St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated and is a great revenue generator for small businesses.  There are also a lot of things that people don’t know about the origins of the holiday and the man we celebrate.  Here we’ve compiled 10 facts that you may not know about the origins of St. Patrick’s Day.

1. St. Patrick is one of the most famous patron saints of Ireland: According to the legend, he brought Christianity to the island, made the shamrock fashionable and freed Ireland from snakes. The holiday marks St. Patrick’s death and has been observed as a religious holiday in Ireland for over 1500 years.

2. "Patrick’s ‘real’ (i.e. Brythonic) name was Maewyn Succat, or in Latin, Magonus Succetus," reveals Giraffe Childcare and Early Learning, citing Irish legend, in a recent educational infographic it created for the holiday. He took on the name Patrick when he became a priest.

3. For many years, blue was the color most often associated with St. Patrick. Green was considered unlucky. St. Patrick’s blue was considered symbolic of Ireland for many centuries and the Irish Presidential Standard is still blue.

4. St Patrick's Day was actually started in 18th century American cities by persecuted Irish immigrants who were trying to confirm and hold on to their heritage

5. Shamrock translates to "young clover," and many kinds of clover can be a shamrock.

6. It’s said that St. Patrick used shamrocks (aka clovers) to explain the holy trinity (God, Son and Holy Spirit) to the Irish. The Celts believed that each leaf of the clover has a meaning, so using clover leaves as teaching material was fruitful: St. Patrick started several churches, schools and monasteries and made the clover popular.

7. The phrase “drowning the shamrock” is rooted in a tradition in which a shamrock worn on the lapel for St. Patrick's Day was tossed in the last drink of the evening.  Furthermore, the shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland. That honor goes to the harp. A popular icon of the holiday, the shamrock was used by St. Patrick to teach the Holy Trinity.

8. Guinness sales soar on St. Patrick’s Day. Recent figures show that 5.5 million pints of the black stuff are downed around the world every day. On St. Patrick’s Day that figure is doubled.

9. St. Patrick's Day falls during Lent, but the restriction of drinking alcohol and eating are lifted for the day. This is believed to be the reason why drinking became such a strong St. Patrick's Day tradition.

10. The Celtic harp is the national symbol of Ireland, making it the only country to have a musical instrument as a national symbol. (sources: ef.com, abcnews.com, irishcentral.com, list25.com, chicagonow.com)

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