The funniest, booziest and most fantastic festival to ever exist, St Patrick’s Day is all about green beer, Leprechaun costumes and getting positively shitfaced.
March 17 is the day most alcohol enthusiasts can truly call their own, with the tradition beginning in Ireland around 457 AD, when the beloved St. Patrick (who was credited for spreading Christianity all through Ireland) fell to his death.
A little bit o’ history
To those of you who were always curious about this seemingly fun festival’s origins, let’s break it down for you. St Patrick, originally born in England was actually captured by Irish Raiders and for six years worked as a slave in Ireland. When he did manage to break free, he returned to England with the sole purpose of going back to Ireland to carry ‘God’s mission. He then successfully spread Christianity among the Irish Pagans, and also ‘apparently’ drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Folklore of his trials and characteristics are among many, but the one that stands out is how he would use a three-leafed shamrock to describe the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The day he died, the Irish decided to host a feast in his honour, which over the years and centuries turned into a massive parade and eventually a government holiday. St Patrick’s Day is actually the climax of a four-day binge of Irish Beer and Green Pride.
The big green party
The four days that lead up to St Patrick’s are unhinged days of drunken debauchery fuelled by dark beer (usually Guinness) and a regiment of enthusiastic party-people all dressed in green. Then on St Patrick’s Day, in true Irish fashion, the consumption of alcohol begins by 11 am in the morning, as the celebrations of the parade and festivities get under way.
In Ireland, people queue up the streets and start from Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, completing their march at the Black Church. Bars and pubs are filled with drunken people of all ages while the parade also showcases art, music and traditional Irish dances and such. To put it simply, the streets are filled with people having the time of their lives!
Around the world
The festival is celebrated all over Ireland as well as places with a substantial Irish population. Most large cities in the USA like Boston, Chicago and NYC host massive St Patrick’s Day parades, while college students also join in the fun. Because it is such a unique and no-holds-barred sort of celebration, the tradition of going berserk on St Patrick’s Day is actually more of a trend now.