhonda hid in the basement for days if not weeks…
    fta
    Republicans of all stripes — including his chief rival, Florida Gov. Ron DesSantis — quickly rallied around Trump after the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search last August, which also produced a surge in fundraising.

    https://www.axios.com/2023/03/15/trump-indictment-charges-manhattan-2024

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Bald Uakari (pronounced ‘wakari’) is a small monkey found in the Amazon basin with a long ginger shaggy coat, and a hairless head and face – which is coloured bright red.

    The bat-eared fox is a cute little fox species, with huge dish-like ears that lives on the plains of Eastern and Southern Africa eating termites and fooling around.

    The bobbit worm is a bristle worm that can grow up to 3m in length, that likes to dig burrows in the ocean floor near coral reefs. It will detect prey before striking and pulling them into its burrow!

    Colugo (Flying Lemur) – The colugo, is a tree-dwelling gliding mammal found in South East Asia. While they are known as flying lemurs, they are not actually lemurs, and they also can’t fly, but instead glide.

    The Helmeted hornbill is a large bird from Southeast Asia that has a solid casque or ‘helmet’ on their beak and a unique call with a maniacal laughter. Sadly, they are endangered due to poachers.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. The Kakapo is a species of large, nocturnal, flightless and ground-dwelling parrot. It’s the world’s only flightless parrot and one of the longest-living birds, native to New Zealand.

    Potoos are neotropical birds, famous for their incredible camouflage skills and seen in memes due to their slightly goofy-come-creepy looks, with enormous googly yellow eyes.

    Named for its huge mouth and aggressive temperament, the sarcastic fringehead is a fascinating small saltwater fish which can open it’s mouth like a Demogorgon from Stranger Things.

    The secretarybird or secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is an African, primarily terrestrial, bird of prey. It has a distinctive appearance, as it has the body of an eagle, but the legs of a crane.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Liked by 1 person

      1. the clintons took furniture (!) they had to return.
        considering TRUMP took no salary but instead donated that to causes, i’d look the other way. but they are definitely trying to avert attention from ultra maggot’s troubles right now

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I agree – IMO, all have gender dysphoria, which is entirely separate from “normal” gay people, who live quiet, normal lives not pretending they are a sex they can never be, not making it an issue or shoving it in everyone’s faces, like Ric Grenell and many others. In most cases, they started out life as straight and it was circumstances and environment that channeled them into this choice.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. IIRC, Congress has a HUGE slush fund available to them to pay off sexual misconduct cases. What is sauce for the goose MUST BE sauce for the gander.
      I want to know EVERY LAST CONGRESSPERSON who availed that fund and WHY

      Liked by 1 person

  5. “Pro-life Students Hounded Out of Smithsonian Score Legal Victory”
    by Michael Tennant March 17, 2023
    EXCERPT: “A group of students who were harassed and told to leave the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) because of their “pro-life” hats achieved a legal victory Monday when the Smithsonian accepted a consent decree stating that visitors may wear clothing with religious and political statements.

    On January 20, a group of students from Our Lady of the Rosary School in Greenville, S.C., who had traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the National March for Life, also visited the NASM. The students were wearing blue knit caps with the words “Rosary” and “Pro-life” on them.

    According to the lawsuit the students filed against the Smithsonian, they were all told to remove their hats when passing through security, and they complied, thinking it was a standard part of security screening. Later, after they had put their hats back on, they were subjected to verbal harassment by security personnel throughout the museum. Some simply told them to remove their hats. Others, talking to fellow officers within earshot of the students, spoke of them derisively and with profanity. One “approached the students and had a big grin on his face and was rubbing his hands together as he said, ‘Y’all are about to make my day.’” He then told them they needed to remove their hats or else leave the building.

    Inquiring as to why others were permitted to wear, e.g., “Pride” masks while they were being forced to remove their pro-life hats, the students were allegedly told by a security officer that their hats were “political statements” and that they were “not promoting equality.” When students pointed out that since the Smithsonian is a federally funded institution, they had a First Amendment right to free expression within its confines, the same officer allegedly said, “I’m not taking away your First Amendment rights” because the museum is a “neutral zone.” When he finally succeeded in hounding them out of the museum, the officer is said to have “clapped his hands together in a dismissive clapping and shooing manner.”

    Informed of the students’ allegations, the Smithsonian immediately responded with a statement that such harassment “is not in keeping with our policies and protocols” and that management had taken steps to ensure that such an incident would not recur.

    The students, represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), sued nonetheless, and the Smithsonian accepted the consent decree issued by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson. In the order, the Smithsonian said it “regrets the events of January 20, 2023, and will remind all security officers stationed at NASM of the rights of visitors and of the policy” that visitors may wear “hats or other types of clothing with messages, including religious and political speech.”

    https://thenewamerican.com/pro-life-students-hounded-out-of-smithsonian-score-legal-victory/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. send them BACK to their OWN countries where they are free to exalt anyone they choose!
      I will not be afraid to commemorate our ancestors–who BUILT this nation they want to come to!

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

  7. Distressing moment female teacher QUITS in the middle of class after being taunted by kids
    It is unclear where in the US the teacher was storming out from, and when the footage was filmed
    Another remember of staff wearing a lanyard appears to stand in the classroom watching it unfold
    Many teachers have spoken out in solidarity with the woman, saying that ‘bullies come in all ages’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11873061/Distressing-moment-female-teacher-QUITS-middle-class-marching-classroom.html

    Liked by 2 people

  8. Sure……

    Malia Obama makes her TV writing debut on Glover’s ‘Swarm’
    “She’s just, like, an amazingly talented person,” Glover said.

    Liked by 1 person

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