Here in my local Irish Pub, with a pint of green beer in hand, wishing all those of Irish heritage everywhere, a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
It is the feast day of Ireland’s patron Saint Patrick. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in Ireland and all over the world by people of Irish heritage. It has become a celebration of Irish culture but has been a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.
The first knowledge I really had of Ireland or people of Irish heritage was from the movie, The Luck of the Irish (laughing to myself about how ridiculous I sound, but that is my truth). Haha even then I didn’t really understand the concept of Irish culture.
But since that film in 2001, between my newfound love of Liam Neeson, to the admiration of the deep green, rolling hills and towering drop off land scape of The Cliffs of Moher for the movie Leap Year and the landscape in The Game of Thrones -ah my love for knowledge and the country of Ireland has grown so much!
I was finally able to visit the beautiful country in 2017 starting in Belfast making my way to Dublin then to Galway.
In the United States there are many people with Irish heritage due to their ancestors moving to the US during the Irish potato famine. So as you help celebrate this holiday with millions around the world, here are a few things to know about St. Patrick’s Day:
St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious celebration held on the traditional death date of Saint Patrick
According to the legend, he brought Christianity to the island and freed Ireland from snakes.
One of the important symbols of St. Patrick's day is the shamrock, or the three- leaf clover. Patrick used the shamrock to help people understand God.
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade ever took place in New York in 1762.
Some recommendations from my dear friend from Ireland. In his words, he likes the "dark stuff" but we have
Guinness
Smithwick's
Hop House
Murphy’s
Magners
BrewDog.
Let’s take it upon ourselves to learn a little more about the special things Ireland has brought us, food, music, culture and of course their beer!
An Irish cheers to good health,
"sláinte mhaith"