It’s going green this week. bright green. And pretty funny.
March 17th is St Patrick’s Day and the Irish of the world (and anyone who feels Irish) celebrate with parades and street parties. It is the festival commemorating Saint Patrick, the first Christian missionary in Ireland.
By the way: In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a Holiday. Not in Germany. But St. Patrick’s Day is also celebrated here and in many other places in the world.
Read here who Saint Patrick was, how and where he is celebrated every year.
Meaning and origin of St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is the commemoration of an Irish bishop: Saint Patrick is said to have lived in the 5th century and brought Christianity to Ireland. He is the patron saint of the Irish.
It may have been Patricius, the son of a Roman officer who grew up in Roman-era Britain, where he was raised in the Catholic faith.
There are hardly any reliable facts about Patrick. Historians even assume that the saint venerated today did not exist as an individual. Over time, the stories of several people may have been mixed into one legend.
This is how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Ireland
The festivities surrounding Ireland’s National Day last for several days in Dublin. From March 14th there will be concerts, parades, guided tours, art and much more. Across Ireland, a parade, pageant or festival village is a highlight with shows, music, street theatre, stalls, large sculptures and fun for all the family. Not to be forgotten: the most important buildings in the city are bathed in green light.
Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is just as much in a party mood as it is everywhere else on the Emerald Isle
The Roman Catholic Church reveres St. Patrick as a saint. Maybe also a reason why there are parades and parties in many places outside of Ireland and also in Germany.
By the way: In the 2008 church year, the liturgical commemoration of St. Patrick was brought forward to March 15 by the Roman Catholic Church. The reason: Otherwise it would have fallen into Holy Week, during which no festival or other commemoration may be celebrated.
St. Patrick’s Day worldwide
Houses and streets are not only decorated in the national colors green, white and orange for the day all over Ireland. Irish-born Americans and Australians and Ireland fans around the world are also celebrating.
Irish people and Irish fans also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Germany. In München tens of thousands of Munich residents celebrated their big parade on March 12th.
Ludwigstrasse: The Munich St. Patrick Parade on March 12, 2023
Also in March 17th is of course St. Patrick’s Day in Berlin. There is no parade here, but there are concerts and plenty of Guinness in countless Irish pubs and restaurants in the capital.
► However, the world’s largest parade with up to 250,000 participants is in New York, where many Irish emigrated.
It’s an important day in New York because the parade is the oldest and largest in the world – and takes that role very seriously. Every year there is a celebration on , with lots of beer, food (both green are welcome), costumes (also green), the parade with music and a party afterwards in the adjacent bars. Of course, buildings like the Empire State Building are also illuminated in green. The parade begins at 11 a.m. and runs along 5th Avenue between 44th and 79th Streets.
Big holiday marches also take place in Munich, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Savannah or Manchester. There is also a parade every year in Great Britain’s capital London.
The green colored Chicago River is a real highlight
In some cities, large buildings and bridges are illuminated in green and even rivers are colored green on St. Patrick’s Day. A famous example of this is the Chicago River. At least 200,000 people of Irish descent live in Chicago.
Traditionen am St. Patrick’s Day
The color green is so important because it is the color of the Irish – Ireland is a very green island. St. Patrick’s Day is also not imaginable without two other things: “Leprechauns” (leprechauns) and “Shamrocks” (three-leaf clover).
► Above all, everything has to be green on this day: You definitely have to put on your fanciest (or funniest) green outfit.
On St. Patrick’s Day, people also eat and drink in the Irish national colour: not only the cake, but even the beer is often colored green on this day.
Actress Drew Barrymore dressed up for New York’s St. Patrick’s Day (green).