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Though each March 17 most of us head to the local pub—adorned in green, some even donning the Lucky Charms leprechaun-style felt hat—to throw back the Guinness and toast to St. Patrick, how much do we really know about the man whose day we’re celebrating? Here are a few facts for those lacking in St. Paddy’s Day knowledge.
The fella who became St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born in Wales about AD 385. At age 16 he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. He was held captive in Ireland for six years before escaping to Gaul, where he studied in the monastery under St. Germain for 12 years. While there, he decided his calling was to convert the pagans of Ireland to Christianity. Patrick was appointed as second bishop to Ireland and set about winning converts. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country and setting up schools and churches to aid him in stamping out paganism. His mission in Ireland lasted for 30 years, after which he retired to County Down. Patrick died on March 17 in AD 461.
Though his feast day has been observed in Ireland for thousands of years, the St. Patrick’s Day custom didn’t make it to America until 1737, when it was publicly celebrated in Boston, Massachusetts. Patrick’s death marked the celebration day, but other St. Paddy’s traditions have very little to do with the actual saint. For instance, although cabbage has long been an Irish food, corned beef only began to be associated with St. Patrick’s Day at the turn of the century, when Irish immigrants living on New York City’s Lower East Side, looking to save some cash, substituted corned beef for their traditional dish of Irish bacon.
The happy-go-lucky leprechaun is also a modern creation, thanks to Walt Disney. Leprechauns had nothing to do with St. Patrick or the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, a Catholic holy day until 1959 when Disney released Darby O’Gill & the Little People, which introduced American audiences to a cheery, friendly leprechaun—a far cry from the tricky, cantankerous wee man of Irish folklore. Still, he is now a symbol of both St. Patrick’s Day and Ireland in general.

independent.com

Naugatuck St. Patrick’s events start at 9 a.m.
NAUGATUCK — The borough will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today.
There will be a Mass at 9 a.m. at St. Francis Church to celebrate the day. Then those in attendance will march to the historical society building on Water Street, where they will hoist the Irish flag.
Mayor Mike Bronko will be at Town Hall, waiting for a call on his cell phone telling him when to raise the Irish flag there.
After the flag is raised there will be coffee and pastries inside the historical society, and a few speeches, said Burgess Pat Scully.
Dorothy Knowles, past president of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, said after the festivities at the historical society they will head to Duffy’s on Water Street for corned beef and cheer.

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Around here, the Irish Minstrels are known for foot-stomping Irish sing-alongs, sea shanties, fiddle tunes and romantic ballads. Yet, during a trip to Ireland last fall, the Spring Valley-based band was heralded for its American roots.
In October, the group traveled to Dublin, where members recorded a new CD at Walton’s Music, then toured the country performing at pubs along the way. In the small, historic town of Ardmore, the band was introduced as “The American Experience.”
Yet, the band was also honored by Walton’s Music, a name synonymous with Irish traditional music and Dublin’s vibrant music culture, for its song writing.
The Irish Minstrels won first place in the 2005 Walton’s Music Irish Song Writing competition for a song called “The Fool’s Hornpipe,” written by minstrel Melissa Schmidt. The prize was a chance to perform on the main stage at the 2005 Milwaukee Irish Fest and a trip to Dublin for a two-day recording session at Walton’s Music Studio.
For its new CD, the band recorded a selection of favorite Irish music written in the late 1600s by the beloved blind harp player O’Carolan, classic Irish, Scottish and Welch traditional melodies, and a few new Irish Minstrels’ originals.
“Although we always take delight in the lively pub tunes, this new CD will give our listeners a style of music that most probably, outside of weddings, they have never heard the Minstrels perform,” Schmidt said.
Fans also will get a chance to hear the Irish sounds of Matt Stier on the fiddle, Brenda Stier on the bodhran and whistle, Melissa Schmidt on the mandolin and whistle, and Larry Schmidt on the guitar, with a concert at the Paramount Theatre in Austin on the most American of Irish holidays.

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Local practitioners used to call it the crawl, a slow trek from pub to pub. T. J. Burke was first told about it when his father brought him to what is now the Blarney Stone when he was a boy of 9.
Back then, the Fields Corner hangout was called Costello & Kelly’s. It was a spot frequented by crawlers, and Burke’s father would buy him french fries and tell him to keep quiet when his mother asked how much drinking had been done.
Now nearly 70, Burke still visits the Blarney Stone, but the experience is a radically different one. The retired motorman for the T’s Red Line sits under track lighting and orders Budweiser, surrounded by a young, fashionably dressed cocktail crowd.
“They’re trying to make it more for yuppies,” Burke said of his longtime watering hole. “A lot of guys I hang around with, they don’t like the prices.”
Just blocks away, patrons like Burke still stop by Nash’s Pub only to find the green and yellow clapboard building locked. An Irish tricolor still hangs out front, but the building is slated to be reincarnated by summer as a sushi bar. Pete Nash, the owner who held court behind the oak bar for 20 years, shrugged off the change. The Irish construction workers and Gaelic football players who were the mainstay of his business have dwindled.

