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Question: Are there any holidays native to your host country that you have experienced, or are looking forward to experiencing? What are the customs of this holiday? Does school close? Do people take vacations?
Written by: Kyle Apanaschik
St. Patrick’s Day. People all throughout America celebrate this holiday, and while studying in Dublin this semester, many of us are looking forward to March 17 to witness the Irish celebrations throughout the city.
St. Patrick’s Day is considered a national holiday in the country of Ireland, and in turn, most jobs and schools are closed for the holiday. In short, the city is pretty much shut down for the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.
The holiday itself, in the past, was celebrated as a religious holiday. In 1903, the holiday was turned into a public holiday and celebrated by the entire Irish community. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was celebrated in 1996, and thirteen years later in 2009, during which almost 750,000 people were in attendance. Not bad for Dublin, a city that contains approximately one million people.
From what I have heard, the St. Patrick’s Day festivals in the United States, especially in Boston, are much more chaotic than the ones here in Ireland. Boston is known to have a raucous crowd and a hectic atmosphere throughout the city.
The big “party day” in Ireland is the night of March 16. This is simply because many of the workers and students have to go back to school on the March 18, the day after St. Patrick’s Day.
All in all, not many native Irish men and women leave the city of Dublin during this holiday. It is expected that, because of the holiday and its festivities, the city will be jam packed with locals as well as foreigners.
Many people know that Dublin holds the largest St. Patrick’s Day parades and festivities in all of Ireland, but many other large cities also hold small festivals.
The cities of Cork, Derry, Galway, Kilkenny, Downpatrick and Limerick also hold celebrations which attract members from all over the region.
In fact, Downpatrick holds the largest celebration in Ireland, outside of Dublin. It is rumored that St. Patrick himself was buried in this town in the year 461.
St. Patrick’s Day is easily Ireland’s largest and most well-known holiday. Although its origins are from Ireland, the holiday is and will continue to be celebrated all throughout the world.
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