St. Patrick’s Day is upon us — a day when people wear green and roam around cities doing bar crawls, right? Not quite.

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The holiday began as a religious feast day in the 9th or 10th century to commemorate Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, who wasn’t even Irish. He was brought to Ireland from his native Britain but escaped and years later and returned to Ireland as a missionary. Irish Catholics celebrate the saint on the anniversary of his death, March 17, by going to Mass, praying for missionaries and sharing a large meal. Today, Americans celebrate the tradition a little differently.

From the meaning of the clover to the drowning of the shamrock, here are 10 things you didn’t know about this annual holiday.

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