Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

March 17 Irish holiday St. Patrick’s Day will be celebrated not only in Ireland but also in various parts of the planet. This is the day where you must wear a T-shirt  with a not  “Kiss me I’m Irish”.

St. Patrick’s Day – a holiday which is celebrated by all true Irishmen, and all those who feel themselves Irish inside the heart. Worldwide holds festive parades, people are getting dressed and painted in bright green color, all listen to Irish music and sing funny songs. And of course, treat the Irish national dishes and drinks.

The symbol of the holiday and a national symbol of Ireland – shamrock clover, with the help of which, according to legend, Saint Patrick demonstrated the idea of the Holy Trinity. St. Patrick himself, who lived 4-5 centuries, is considered the patron saint of Ireland, and the date March 17 – the day of his death. History tells us that he baptized people and cast out paganism, and the Irish believe that thanks to him there are no snakes on their island.

However, from pagan times other heroes came into the holiday. Thus, some of his heroes are the indispensable leprechauns – fairy shoemakers who possess a hidden pot of gold. If fortunate treasure hunters can catch a leprechaun, this creature must tell the person where his hidden treasure is. However, if you suddenly catch a cobbler, remember that you must not trust him – these fellows insidious and mischievous and can easily fool the unsuspecting treasure hunters.

They say that leprechauns went to the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day recently – companies that sell cards on this holiday, needed a likeable character who could appear in the figures. A severe, though good, the preacher of St. Patrick is not quite suited for this role. In figures leprechauns are usually dressed in a peaked hat and leather apron.

Happiness in St. Patrick’s Day you can find also in some other ways – you just need to find the four-leafed Shamrock. This leaf clover brings good luck always, but in St. Patrick’s Day the happiness is being doubled. It is unclear just what do the people of northern countries, where the holiday falls on a cold early spring, when the clover is in the meadows, and there is no trace.

Indispensable companions in the St. Patrick’s Day – Irish beer and whiskey. There’s even a joke regarding Irish whiskey: “Why did God created whiskey? So that the Irish would never be able to rule the world.” Whiskey is not only drink, but also the basis for various sauces and dishes. The famous Irish beer is just being poured into the holiday river; some of them even paint it green with food coloring. However, the true Irish insist that St. Patrick’s Day they drink alcohol no more than any other day. Indeed, it can’t be more! And then they help themselves with food such as corned beef with steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes with parsley and green onions – and generally any food of green color.

If you have never celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, then you have the opportunity to join a truly global community that supports this glorious tradition. For the Irish around the world is a “magical day when winter dreams begin to turn into the wonders of summer.”

But of course the most magnificent celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is held in Dublin – the capital of the Republic of Ireland. On this day, according to tradition throughout the city they arrange lavish parades, involving people dressed in costumes (red wigs and green caps) and also brass bands, each of which will certainly have some bagpipes. Noisy celebrations continued throughout the day, and ends late in the evening a grand display of fireworks.

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day already has outgrown the boundaries of “Emerald Isle”, and now it is celebrated in all the major cities of the world. On this day people wear green clothes, “dress up” the building green, and in Chicago, they painted in green, even the urban river. After green – the color of spring, the shamrock and the national color of Ireland, no wonder this Irish Whiskey “Jameson” is bottled in green glass bottles.

Actually St. Patrick’s Day celebration lasts longer in Dublin. Here they begin a six-day festival dedicated to St. Patrick’s Day – the holiday of spring, beer and fun festivities.

Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast prepared a study of how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world, including such seemingly unrelated to Irish tradition, such as Japan and Russia. “St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by many people outside of Ireland. On this day, they start to behave” Irish “: wear green wigs, drinking green beer and listen to Irish music,” – said the representative of the Institute for the Study of Ireland University Belfast Dominic Bryan.

In most Irish parades of the St. Patrick’s Day are being held in more than 30 cities, including major parades taking place in Cork, Galway, Limerick and, of course, in Dublin, with its grandiose celebrations.

It’s funny that in Ireland this holiday for a long time was exclusively religious, and until the seventies of last century, Irish law required all pubs to be closed on March 17!

Now the main streets of Dublin hold festive processions in pubs playing live music. Residents of the city wearing red wigs and green caps, which are sold in stores, take with pots with Shamrock (one of the symbols of Ireland – four-leaf clovers) and national flags. On the evening of fireworks are being made in the central squares. Celebration is always held in the unrestrained joy.

Parade in honor of St. Patrick are stretched and scattered like the Irish themselves, who are scattered all over the world.

Except the fact that the Irish holiday is giving a lot of joy to the Irish people of Ireland, the country also benefits from it. Every year the festival attracts millions of tourists to Ireland, bringing an additional 60 million Euros to the national treasury. Anyways this is actually the thing that happens in most of the countries which are annually hosting this kind of festivals.