St. Paddy’s Day Tidbits O’ Knowledge

In celebration of St. Paddy's Day, we're throwing you some holiday knowledge to help you impress all those other inebriated souls saddling up to the bar. Good luck, and bottom's up.

According to the most recent Census report, 33.3 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry. So when someone boasts, "Hey, everyone's Irish on St. Paddy's Day!" They're not totally wrong, a lot of people actualy are.

Boston knows how to party, we all know that. And in 1737 they threw the first ever St. Patrick's Day celebration in America. Yee-haw.

Imbibe time: approximately 13 million pints of Guiness will be drank around the world on St. Paddy's Day.

St. Patrick isn't actually Irish. History has it that he was in fact British and was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland where he was put in slavery as a shepherd. As a shepherd he "found God." He later escaped captivity and Ireland, became a preist and took the name St. Patrick. He returned to Ireland years later on a mission to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity.

The shamrock, which has become a symbol for the holiday, was used by St. Patrick to teach the Holy Trinity. The actual symbol of Ireland is a harp.

In 1903, St. Patrick's Day became an offical public holiday in Ireland.

St. Patrick is not the saint's given name. No, sir. It's actually Maewyn Succa. You know, since he was kidnapped from Britain and all.

Now, go forth and impart your knowledge!