I decided to post my first blog just to say yeah, did that! at least once. I decided to paste a little history on why we observe the upcoming holiday.
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, the saint's religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink and feast--on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.
Facts about Irish Americans
There are 36.9 million U.S. residents with Irish roots. This number is more than eight times the population of Ireland itself (4.5 million).
Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, ranking behind German.
Across the country, 12 percent of residents lay claim to Irish ancestry. That number doubles to 24 percent in the state of
Massachusetts.
Irish is the most common ancestry in 54 U.S. counties, of which 44 are in the Northeast. Middlesex County in Massachusetts tops the list with 348,978 Irish Americans, followed by Norfolk County, MA, which has 203,285.
Irish ranks among the top five ancestries in every state except
Hawaii and
New Mexico. It is the leading ancestry group in
Delaware, Massachusetts and
New Hampshire.
A total of 4.8 million immigrants from Ireland have been admitted to the United States for lawful permanent residence since 1820, the earliest year for which official records exist. Only Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and
Mexico have accounted for more U.S. immigrants.
There are approximately 122,000 current U.S. residents who were born in Ireland.
