What is St Patrick’s Day?
So the quick answer is it’s a day or weekend (typical Irish celebrations never confine themselves to a day) to celebrate everything and everyone Irish!
The longer version is that, Saint Patrick is the primary patron saint of Ireland. Why you may ask? Well, because he has done many wonderful things for our beautiful country but there are two very primary reasons, which any Irish person worth their salt should be able to tell you…
One – Snakes
Legend has it that it was St Paddy himself, who banish all snakes from our lovely Emerald Isle as they disturbed him during a 40 day fast, while he was trying to pray. Insert hangry joke here. Anyway, he was in a rage and he shun them all into the sea with the help of his trusty crook, for them never to appear again… no, really!
Two – Shamrocks
Before he carried out his marvellous work with the snakes, in the fifth century he is also said to have brought Christianity to Ireland. Stay with me here… He spread the word of God by using a shamrock to explain to the then pagan Irish people about the Holy Trinity (Jesus, God & Holy Spirit). Thus thrusting this glorious green leaf into the spotlight and hearts of the Irish and wannabe Irish people, cementing it as a must-have fashion stable for centuries to come. This man truly knew about marketing branding and we bought it all…
St Patrick bonding the Irish with the Shamrock
Who celebrates it?
Everyone with a pulse but especially those who are Irish, those who have red hair (you are practically Irish), and those who are lucky enough to be in Ireland for this magical festival. Cities worldwide have celebrations and parades in his honour, true fanatics wear green and sport the famous shamrock. Ireland however, is the only country to declare it a national holiday, many Irish Rebels living abroad just pull a sickie or fake a pet’s death so they don’t miss out on this glorious day! 🙂 Sure it’s a bit of craic isn’t it?
What’s on?
There are endless amounts of events on in Dublin every year, so it can be hard to decide which are the best ones.
We have put together our top picks (including some free music events) of things to do on St. Patrick’s Weekend in Dublin – Enjoy!
Thursday 16th
18:00 – Greening the City
Friday 17th
12:00 – Dublin City Parade
16:00 – Live Music from Christy Moore Tribute
19:00 – Taylors Irish Night
22:00 – Live Music from Bop Till You Drop
Saturday 18th
10:00 – Treasure Hunt
11:00 – City Funfair
19:00 – Taylors Irish Night
22:00 – Live Music from Sway Social
Sunday 19th
12:00 – St. Patrick’s Festival 5k Run
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 🙂
