Whether you’re Irish or not, most everyone celebrates St. Patrick’s Day in one form or another. From wearing green to eating corned beef and cabbage, it is usually a fun day of celebration.

While most people think of the color green, shamrocks, and parades on St. Patrick’s Day, there are several little-known facts that might surprise you about this holiday.

Things You Might Not Know About St. Patrick’s Day

Think Blue Not Green

Saint Patrick’s color was actually…blue! The color green came into play after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.

Saint Patrick Wasn’t Irish

That’s right, folks…St. Patrick was not Irish! He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late fourth century. He became associated with Ireland by introducing Christianity there in the year 432.

There’s No Corn in that Beef

Corned beef and cabbage, that tasty meal a lot of folks cook up on the day, doesn’t have a trace of corn in it. It’s called that because large grains of salt or “corns” were used to cure the meat back in the day.

Why Shamrocks, really?

One of the most recognizable symbols associated with this holiday, St. Patrick reportedly used the little green three-leafed plant as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first teaching Christianity to Ireland.

Cold Weather to the Rescue!

This is a fun one! In Irish folklore, the Saint gets credit for driving all the snakes out of Ireland. Science today tells us that the task might not have been too challenging since the fossil record shows that Ireland has never been home to any snakes!

Thanks to the Ice Age, it was too cold for snakes to live there and the surrounding seas have kept them away ever since! Perhaps St. Patrick’s snakes were metaphorical?

And speaking of little-known facts, here are a few plumbing facts you might not have heard of…

Little Known Plumbing Facts
  • The word “plumber” comes from the Latin word “plumbum,” which means “lead.”
  • In 1596, John Harrington created the flushing toilet. This is where the name “John” originated from!
  • Standardized plumbing can be tracked all the way back to around 3,000 B.C. During this time, the Indus River Valley civilization used earthen plumbing pipes for water and to drain wastes.
  • A leaky faucet that drips twice per minute will waste over a gallon of water in a week.
  • Manhole covers are round so that they can’t fall through their own opening.

So, do you feel a little more knowledgeable today? Good! We hope you enjoyed this and we look forward to sharing more fun facts, helpful plumbing tips, and so much more with you in the future!

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