{"id":10975,"date":"2013-03-04T10:30:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T17:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/?p=10975"},"modified":"2013-03-04T10:32:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T17:32:12","slug":"st-patricks-day-traditions-and-fun-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/st-patricks-day-traditions-and-fun-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Patrick’s Day Traditions and Fun Facts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shamrock<\/a>From green beer to clovers to parades, the traditional Irish celebration of St. Patrick\u2019s Day has been a fixture in the U.S. since the late 1700s.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a lot more to it than Guinness and folk dancing. The holiday’s namesake, St. Patrick, was born in Roman-controlled Briton in the 5th century. As a teen, slavers kidnapped him to Ireland. He managed to escape, but then returned to the Emerald Isle, bringing Christianity with him \u2013 and converting the local Druids along the way.<\/p>\n

After his death on (you guessed it) March 17, legends surrounding St. Patrick grew, becoming ingrained into the celebration that bears his name.<\/p>\n

Lucky Clover\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever wondered why St. Patrick\u2019s Day is associated with shamrocks? Legend has it that the saint used the clover, a native Irish plant with three leaves connected by one stalk, to represent the concept of the Holy Trinity to non-believers.<\/p>\n

Today, perhaps no other symbol brings the holiday to mind quite like the shamrock. There\u2019s no better way to dress up\u00a0party invites, stationery or even post-it notes<\/a>\u00a0than with a touch o\u2019 the lucky green clover!<\/p>\n

Kissing the Blarney Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another symbol of St. Patrick\u2019s Day, the Blarney Stone, isn\u2019t directly related to the saint himself. Rather, the legend involves a castle in the village of Blarney, just northwest of Cork, and an old woman with magical powers who was saved from drowning by an Irish king.<\/p>\n

To thank the king for saving her life, the old woman granted him the power of persuasive speech \u2013 if only he would lean over and kiss a stone on top of the castle.<\/p>\n

Today, tourists come from around the world to kiss the Blarney Stone \u2013 and the best day of the year to do it? March 17, of course!<\/p>\n

\"Lucky<\/a>Parades<\/strong><\/p>\n

For most of the U.S., St. Patrick\u2019s Day means parades. From New York to Boston, Chicago to Dublin \u2013 Ohio, that is \u2013 St. Patty\u2019s parades fill the streets with floats, bands, bagpipers dancers and leprechauns, all dressed in the brightest of emerald greens.<\/p>\n

Speaking of green, what\u2019s that \u201cwear it or get pinched\u201d thing all about? Apparently, leprechauns \u2013 who are know for their mischievous nature and their love of tripping, kicking and otherwise bothering unsuspecting humans \u2013 can\u2019t see the color green, rendering anyone wearing the color safe from unwanted leprechaun attention.<\/p>\n

If you forget to wear green, a pinch will remind you to armor yourself in emerald to guard yourself against leprechaun mischief. However, with all the celebrating going on around the country on March 17th<\/sup>, green might just be impossible to forget!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From green beer to clovers to parades, the traditional Irish celebration of St. Patrick\u2019s Day has been a fixture in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-event-ideas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paperdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}