ShortHand: St Patrick RedHanded
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- True Crime
The green-dyed, beshamrocked global circus of drunken debauchery that St Patrick’s Day is today has come a long, long way from its roots as a simple Catholic feast day.
And even the legend of the man behind the green curtain has been wildly inflated. He wasn’t Irish. He probably never even saw a snake. He wasn’t a saint. And his name wasn’t Patrick. So what is the truth behind the legend?
And while we’re at it, how did his saint’s day grow to such epic, messy proportions?
The green-dyed, beshamrocked global circus of drunken debauchery that St Patrick’s Day is today has come a long, long way from its roots as a simple Catholic feast day.
And even the legend of the man behind the green curtain has been wildly inflated. He wasn’t Irish. He probably never even saw a snake. He wasn’t a saint. And his name wasn’t Patrick. So what is the truth behind the legend?
And while we’re at it, how did his saint’s day grow to such epic, messy proportions?