Q 01/05

Saint Patrick is said to have used a shamrock to explain which Christian teaching?

A) Holy Trinity

B) Resurrection

C) Virgin Birth

D) Original sin

Answer · why

A) Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity, three persons in one God, matched the plant's three leaves; the story first appears in writing only in 1726, well over a thousand ye...

Q 02/05

Before green took over, which colour was linked to Saint Patrick through the Order of St Patrick?

A) Blue

B) Gold

C) Purple

D) Crimson

Answer · why

A) Blue

Blue: founded in 1783, the Order of St Patrick needed a colour unlike the Garter's dark blue and the Thistle's green; orange was judged too sectarian,...

Q 03/05

In which year did 17 March become an official public holiday in Ireland?

A) 1927

B) 1948

C) 1972

D) 1903

Answer · why

D) 1903

The Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903 made Saint Patrick's Day a public holiday. The same year saw Ireland's first parade for the feast.

Q 04/05

Which present-day country held the first recorded Saint Patrick's Day parade, in 1601?

A) United States

B) United Kingdom

C) Netherlands

D) Canada

Answer · why

A) United States

United States: records show a parade on 17 March 1601 in St. Augustine, then a Spanish colony in Florida; Ireland's own first parade came three centur...

Q 05/05

Light floods the inner chamber of Newgrange through its roof-box at sunrise on which day of the year?

A) The spring equinox

B) The summer solstice

C) The winter solstice

D) The autumn equinox

Answer · why

C) The winter solstice

The winter solstice, the year's shortest day: the Neolithic builders aligned the 19-metre passage so it lights the chamber, and places in the annual l...