Whether you’re serving up green beer or corned beef and cabbage, your St. Patrick’s Day festivities should definitely be full of fun and friends. That’s what the day is all about for modern celebrators after all.

Of course, if you’re already starting to plan your March get-together then you may want to start thinking about some of those wonderful symbols of the holiday that would be perfect decorations. And that’s where those rare four-leaf clovers come into the picture.

The Four Leaf Clover

Four leaf clovers are said to bring luck to anyone who finds one. That idea probably stems from their rarity. One estimate is that you can find one four leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers. You can also find clovers with a number of other leaflets. One extremely lucky clover had 18 leaflets. Why these differences appear is not known for sure, but some scientists speculate that the cause is a recessive gene that doesn’t show up very often.

No matter what the reason the four leaf clover has become synonymous with good fortune and the good fun of St. Patrick’s Day. You can even find clovers decorating invitations for the season, such as Four Leaf Clovers, Clovers, and the Field of Clovers.

Despite its popularity, however, four leaf clovers are often mistaken for another green-leafed plant: the shamrock. Like the four leaf clover, shamrocks are thought by some to bring good luck and are often used to symbolize St. Patrick’s Day. However, clovers and shamrocks are not the same thing.

The Differences Between Clovers & Shamrocks

One of the most important differences between the two, besides their scientific classifications, is their religious significance. Clovers were an important symbol for the Celtic religions that once covered much of the Ireland, Western Europe, and Britain. The Celts existed before Christianity and are often classified as polytheistic pagans who had a strong relationship with nature. They were one of the first groups to view four leaf clovers as lucky and considered walking through a field of clovers to be a precursor to good fortune.

Shamrocks, on the other hand, are associated with Ireland specifically and with Christianity. To the Irish, the shamrock is a symbol of the holy trinity with each of the three leaflets representing the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost.

Of course, many people today still confuse shamrocks and clovers despite these ideological differences. And maybe it doesn’t matter that much if you’re just looking to have fun this St. Patrick’s Day, but knowing the difference could, at least, be an interesting bit of trivia to share after a round of that green beer with your friends.