St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday well-known for green beer,
corned beef, cabbage, and celebrating your Irishness, whether you can
actually claim any or not. Though the Superberries Team is partial to purple,
we love the wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day and everything else that
comes with the holiday. If you are planning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this
year, here are 7 ways to have fun.
1. Celebrating St. Patrick
If you are
religious, you can celebrate St. Patrick by attending a religious service held
in his honor. St. Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast day in the
1600s and is observed by the Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and
Lutheran Churches. Originally the intention was to commemorate St. Patrick
bringing Christianity to Ireland, but it has grown also into a celebration of
Irish heritage and culture.
2. Wearing of the Green
Even though historically the color of Ireland and St.
Patrick is actually azure blue, it is tradition to wear green on St. Patrick’s
Day. Tradition holds that if you wear green, leprechauns won’t see you and they
won’t be able to pinch you. That is where the tradition of pinching people who
do not wear green arose. Now that the color green has become associated with
Ireland generally, many people wear it to celebrate their Irish heritage.
3. Decorate with Shamrocks
Some people say that St. Patrick used the trefoil shamrock
to explain the Holy Trinity to the people of Ireland, but there is no evidence that
is historically accurate. Historians believe that Irish citizens wore the
bright green plant on their clothes to St. Patrick’s Day celebrations when they
couldn’t afford other adornments. To the Irish, it symbolizes the rebirth of
spring. Irish immigrants brought the symbol with them to the U.S.
4. Eat Traditional Irish Foods
Eat corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread. Corned
beef is actually an Irish-American delicacy because Irish immigrants were able
to buy it from kosher butchers when they first moved to large American cities
and soda bread actually originated with indigenous North Americans but became
popular in Ireland after immigrants brought it back. In Ireland, you are more
likely to find people celebrating by eating lamb or bacon, colcannon, and
shepherd’s pie. No matter what people eat, though, many of them are likely to
wash it down with something green.
5. Drink & Be Merry
Though many people drink cheap beer dyed green on St.
Patrick’s Day, other people choose a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic
beverages. Guinness claims that about 3 million pints of their beer are consumed
on St. Patty’s Day, more than three times more than on an average day. Some
people choose to celebrate with Irish whiskey or non-alcoholic beverages such
as St. Patrick’s Day punch or shamrock shakes.
6. Learn Irish Dancing at Home
Many people around the world attend ceílís on St. Patrick’s
Day. A ceílí is a party at which an Irish band plays traditional music and
people dance specific types of traditional Irish dances. If there is no
traditional ceílí in your area or if you’re choosing to stay home this year,
you can learn Irish dancing using online tutorials and have your own mini-ceílí
at home.
7. Listen to Irish Music
Music has always been an important part of Irish culture,
and many bars and venues host Irish bands on St. Patrick’s Day. If you’re not
able to catch an in-person set, check out online quarantine concerts from
famous groups such as Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys. Many Irish bands will
be providing online entertainment on March 17, so you will have plenty of
choices.
Whether your family has Irish heritage or not, St.
Patrick’s Day is a good day to mark the beginning of spring and the end of
winter. This year, we can all use a little frivolity and fun, so put on your
green and enjoy the day.