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Little Chloe Brady is far too young to talk and much too young to walk, but it is already clear who she will back in the rugby.
The 10-week old bundle of cuteness was decked out in the colours of her dad’s homeland yesterday to celebrate the eve of St Patrick’s Day.
Dad Stephen Brady said she would learn much more about her Irish heritage in the years ahead.
“I’m going to teach her some Irish words,” he said.
Like “craic”, for example?
“She might be a bit young for that,” he said.
Stephen arrived in Australia on a working visa two years ago but now lives on the Coast after falling in love with his Aussie wife, Debbie.
He will spend St Patrick’s Day today working in the morning, before knocking back a few pints of Guinness.
O’malley’s Irish Pub Mooloolaba duty manager Shay Best said he expected the pub would sell three times its regular amount of Guinness today.
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When Mike McTigue was an elderly man, being shuttled from one New York hospital to another, he always could count on a visit from a sportswriter when St. Patrick’s Day rolled around. For it was on St. Patrick’s Day, 1923, in a bout colored by controversy, that McTigue won the light heavyweight championship from Battling Siki.
The story generally has been written from Siki’s standpoint — of the duped Senegalese warrior arriving in Dublin only to lose his title on a disputed decision — while McTigue usually has been depicted as a willing accomplice in a grand hoax.
What’s been forgotten is that McTigue was a colorful character. He had a career any fighter would envy, cramming over 170 fights into a 16-year campaign. The fight with Siki overshadows everything else he did, which is a bit unfair.
It’s a wonder that the Dublin bout happened at all. The Irish Civil War had been raging for nine months and Eamon de Valera, Ireland’s president at the time, had deemed the event inappropriate.
When thugs threatened to bomb the La Scala Opera House where the fight would take place, Siki and McTigue began traveling with guards; death threats were slid under the doors of their hotel rooms.

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Two-year-old Mackenzie Bearman couldn’t fit all her candy in her tiny hands after Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Grand Forks.
It was the first parade for the holiday to be held here, and residents and visitors lined North Fourth Street to watch. Bearman blew bubbles in her hot chocolate to pass the time before the parade, but put it down to point out that the parade was starting to move down the street.
Parade-goers sported green apparel, hats and even face paint for the occasion. XL93, Joe Black’s, Mobil Nobles and the KEM Shriners were among the organizations with floats in the parade.
Brandon Boushey launches a handful of candy to the crowd along South 4th St. in downtown Grand Forks as his Irish grandpa, Dennis Blackmun, looks back, in the first ever St. Patrick’s Day parade Saturday. Herald photo by Eric Hylden.
Kathy Apostal, Duluth, was in town for the UND Fighting Sioux men’s hockey games and came out to celebrate with the community Saturday. She had a green baseball cap with a green and white pompom sticking out the back.
“It’s the inaugural,” her brother, David Apostal, Roseville, Minn., joked about the first St. Patrick’s Day parade.

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March 14: Have you started the celebration early? Chef Rachel Allen makes colcannon with sausage, a traditional Irish dish. So dig in and enjoy!
Looking to dine on something more authentically Irish than a bowl of Lucky Charms this St. Patrick’s Day? Dublin-raised Rachel Allen’s classic colcannon with cabbage, sausage and applesauce might just hit the spot.
This traditional Irish mashed potato and cabbage dish is delicious, perfect winter food. I love this with the homemade pork sausages and applesauce.
For the colcannon: Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain 3/4 of the water after 5-10 minutes, and continue to cook on a low heat, avoiding stabbing the potatoes with a knife. (If they are floury potatoes they will break up if you do.) When they are cooked, drain all the water off, peel and mash with most of the butter while hot.
Meanwhile, cook the cabbage: Cut the cabbage into quarters, then cut out the core. Slice the cabbage finely across the grain. Heat a saucepan, add 25 grams of butter and 2 tablespoons water, add the sliced cabbage, and toss over a medium heat for 7-10  minutes, until just cooked.
Add to the potatoes, then add the milk and the parsley, keeping some of the milk back in case you do not need it all. Season to taste and beat until creamy and smooth, adding  more milk if necessary. Serve piping hot with the remaining butter melting in the center.

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