DeSotoSky
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St. Patrick's Day celebrates the life of Saint Patrick (385-461), the patron saint of Ireland. As a missionary, he is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated each year on March 17th, believed to be the day of his death. His real name was Maewyn Succat, not Patrick. St Patrick's day has evolved to be both a religious and cultural Celebration. Leave it to the Americans to turn a religious holiday into a drinking holiday.
15 St. Patrick's Day Facts
1. St. Patrick's Day always falls on the 17th of March, the day of his death.
2. The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in America—not in Ireland,
3. The New York City St. Patrick's Day parade is the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States.
4. Chicago began its annual tradition of turning the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day in 1962. (it takes 40lbs of dye)
5. In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day had been viewed mostly as a religious observance, and up until the 1960s, they even had laws that forbid bars from being open that day,
6. It wasn't until 1798 (the year of the Irish Rebellion) that the color green became officially associated with St. Patrick's Day. Before then it was blue.
7. St. Patrick's Day switched over from a strictly holy day for Catholics to an official Irish public holiday in 1903,
8. Although St. Patrick's Day falls within the period of Lent—a time when the Catholic Church prohibits eating meat—the ban is lifted on this specific day of celebration,
9. The annual shamrock ceremony in the White House started in 1952.
10. Each year, 5.5 million people visit New York's St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
11. Before St. Patrick became a missionary, he had been kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave.
12. St. Patrick is said to have been buried in the town of Downpatrick, County Down, in Northern Ireland,
13. There are two autobiographical writings from St. Patrick himself, including Confessio and Letter to Coroticus.
14. Traditionally, Catholic families go to church in the morning on St. Patrick's Day, and partake in a meal that includes cabbage and Irish bacon.
15. Dublin's first official celebration of St. Patrick's Day did not occur until 1931.
525 "The Good Luck" BUCK. I acquired this special little beauty about a dozen years ago. I have never seen another. It is not found on the Special Projects lists. I associate the <dot> marking with 1985 so that predates BCCI by three years so probably not in a newsletter either. If anyone has a clue about the origin let us know. It is the perfect knife for the St Patrick's Day Sunday Picture Show don't you think?
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Found that it is back bacon, more like Canadian Bacon than American bacon. This then led to the obvious question of why the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal on this side of the pond is corned beef and not bacon 
Apparently it started with Irish immigrants living in close proximity to Jewish neighborhoods in New York and Boston. They found that the traditional Jewish corned beef was less expensive than their traditional salted pork. I'm a little surprised that beef was cheaper than pork 
