Saint Patrick's Day Festival

St. Patrick ’s Day around the world

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in towns and cities right across the globe, but it's probably fair to say that nowhere can the festivities match the excitement and atmosphere of St. Patrick's Day in Ireland.

In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is more of a religious holiday similar to Christmas and Easter. Many Irish people start the day by going to mass andoffering prayers for the Saint and missionaries all over the world. After that people flock to their local village or town to see the annual Saint Patrick's Day parade – and this is where the real celebrations begin! With grand parades, community feasts, charity show, the mass, St Patrick's Day is celebrated in Ireland with great gusto. The parades, shamrocks, and green beer are provided primarilyfor tourists. In fact, it has turned out to be one of the most celebrated events in Ireland and a major tourist attraction.

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide by the Irish people and increasingly by many of non-Irish descent (usually in Australia, North America, and Ireland), hence the phrase, "Everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day." Celebrations are generally themed aroundall things green and Irish; both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green or orange, eating Irish food and/or green foods, imbibing Irish drink (usually Guinness), and attending parades.

Saint Patrick's Day parades in Ireland date from the late 19th century, originating in the growing sense of Irish nationalism. The St. Patrick's Day parade inDublin, Ireland is part of a five-day festival; over 500,000 people attended the 2006 parade. With bands, music, dance, shamrock, leprechauns, green coloured clothing and loads of power packed performance, the Irish parade on Saint Patrick's Day is a sight to behold!

Almost everything in Ireland is closed on Saint Patrick's Day with the exception of pubs and restaurants. Many Irish people weara bunch of shamrocks ("three-leaf clover") on their lapels or caps on this day or green, white, and orange badges (after the colors of the Irish flag). Girls and boys wear green in their hair. Artists draw shamrock designs on people's cheeks as a cultural sign, including American tourists.

The biggest celebrations on the island of Ireland outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland,where Saint Patrick was buried following his death on 17 March, 461. In 2004, according to Down District Council, the week-long St. Patrick's Festival had over 2000 participants and 82 floats, bands, and performers, and was watched by over 30,000 people.

The day is celebrated by the Church of Ireland as a Christian festival. Saint Patrick's Day as a celebration of Irish culture was rarelyacknowledged by Northern Irish loyalists, who consider it a festival of the Irish Republicans. The Belfast City Council recently agreed to give public funds to its parade for the first time; previously the parade was funded privately. The Belfast parade is based on equality and only the flag of St. Patrick is supposed to be used as a symbol of the day to prevent it being seen as a time which isexclusively for Republicans and Nationalists. This allowed both Unionists and Nationalists to celebrate the day together. The Unionists (orangemen) wear orange instead of green on St. Patrick's Day; both colors are in the Irish flag (although this the Irish flag is not an official flag in Northern Ireland, it being part of the United Kingdom), and orange often but not always represents the Protestants ofNorthern Ireland.

History

St Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland. True, he was not a born Irish. But he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage, mostly through his service across Ireland of the 5th century.

Patrick was born in the later half of the 4th century. There are differing views about the exact year and place of his birth. His real name was Maewyn Succat....