St Patricks Day facts, anti-pinch cards, and more!

St Patricks Day facts and a fun anti pinch printable are here to help take away your worries of getting pinched are here. I’m going to admit this here that the thought of getting pinched terrifies me! I’ll explain some fun facts on St Patricks Day and why pinching is a “thing”.

If you know me well then you know I love a reason to celebrate! This month I am taking advantage of St Patricks Day. I have always enjoyed St Patricks Day which for me is wearing green, kissin’ the irish {lol}, and having a reason to just have FUN! I’ll admit that I didn’t really know much about St Patricks Day in the past so I did a bit of studying up on it and thought I’d share a few facts here today.

St Patrick’s Day is the Irish national holiday, celebrating the nation’s patron St. Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland. Traditions include drinking beer, participating in parades and wearing green. St Patrick’s Day was originally a Roman Catholic feast day for Ireland’s patron saint, celebrated only in Ireland since before the 1600s.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of Irish culture, filled with festive food and traditions that is celebrated in many continents and is popular among the American culture. Millions of people wear green and celebrate the Irish yet few know the reasoning behind many popular St. Patrick’s Day traditions.

Have you ever wondered why we wear green, tell stories of leprechauns, display shamrocks, claim kisses from the Irish, and pinch our friends on St. Patrick’s Day?

Why green?

Green is one of the colors in Ireland’s tri-color flag, and it has been used in the flags of several Irish revolutionary groups throughout history. Ireland is the “Emerald Isle,” named after its beautiful green landscape. Green is also the color of spring, and the shamrock. It’s also the color of the Chicago River. Did you know Chicago has dyed it’s river green on St. Patrick’s Day for approximately 40 years? Cool, huh?

The Leprechaun, Pots of Gold & Rainbows!

According to Irish folklore, leprechauns were cranky tricksters who you wouldn’t want to mess with. They live alone and pass the time by mending the shoes of Irish fairies. According to the legend, the fairies pay the leprechauns for their work with golden coins, which the “little people” collect in large pots–the famous “pots of gold” often associated with leprechauns. The legend says that if you catch a leprechaun, you can force him to tell you where he hid his pot of gold. Supposedly, this pot of gold is hidden at the end of a rainbow. Because you can never find the “end” of a rainbow, you can’t get the pot of gold. To get the gold, you first get to catch the little Leprechaun.

In America, we see the elf as a friendly, cheerful elf stemming from a 1959 Walt Disney film called Darby O’Gill & the Little People. The Americanized, good-natured leprechaun soon became a symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish Kisses!

The “Kiss Me, I’m Irish,” saying is a reference to The Blarney Stone. The Blarney Stone is the “Stone of Eloquence” in Blarney Castle. Legend says that kissing the stone brings good luck and gives you the ability to never be at a loss for words. If you can’t make it to Ireland to kiss the actual stone, the next-best option is to kiss an Irishman!

In celebrating St Patricks day, the Americans believe kissing anyone who’s Irish will bring good luck. Buttons with the phrase “Kiss me, I’m Irish” started popping up on the East Coast in the 1960s and 1970s. Wearing the buttons is considered the next luckiest thing to kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland!

Pinching!

Forgot to wear green on St. Patty’s Day? Don’t be surprised if you get pinched! Anyone who’s ever been a school kid knows that if you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, you get pinched. St. Patrick’s legend is that wearing green made one invisible to leprechauns, who would pinch anyone they could see (anyone not wearing green of course). People began pinching those who didn’t wear green as a reminder of this. This is primarily an American tradition.

I found bags of these cute Irish button pins at my local Dollar Store and Decided to make up some “anti-pinch” tags with an Irish blessing on it to hand out for some good luck and I’m sharing the printables with you today. Yay! Enjoy!

Here is the anti pinch printable:

{download here}

Just print them up, add a button, and pass them out to wish your friends good luck {instead of pinches-hahah}!

Well, thats all the tidbits I will share today about this fun holiday. I have recently discovered irish blessings that have really inspired me and I am going to share several along with some free printables on Monday.

Check it out HERE