Fact. St Patrick's Day is the best holiday ever. Fact. Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day. Fact. You're gonna LOVE this week's episode of ACTUAL St Patrick’s Day facts! Welcome to the Pub Songs Podcast, the Virtual Public House for Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a Celtic Geek musician and your guide to honoring our past and adapting for our future. Today’s show is brought to you by my Gunn Runners on Patreon. These generous people pledge $5 per month or more so that I can keep creating music, podcasts, and live streaming video shows like Coffee with The Celtfather. Thank you! If you have comments or want to chat in the pub, email me. Use #PubSongs when talking about this show. Cead mile failte!  How would you like two free albums of my music? No need to sign up to mailing list. No strings attached at all. I just want you to hear my music. Follow the links to St Patrick's Day and Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers on Bandcamp. "Buy the Digital Albums". Name your price to ZERO. Then download and enjoy your free albums. Then Subscribe to the Pub Songs Podcast at PubSong.net to enjoy this podcast. This offer is good until March 18, 2019. The Pub Songs Podcast celebrates our shared love of Celtic culture. But it also recognizes that our world is changing. So you will mostly hear fun Celtic music on the show. But it'll be mixed in with songs inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who and Firefly. WHO'S PLAYING IN THE PUB TODAY? 0:18 "The Hunter Set" by Runa from Current Affairs Everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day. But I prefer to see this as a holiday for everyone of Celtic ancestry. I don’t know how many kilts I’ve seen worn on the holiday, but it’s a lot. 8:25 FACT #1 Ireland is one of seven Celtic nations. These are the places that the Celts settled after invading their way from central Europe before finally being conquered by the Romans and driven to the fringes of continent. The nations include: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall in Southwest England, Brittany in France, and Galicia in Northwest Spain. While the Celts settled in those locations, they were eventually pushed out of those homelands to places around the world. 9:32 “Almost Irish” by Ceann from from Almost Irish and Best of the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast 14:45 FACT #2 Boston, New York, New Orleans was one of the top 3 immigration points for the Irish during the potato blight of the 1800s. “Men of New Basin Canal” that honors the 30K Irishmen who died digging that canal. 15:22 “Men of New Basin Canal” by Marc Gunn & Jamie Haeuser from How America Saved Irish Music 18:29 FACT #3 March 17th is the holy day of St. Patrick in the Catholic church. Because of this, it was not celebrated like you find it today. In fact, March 17 was a dry holiday in Ireland until the 70s. All the pubs were closed. In 1995 they began celebrating it like in America. It's quite a ironic that as a sainted holiday, St Patrick's Day is celebrated with drinking. 19:00 "St Patrick Never Drank" by Marc Gunn from Kilted For Her Pleasure 21:27 FACT #4 St Patrick was not Irish. He was born in Scotland or Wales in the 4th century. Originally, he was enslaved and taken to Ireland. He escaped, became a Christian and went back to convert the Celts. He died in Ireland on March 17, 461. I was born on St Patrick's Day. I have a song for all those born on March 17th or of Irish heritage. 21:55 "Happy Birthday from Ireland” by Marc Gunn from Soul of a Harper 25:08 PUB CHAT I want your feedback. What are you doing today while listening to the Pub Songs Podcast? How has this show inspired you? Send a written comment along with any pictures to marc@marcgunn.com. Use the hashtag #pubsongs in the subject of your email. River Godbee replied to my Marc's Musing email: "Typically I am cleaning up around the house, which never ends when you have a 5 year old! But I also listen while driving to work/school or going on walks. I used to use a varie