Happy St Patrick's Day!

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Happy St Patrick’s Day!
Yes, today is the day Irish folk across the world kick up their heels, pin a bunch of Shamrock to their lapel and treat themselves two a jar or two of the black stuff to toast their patron saint.
In my experience of the Irish I would venture to say that last tradition actually extends to the other 364 days of the Irish calendar, but at least they know how to enjoy themselves.
I was in Dublin a couple of years ago for “Paddy’s Day” and found this certainly to be the case.
The streets were full of cheery souls in green hats, Irish dancers in the square, and people selling bright green bunches of shamrock.
The shops and pubs are adorned with Leprechauns and pots of gold, and despite their economy crumbling around their ears, the Irish do what only they know how to do best - clink glasses, put their worries aside and have a good time.
To celebrate this occasion here is some trivia about St Patrick and the Emerald Isle.
St Patrick was not Irish, in fact he was Welsh, his name was Maewyn.
He was kidnapped and taken to Ireland where he was thrown into slavery, but he escaped back to Wales later returning to Ireland as a Christian preacher.
The traditional symbol of St Patrick’s Day is the shamrock, symbolic as  he used its three conjoined leaves to explain the Trinity - the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
His followers adopted the custom of wearing the shamrock as a mark of his teachings.
Legend holds that St Patrick banished snakes from Ireland, which could explain why there are none there today.
But many disagree with this tale, thinking it is more likely there were never any in the first place. As the country is surrounded by icy waters, snakes would never have been able to migrate across from Britain or anywhere else.
The idea of St Patrick purging them from the land is likely to be a metaphorical, snakes represent evil and what he really drove out was ungodly pagan ways.
On St Patrick’s Day, around 13 million pints of Guinness are drunk around the world, double the estimated 5.5 million that are drunk on any other day of the year.
If you are lucky enough to visit Dublin, the very best is served at St James’s Gate Brewery which supplies the world with the legendary tipple.
So here’s to St Paddy, have a very happy St Patrick’s Day!

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