Irish or not - if you are hosting a St. Patrick's Day party or plan to pound a green beer or two at a pub with the lads and lassie's, you need to be armed with some fun facts about the big day.

I'm not Irish but I still prepare a seven-course meal every St. Patty's Day - which consists of one potato and a 6-pack of Guinness.

Anyway, nearly everyone you meet in a pub on this day will tell you that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. The truth is, there never were any snakes on the island. Also, he was born in Britain. Really. As a boy, St. Patrick was enslaved by invading Irish raiders. After years of hard labor he finally escaped back to Britain where he joined the Catholic church. He  returned to Ireland as a christian missionary some years later.

However, the most interesting fact of all would have to be that Ireland actually banned alcohol on St. Patrick's Day until the 1970's! Shillelagh jokes are not as funny when you're sober.

For more fun facts, WalletHub has created a stellar infographic about our habits, our ancestry, and our beverages of choice on St. Patrick's Day, and, on a more sobering note, drunk driving statistics.


St.-Patrick's-Day-by-the-Numbers

Source: WalletHub

Have fun. Be merry. Get your green on - but get a ride. If you've had too much to drink and would like to use the AAA’s popular Tipsy Tow service in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Mitchell and Yankton, call 1-800-222-4357 (AAA-HELP) and ask for Tipsy Tow. The service is offered, no questions asked, to both AAA members and non-members alike. AAA will give you, up to one more person, and your car a free ride home, within a 15-mile radius from the point of pick-up.

 

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