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Directions: Read the text below. Then read the questions that follow it and choose the best answer to each question correspondingly among, marking your answers on your answer sheet.
St. Patrick's Day: Fact or Fiction
The celebration of St. Patrick's Day in the United States is associated with parades, beer, and
partygoers dressed out in green.
However, Bridget Haggerty remembers marking St. Patrick's Day very differently. A 41-year
U.S. resident he was born to Irish parents in England.
As a child in England during the 1950s, Haggerty remembers that every St. Patrick’s Day her
Irish family would receive a package from her mother's relatives back in Dublin. The package
contained live shamrock and small cardboard badges with a golden harp, a symbol of Ireland.
Family members pinned a twig of shamrock on their clothes, and Haggerty and her two
brothers would wear the greenery along with their harp badges to school on St. Patrick's Day.
"If the budget allowed it, I'd have a green ribbon in my hair. But that was the only green we
wore," said Haggerty, who now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
This seems a stark contrast to the fields of green decorations, hats, and clothes found in the
United States. While no one can confirm with certainty why wearing so much green became
popular, there is a very good reason, according to the Irish, not to do so, Haggerty said.
According to superstition, the color green was thought to bring bad luck because it was the
favorite color of the fairy folk. "As a matter of fact," Haggerty said, "you should never say the fairies. They hate it! The Good People is the right term to use."
The Good People were unpredictable, according to Irish folklore, and were known to steal
people away—especially children—who angered fairy folk by wearing too much of their
favorite color.
In Ireland, St. Patricks Day was traditionally a Catholic feast day. People had the day
off from work, went to Mass, and had a family meal together.
Times indeed have changed. Once Irish pubs used to be closed on two days of the year: Good
Friday and St. Patrick's Day. So, ironically enough, in Ireland until recently, on St. Patrick's Day you couldn't get a drink!
Haggerty recalls one notable exception from her university student days in Dublin. The
annual Irish dog show was held on March 17 and was given a license to sell alcohol. "It was
amazing the number of people who developed a fondness for dogs on that particular day," she
said.
Another misconception is the association of St. Patrick with the color green. The confusion
perhaps arises from the phrase "the wearing of the green," which meant to wear a twig of
shamrock. St. Patrick used the three-leaved plant to explain the Trinity of the Christian
religion.
In contrast, the original color assigned to St. Patrick was blue. This color, St. Patrick's blue, can be seen on ancient Irish flags and on