Community Corner

Erin go Bragh! Take Our St. Paddy's Day Quiz

There's much more to know about St. Patrick's Day beyond green beer, the wearing o' the green and "Kiss Me -- I'm Irish."

Here’s what most of us know about St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the day on which: a) green beer is consumed, b) the Chicago River is dyed green and c) all things Irish are celebrated.

But there’s far more to the holiday, which we celebrate Saturday. Can you answer these questions?

  1. What’s does St. Patrick’s Day commemorate?
  2. Where was St. Patrick born?
  3. How did St. Patrick become associated with Ireland?
  4. What does the color green represent in Ireland: spring, hope or countryside?
  5. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. What do the people there say he does for them?
  6. What was St. Patrick’s given name?
  7. If you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, what can someone do to you?
  8. How did the three-leaf shamrock come to be associated with St. Patrick?
  9. Did St. Patrick actually drive snakes from Ireland?
  10. Where and when did the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in America take place?
  11. How much Guinness beer will be consumed on St. Patrick’s Day worldwide?
  12. What does Erin go Bragh mean?

 

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1. The day on which St. Patrick died, which is believed to be March 17, 461 AD.

2. England. He was the son of a Roman-British army officer.

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3. As a boy, he was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. When he escaped, he returned to Britain, studied at a French monastery and returned to Ireland, where he spent 30 years as a missionary devoted to converting pagans to Christianity.

4. Hope

5. Watches over them and decides who gets into heaven.

6. Maewyn Succat

7. Pinch you

8. He used it to explain the concept of the Trinity, with the leaves representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

9. No. Today it’s considered to be symbolic image related to the success he had in converting people to Christianity, and the snakes representing the pagan Druids, who believed the cold-blooded creatures to be sacred.  

10. In Boston in 1737. The first parade in Ireland was in Dublin in 1931.

11. 13 million pints


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