Erin Go Bragh

A St. Patrick’s Day Cheat Sheet

St. Patrick’s Day is perhaps the biggest unofficial holiday in the U.S. this side of Halloween. Yesterday, Yahoos in Burbank celebrated with Irish music, potato skins, beer, soft drinks and, of course, a bit o’ the gab.

The following fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day were gleaned using Yahoo! Search in about 10 minutes:

• The Irish Gaelic phrase, Erin go Bragh, literally translates to “Ireland until the Day of Judgment,” which is a cheeky way of saying what almost every culture says now and then: “We’re number one”
• St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland
• Despite St. Patrick’s best efforts, there are still a few snakes in Ireland, but most of them, as in other places, are in politics
• Slainte! is Irish Gaelic for “cheers!” and is pronounced “Slan-jah”
• The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the Americas was held in New York City in 1766, though the first observances took place in Boston
• Today, some 150,000 marchers take part in the New York City parade
• Irish tartans tend to go by district, unlike Scottish tartans, which are usually tied to a family surname or clan
• About 34 million Americans claim Irish ancestry, and the Irish diaspora worldwide is said to comprise some 80 million people
• The population of Ireland in 2006 was just under 6 million

Yahoo! wishes everyone a happy and safe St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

Slainte!

—The Team