100 Fun Facts About St. Patrick's Day Trivia for Kids

On which date is St. Patrick's Day celebrated?

Tradition says it is the day Saint Patrick died, some time in the 400s.

Which two other saints share the title of patron saint of Ireland with Patrick?

Patrick is still the number one, known as the Apostle of Ireland.

Where was Saint Patrick actually born?

He was born there near the end of Roman rule and only came to Ireland after being kidnapped.

How did the teenage Patrick first end up in Ireland?

He was sixteen and spent six years as a slave before escaping.

How many years was Patrick held as a slave in Ireland before he escaped?

He worked as a herdsman and later wrote that he prayed up to a hundred times a day.

Irish farmers planted potatoes after St. Patrick's Day expecting what to improve?

The holiday sits right at the turn from winter to spring in Ireland.

According to legend, what did Saint Patrick use the shamrock to explain?

The number three was already special in old Irish belief, which may have helped his teaching catch on.

Which creatures did Saint Patrick supposedly chase out of Ireland?

The catch is that Ireland never had any snakes to begin with, so it is only a legend.

Why is the snake story about Saint Patrick definitely a legend?

A Roman writer noted as early as the third century that the island had none.

What colour do people wear on St. Patrick's Day?

An old legend even threatens that people not wearing it will get pinched.

What tiny mischievous creature from Irish folklore is often shown as a shoemaker guarding a pot of gold?

One old story says he wears them out from running about so much and is always seen mending his own shoes.

In Irish folklore, where is the little shoemaker's pot of gold supposed to be hidden?

Good luck finding it: the end of a rainbow moves every time you do.

Which US city dyes its river bright green every year for St. Patrick's Day?

The tradition started by accident in 1961 when plumbers used green dye to trace pollution.

How did the tradition of dyeing that city's river for the holiday begin?

The plumbers liked the look and pitched it to the city's Irish-American mayor as a yearly event.

St. Patrick's Day parades began on which continent, long before Ireland held any?

Ireland did not hold its first parade until 1903.

Which Irish city held the very first St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland, in 1903?

Dublin's first official state-sponsored parade did not come until 1931.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other what?

It is a public holiday in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Newfoundland too.

Which Caribbean island counts St. Patrick's Day as a public holiday?

Many of its early settlers were Irish, and its flag even shows a woman holding a harp.

Which famous landmarks were the first to be lit up green for St. Patrick's Day in 2010?

Since then more than 300 landmarks in fifty countries have joined the Global Greening.

What is Saint Patrick's Day called in the Irish language?

It means the Day of the Festival of Patrick.

The weeks leading up to St. Patrick's Day in Ireland are Seachtain na Gaeilge. What is that?

People make an extra effort to speak Irish, and it runs from 1 March to 17 March.

Where is Saint Patrick said to be buried?

The town in County Down holds one of the biggest celebrations outside the cities.

What is Ireland's national symbol, seen on its coins and coat of arms?

It also appears on the coats of arms of Canada and the United Kingdom.

Botanically speaking, what makes a four-leaf clover special?

About one in every 5,000 clovers has four leaves, according to a huge European survey.

Roughly how many ordinary clovers would you have to search to find one four-leaf clover?

That is still twice as common as the old saying of one in 10,000.

What is a person supposed to gain by kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland?

Kissers used to be dangled by the ankles over the castle wall to reach it.

The 'drowning the shamrock' custom ends St. Patrick's Day by putting a shamrock where?

The cup is filled up, the shamrock is either swallowed or tossed over the shoulder for luck.

The colour green was first linked to Ireland in a legend written down roughly how long ago?

The story appears in the 11th-century Book of the Taking of Ireland.

The Irish stepdancing show that became a worldwide hit in 1994 was called what?

It started out as a seven-minute act between the songs at that year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Which Canadian province gives its government workers the day off for St. Patrick's Day?

About one in five people there has Irish roots, and it is called the most Irish place outside Ireland.

What did astronaut Chris Hadfield do for St. Patrick's Day 2013 aboard the ISS?

He also posted photos of Ireland taken from orbit.

Which traditional Irish dinner is a boiled cut of pork served with a green vegetable and potatoes?

In America the bacon was often swapped for corned beef, which was easier to find in the cities.

How long a lease did Arthur Guinness sign on his Dublin brewery in 1759?

He paid 45 pounds a year for it, and the brewery is still at St. James's Gate.

Which nickname for Ireland comes from how green the island is?

It comes from an 18th-century poem by William Drennan.

How many leaves does a shamrock have?

Botanists still argue about which clover species is the true shamrock.

What is a céilí, part of many St. Patrick's Day celebrations?

The word is pronounced roughly KAY-lee.

St. Patrick's Day falls during Lent. What happens to the fasting rules for the day?

That is one reason the day turned into a big feast and party.

St. Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland in which year?

The law that did it was passed by the UK Parliament, since Ireland was still ruled from London.

How many names is Saint Patrick said to have had over his life, according to an old biography?

