Every year, many Americans get in touch with their Irish side on St. Patrick’s day. Many US cities have parades and in Chicago; they even dye the Chicago River green. In Portland, there was a parade on the 13th and a St. Patrick’s Day Plunge on the 17th to benefit the Children’s Burn Foundation. In Dublin, Ireland, there is a four day festival to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Including a big parade as well as street theater, a treasure hunt, and a 5k road race. Dublin also has an event called greening the city in which Dublin’s most iconic buildings “go green” by lighting up with green lights.

Apart from the celebrations that happen worldwide for the holiday, some may be wondering why St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in the first place. St. Patrick’s Day is also known as the Feast of St. Patrick or in Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig (the Day of the Festival of Patrick). It is a cultural and religious celebration held on the traditional death date of St. Patrick who was the foremost patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick is assumed to have lived during the second half of the fifth century as an active missionary and bishop in Ireland.

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Greening the city lights Trinity College in Dublin up in green.

Ireland native at KHS, Kyle Ryan, recounts his love of the Irish holiday. He compares the feeling of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland to the feeling “that July 4th has in America”. In description to how he and his family celebrate, he says, “My parents, both here in America and Ireland, have owned Irish pubs. So, as a result on St. Paddy’s day they tend to be very busy, and so we don’t necessarily spend much time celebrating together. Typically, when this hasn’t been the case, we usually have large get togethers with friends and family on St. Patrick’s Day and celebrate with food, good company and lots of singing and dancing as the night rolls on”.

In Ireland, Ryan explains, there would be no school and they would go see the parades. “It was a day that the whole country shut down, and everyone participated in the festivities,” Ryan says. He describes, “The parades aren’t as fancy, or grandiose [as in America], but they are authentic. There is always a raw feeling of community and togetherness that I have never felt in America at any event as there is in Ireland. It is a very special day, that I miss greatly”.

So whether you have a strong Irish bloodline, or only an inkling, St. Patrick’s day is one holiday for all who wish to celebrate the Emerald Isle and all its glory.