Saturday 17th March is St Patrick’s Day. The Irish love to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and so do I, due to my Irish heritage.
The Feast of St Patrick or St Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious celebration. St Patrick was the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
The celebrations on the day include:
- Drinking Irish beer and whiskey
- Wearing green
- Wearing shamrocks
- Attending an Irish party, with dancing and music
- Attending mass or service
- Attending parades
St Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast in 17th century, to commemorate Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Patrick was a bishop in Ireland who converted the pagan Irish to Christianity. There is also a legend of Patrick driving all the snakes out of Ireland.
Stained glass window of St Patrick
In Australia there is a lot of celebrations held for St Patrick’s Day as there is a strong Irish heritage in Australia. In 2011, the Australian census revealed that 2,087,800 residents identified themselves as having Irish ancestry.
In my family, our ancestry is Irish and we arrived in Australia on the 2nd fleet so it is natural that we always celebrate St Patrick’s day and dress in green on the day.
This year I will go to a local Irish pub for celebrations and I will be attending the ‘Green Quarter in Sydney’ on the Sunday for live entertainment, Irish dancers, marching bands and a family fun day. And of course dressed in green both days!
What are you doing to celebrate St Patrick’s Day? I would love to hear.
Back soon……
