Imagine for a moment, St. Patrick's Day without the green. No Green beer, no green eggs, no green bread, no green beads or hats or t-shirts or facepaint. No green.
Imagine, instead, blue! That's right, The official St. Patrick's Day color was blue for centuries. St. Patrick is originally from Ireland, where he was told to have been enslaved by the British, taken there as a child, and escaped year later. He then grew to spend his life devoted to God, preaching and telling people about His wonders. However, all this occurred during the 400s AD, which means that Blue was a LONG standing color of St. Patrick's Day . . . until about the 1700s.
Unofficially, history credits the changing from blue to green because the people started carrying around 3-leaf clovers on March 17th (the day of his death), and in the 1798 rebellion the soldiers all wore green to make a statement. Guess it kinda just . . . well . . . stuck! Yay for government intervention. :-) However, as mentioned, the green initially came from the wearing of the 3-leaf clover, which legend suggests St. Patrick used to use to preach about the Trinity of God.
Fun stuff, although green definitely won the color battle then and continues to sparkle on nights like the last. So raise your glass high, do a little jig, listen to a great Irish band, and wear all the green you own! Just be sure to brush your teeth before bed. Green is a great staple of the day, but I don't think many people want to see your green-stained teeth the following morning!
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