Sochet as a boy, Cothriche as a slave, Mauonius as a student and Patrick as a bishop.

Besides Ireland, Saint Patrick is also the patron saint of which African country?

Irish missionaries brought the connection there in the 20th century.

Before the 1900s, what colour were leprechauns usually said to wear?

One 1831 description gives the little fellow a red square-cut coat laced with gold and a cocked hat; the all-green look came much later.

Lucky the Leprechaun is the mascot of which basketball team?

He appears right on the team's logo, a nod to Boston's large Irish-American community.

Which breakfast cereal's mascot is a leprechaun created by General Mills?

General Mills created the character, making him one of the most famous leprechauns outside Irish folklore.

What did astronaut Catherine Coleman play aboard the space station on St. Patrick's Day 2011?

The hundred-year-old flute belonged to Matt Molloy of The Chieftains, and her weightless performance ended up on the band's album Voice of Ages.

Which US president was the first to be sent a box of shamrocks from Ireland, in 1952?

Today Ireland's leader hands the president a Waterford Crystal bowl of shamrocks each March, a custom that became yearly after 1994.

Which Canadian city has a shamrock on its flag and a parade held every year since 1824?

Irish soldiers in the city's garrison were celebrating the day there as far back as 1759.

Until the early 1900s, Irish children wore a St. Patrick's Day cross made from what?

The Celtic-style crosses were covered with silk or ribbon of different colours, with a rosette of green silk in the middle.

Which colour did the Order of St Patrick adopt in 1783, linking it to the saint for a time?

Green won out after the United Irishmen adopted it in the 1790s, giving us the phrase 'wearing of the green'.

Legend says Patrick fasted on top of a mountain in County Mayo for how many days?

The mountain is now called Croagh Patrick, and thousands of pilgrims climb it on the last Sunday in July.

How long was the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade, once held in Dripsey, Ireland?

It ran between the village's two pubs from 1999 until one of them closed five years later; tiny parades in Rhode Island and Arkansas now fight over the title.

What job did young Patrick do during his years as a slave in Ireland?

He later wrote that the lonely years minding animals in the hills were when he turned to prayer and found his faith.

Patrick's two surviving pieces of writing are in which language?

He grew up in Roman Britain, where Latin was the language of church and schooling, even though he probably spoke a Celtic language at home.

In a dream, Patrick read a letter titled 'The Voice of the Irish'. What did it ask?

Patrick said the dream convinced him to go back to the island where he had once been held as a slave.

According to legend, Patrick's first church in Ireland was held in what kind of building?

The spot is still called Saul, from the Irish word for barn, and a church stands there today.

Which Irish city has two cathedrals that are both named after Saint Patrick?

Tradition says Patrick founded his main church there in 445, and it is still the church capital of Ireland.

In legend, a chieftain named Dáire gave Patrick a hill for a church plus a great bronze what?

The story says Patrick's holy water had just revived the chieftain and his horses, which had died after grazing on church land.

Legend says Patrick defied the High King by lighting an Easter fire on which hill?

The king had banned all other fires while his own festival fire burned on Tara, and the story says nobody but Patrick could put the blaze out.

What is the local nickname for Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain in County Mayo?

Reek is an old Irish-English word for a rick or stack, which fits its pointed pyramid shape above Clew Bay.

Thousands of pilgrims climb Croagh Patrick together on which day each year?

Some climbers still go up barefoot, keeping a tradition that dates back at least to the Middle Ages.

On the mountaintop, legend says Patrick rang his bell to drive away what?

The birds were said to be demons, and the hollow he chased them into is still called the hollow of the demons.

Which hill in County Antrim is said to be where the enslaved young Patrick herded sheep?

It is the plug of an extinct volcano, and crowds still walk to the top on the saint's day every year.

Medieval pilgrims believed a cave on Station Island in Donegal was the entrance to what?

The island was so famous it was the only Irish place marked on a 1492 globe, and pilgrims still spend three days there each summer fasting and praying.

The word shamrock comes from the Irish seamróg. What does it mean?

There is no single shamrock species; surveys found most Irish people pick lesser clover or white clover when asked to send one in.

Which airline uses a shamrock logo and the radio call sign 'SHAMROCK'?

Pilots talking to air traffic control identify each flight as 'Shamrock' followed by its number.

English writers in the 1500s wrongly claimed the Irish did what with shamrocks?

They had mixed up seamróg with seamsóg, the Irish word for wood sorrel, a sour plant that people really did nibble.

The record-setting clover found in Japan in 2023 had how many leaflets?

The grower bred it from plants that already produced extra leaflets, beating a 56-leaf clover found in Japan in 2009.

Which rocket company sews a four-leaf clover onto every mission patch?

The tradition started with the first successful Falcon 1 launch in 2008, and the clover has appeared on patches ever since.

Which youth group's emblem is a green four-leaf clover with a white letter on each leaf?

It is one of many groups, from car maker Alfa Romeo to the New Jersey Lottery, that borrowed the clover as a symbol of good fortune.

