Saint Urho: Grasshopper Hunter

On this episode of Rambling Boy, Lonn Taylor tells the tale of St. Urho’s Day. St. Urho is a mythical Finnish saint, invented in Minnesota in 1953 so that Finnish-Americans would have their own saint to celebrate or, as some claim, would have two days in a row on which to get gloriously drunk. Saint Urho was invented by a department store clerk when pressed about why the Finnish didn't have a saint like Saint Patrick. Since that fateful moment, Saint Urho's tale has been spun many ways, but today St. Urho is remembered as the man who rid Finland of grasshoppers.