The legend of St. Urho tells of the patron saint of Finnish vineyard workers, who banished a plague of grasshoppers that threatened the wild grapes once said to have grown abundantly in the area now known as Finland by speaking selected Finnish words. In memory of this feat, Finnish people celebrate on March 16, the day before St. Patrick’s Day, with observances at sunrise in which women and children dressed in royal purple and Nile green gather by Finland’s many lakes and chant, “Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, menetaalta hiiteen,” meaning “Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away!” Adult men dressed in green costumes gather on hills overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant, then kick out like grasshoppers and disappear to change from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, and the day’s colors are royal purple and Nile green.