In one tradition, a four-leaf clover's leaves stand for hope, faith, love and what?

Another old belief claimed that finding one let you see fairies.

In the oldest leprechaun story, King Fergus wakes to find tiny creatures dragging him where?

He grabs his captors and makes them grant him three wishes before letting them go, a bargain that still shows up in leprechaun tales.

Which American university's 'Fighting Irish' teams have a leprechaun mascot?

A student in a green suit and hat plays the part at games, one of the best-known leprechauns in American sport.

Which 1959 Disney film features a leprechaun king who grants three wishes?

Walt Disney consulted Ireland's folklore experts while making it but, oddly, never asked them for any leprechaun stories.

What is the white stripe in the middle of Ireland's flag meant to stand for?

The other two stripes represent the island's Catholic and Protestant traditions, with white as the hoped-for truce between them.

Which African country's flag looks like Ireland's flipped back to front?

A sprinter from that country once borrowed an Irish flag from a fan and held it reversed to celebrate a world title.

Since 2012, which royal has usually handed out shamrocks to the Irish Guards on the day?

Fresh shamrocks are flown in from Ireland for the soldiers wherever in the world they are stationed.

Which giant dog breed is the official mascot of the Irish Guards regiment?

Ancient Rome marvelled at seven huge Irish hounds sent over in the year 391 to fight lions and bears.

On a Claddagh ring, the heart means love and the hands mean friendship. The crown means what?

Legend credits a silversmith named Richard Joyce, who learned the craft while enslaved in Algeria and made the ring for his sweetheart back home.

The Claddagh ring takes its name from a fishing village in which Irish county?

The village has made the rings since at least 1700, though the name 'Claddagh ring' only caught on in the 1830s.

What must visitors do to kiss the Blarney Stone?

Before safety rails were added, helpers held kissers by the ankles and dangled them over the drop.

Blarney Castle, home of the famous stone, is just outside which Irish city?

Geologists tested the stone in 2014 and found it is local limestone, not a chunk of Scotland's Stone of Scone as one legend claims.

In competitive Irish stepdancing, where must dancers keep their arms?

One theory says the style began because travelling dance masters taught on tabletops and barrel tops, where there was no room to swing your arms.

What are the soft lace-up shoes worn by girls in Irish dancing called?

Boys wear 'reel shoes' with a hard heel instead, so their soft-shoe dancing has audible clicks and stomps.

An Irish dancing competition is called a feis. What does that word mean?

Dancers are judged on footwork, timing and carriage, and top placings can qualify them for regional and world championships.

Why was the tin whistle nicknamed after a small coin in Victorian times?

Factory-made whistles from Manchester in the 1840s were cheap enough for anyone, and today it is the most popular instrument in Irish traditional music.

The bodhrán, the Irish frame drum, is traditionally covered with the skin of which animal?

The player presses a hand against the inside of the skin to change the pitch while striking the other side with a stick called a tipper.

How does a player fill the bag of Ireland's uilleann pipes with air?

Uilleann is the Irish word for elbow, which is what pumps the bellows.

The words to 'Danny Boy' were written in 1910 by a lawyer from which country?

Frederic Weatherly only matched his verses to the Irish tune 'Londonderry Air' three years later, after a relative sent it to him.

A shillelagh, the knobbly Irish walking stick, is typically cut from which wood?

The sticks were often cured up a chimney for months or even years before being polished.

Irish soda bread rises using baking soda instead of which usual ingredient?

The raisin-filled sweet version sold as 'traditional' abroad is known in Ireland as spotted dog.

Boston marks the same date as Evacuation Day. What happened there on that day in 1776?

It was George Washington's first victory of the war, and the 1941 law making it a holiday was signed in black and green ink.

Which First Lady had the White House fountains dyed green in 2009?

She borrowed the idea from her hometown, where a river gets the same treatment every year.

The capital of which European country dyes its river green every St Patrick's Day?

Vilnius copies a famous American tradition even though the day is not a holiday there.

Saint Patrick's red X-shaped cross was combined with two others to form which flag?

The thin red diagonal lines on the United Kingdom's flag are the part that represents Ireland.

Which author of Gulliver's Travels was dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin?

He is buried inside the cathedral, which is the largest church in Ireland.

How many traditional counties does the island of Ireland have?

Twenty-six are in the Republic of Ireland and six are in Northern Ireland.

Connacht, Leinster and Munster are three of Ireland's provinces. What is the fourth?

It is the northern province; six of its nine counties make up Northern Ireland.

What is the longest river in Ireland?

It runs for about 360 kilometres from County Cavan down past Limerick to the Atlantic.

What is the highest mountain in Ireland?

It stands 1,039 metres tall in County Kerry, more than 270 metres higher than Croagh Patrick.

Which sport draws the biggest crowds in Ireland?

Even the top players are amateurs, and the All-Ireland final at Croke Park is the most watched event of the sporting year.

Which NHL team was called the St. Patricks and wore green from 1919 to 1927?

They dusted off the green throwback uniforms to play on St Patrick's Day in 1999.