Faith and begorrah: The history behind some popular Irish traditions

On the day tradition states St. Patrick of Ireland passed away, celebrants the world over have been dying their beer green.

The custom of green beer came about in Ireland when drinkers would add green shamrocks to their beer, their way of “drowning the shamrock.” Legend has it that Saint Patrick, who lived in the fifth century, used the three-sided shamrock as a way to illustrate the Trinity.

In the book, Declaration, purportably written by St. Patrick himself, the future Belfast-born cleric was kidnapped by Irish raiders when he was 16. During the six years of his captivity working as a sheph...