5 Fun St. Patrick’s Day Facts!

1. Green is not the original color for St. Patrick.

Saint Patrick was originally depicted wearing robes of a light shade of blue. The color green only became associated with the holiday after the Irish Rebellion in the late 18th century, when the clover became a symbol of Irish nationalism.

Green remains the most popular t-shirt color for St. Patrick’s Day with more than 32,000 (just of our top three green colors!) heading out last year for the holiday. Shades of light blue weren’t far behind though at 20,000.

Q: Can you guess which green Gildan Ultra Cotton t-shirt – our most popular shirt – was sold the most last St. Patrick’s Day? Lime, Kelly Green, or Irish Green? Read to the bottom of the post to find out!

2. Chicago turns its river green to celebrate.

Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago river is turned green. The city has been celebrating Saint Patrick by dumping green dye into the Chicago River for more than 50 years. It takes about 40 tons of dye to get the river to a festive
shade — and it only lasts five hours!

3. Leprechauns earn their gold.

Leprechauns are known as mythical tricksters who hide their pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. According to legend, leprechauns earn their famous riches by making and mending shoes at night.

Surprisingly, despite being the unofficial mascot of the holiday, no leprechauns made it to the top five most popular pieces of art on our site for St. Paddy’s Day last year. Shamrocks took top honors, rounding out all of the top five!

4. Saint Patrick was British and not born as Patrick.

St. Patrick was actually born in what is now Scotland or Wales around the turn of the 4th century. His birth name was Maewyn. He changed it to Patricius after becoming a priest.

At CustomInk we have seven Patricks. We have yet to have a Maewyn!

5. New York City has the largest St. Paddy’s Day parade.

The first New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held on March 17, 1762. Today it is the largest St. Patrick’s parade in the world with 150,000- 250,000 participants and almost 2 million spectators.

BONUS! St. Patrick’s day is a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

A: Which green Gildan Ultra Cotton t-shirt was sold the most last St. Patrick’s Day? Irish Green! CustomInk helped people create more than 14,000 custom Irish Green t-shirts for last year’s St. Paddy’s Day festivities.

Design your own Irish Green St. Paddy’s Day t-shirts today!

Want to learn more?
Mentalfloss
Catholic.org
NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Chicago St. Pat’s Parade
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Time
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