Ahh, St. Patrick’s Day.  A day when everyone thinks they’re just a little Irish, but like most people who believe anything they see on Facebook or Tik-Tok, the holiday (and the country of Ireland for that matter) is full of falsehoods and things that are taken as truths – but really aren’t.  Here’s a brief rundown on some of them.

St. Patrick drove all of the snakes out of Ireland

Supposedly, the good reverend stood on a hill, gave a sermon, and all of the snakes skedaddled.  Cool story, bro, but definitely not.  That’s like saying that I drove all of the tigers out of Clear Spring.  Sure, someone can say it, but that doesn’t mean it’s true.  More than likely, snakes were never a threat to the Emerald Isles due to the geography and weather. The “snakes” were more of a reference to pagan ideology.

Corned beef and cabbage is an Irish staple on St. Patrick’s Day

Actually, pork is more likely to be found on a traditional Irish table.  Corned beef was first used by Irish immigrants in New York City, bought from – wait for it – Jewish immigrants.  Get in line at ‘Katz’s Deli’ rather than ‘McSorely’s Old Ale House’ for a taste of the house specialty.

St. Patrick was Irish

Say his name with all the lilt of Maureen O’Hara in “The Quiet Man”, but the patron saint of the Irish was from the British Isles (England, Scotland, and Wales).  He was imprisoned in Ireland for six years before fleeing to England and becoming a missionary, returning to the land of his capture to convert the unwashed.

Ireland is part of the United Kingdom

Bring up this “factoid” in a pub and you’re liable to start a fight (if spouting out the phrase “top of the morning, to ya” hasn’t already started a row).  Ireland has been an independent country since 1922.

The Irish Potato Famine was caused by a potato blight

True, there was a potato blight that caused a huge crop failure in the mid 1800’s, but that’s not the full story.  Under English rule, Ireland was forced to export almost all of their other crops (like corn, wheat, etc.) to England (who owned most of the land), leaving the population to subsist on nothing else but potatoes.  When the potato crop failure occurred, the English didn’t offer any assistance to the starving Irish, considering it “their problem”.  Due to starvation (and a mass exodus to the United States), the population of Ireland plummeted from 8.5 million to 4.5 million in just four years.

See?  You may learn a little something with your coffee this morning.

Erin Go Bragh!