Happy St Patricks Day!
Here are 10 interesting facts about St Pattys Day to celebrate the holiday.
1. St. Patrick was not Irish - Ireland's patron saint was, in fact, from Wales!
2. The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in New York in the 1760s.
3. Though we've come to associate kelly green with the Irish and the holiday, the 5th-century saint's official colour was "Saint Patrick's blue," a light shade of sky blue. The colour green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.
4. Don’t be fooled by any holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little guys who spend their days making and mending shoes (meaning they earned that gold they're always guarding).
5. St. Patrick never got canonized by a pope, making his saintly status somewhat questionable.
6. Guinness sales soar on St. Patrick's Day. Recent figures show that 5.5 million pints of the black stuff are downed around the world every day. On St. Patrick's Day that figure is doubled.
7. Your odds of finding a four-leaf clover are about 1 in 10,000.
8. How did the shamrock become associated with St. Patrick? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant (which is not to be confused with the four-leaf clover) as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.
9. According to Irish legend, St. Patrick wasn't originally called Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but he changed it to Patricius after becoming a priest.
10. In Chicago every year, the Plumbers Local 110 union dyes the river "Kelly" green. The dye lasts for about five hours.
Poll: Are Kiwis allergic to “exuberance”? 🥝
In The Post’s opinion piece on the developments set to open across Aotearoa in 2026, John Coop suggests that, as a nation, we’re “allergic to exuberance.”
We want to know: Are we really allergic to showing our excitement?
Is it time to lean into a more optimistic view of the place we call home? As big projects take shape and new opportunities emerge, perhaps it’s worth asking whether a little more confidence (and enthusiasm!) could do us some good.
-
42% Yes
-
33.3% Maybe?
-
24.7% No
Update on Hamilton homicide investigation and appeal for information
Scene examinations and further enquiries are ongoing today as Hamilton Police continue to investigate a homicide.
Emergency services were called to a Lake Crescent address at about 6:15pm last night, where it emerged two people had been injured.
One of the victims later died at the scene, and the other was taken to Waikato Hospital in serious condition.
Detective Inspector Daryl Smith, District Manager Criminal Investigations, says scene examinations are being conducted at two locations.
“We have officers working at the Lake Crescent address, and also at a second location of interest, several hundred metres away – the toilet block at the yacht club.”
Detective Inspector Smith says Police are actively working to locate those involved, and ask anyone who may have information that could help Police who has not already spoken with us to come forward.
“We believe those involved have travelled on foot between our two scene locations, so we would encourage anyone who may have seen anything in the area to contact us,” he says.
“We know this will be an unsettling time for those in our community that such violence occurred in a public place.
I can reassure people we are working hard to hold people to account.”
How to contact Police
Information can be reported online at 105.police.govt.nz, and clicking “Update Report”, or by calling 105.
Please use the reference number 251218/5897.
Anonymous reports can be made through Crime Stoppers, by calling 0800 555 111.
Some Choice News!
Many New Zealand gardens aren’t seeing as many monarch butterflies fluttering around their swan plants and flower beds these days — the hungry Asian paper wasp has been taking its toll.
Thanks to people like Alan Baldick, who’s made it his mission to protect the monarch, his neighbours still get to enjoy these beautiful butterflies in their own backyards.
Thinking about planting something to invite more butterflies, bees, and birds into your garden?
Thanks for your mahi, Alan! We hope this brings a smile!
Loading…
