March 17th – The wintry showers and scattered snow flakes seemed to be heaven’s way of endorsing the events this year. Then again, if you have lived in Ireland long enough, you know not to pay so much heed to the weather. It’s St. Patrick’s Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig as my Irish friends will say) or ‘Paddy’s day’ as we like to refer to this day in a more secular way.
It is my first ever Paddy’s day parade and I planned on making it a memorable one. I went out to see the much publicized Dublin parade. It was more than I had expected. There were so many colours, traditions and cultures on display. It was a nice time to put away our creeds or differences whatever they may be and just have a nice time.
There were so many people from different parts of the world and each group was out to show that they had the best way to celebrate the day. In a funny way that reminded me of the stories, I read about St. Patrick and how he introduced Christianity to the Irish Pagan at the time-The shamrock representing the Holy trinity. I saw the shamrock in the events. We are all different in our beliefs, cultures, tradition, races but on Paddy’s day, it didn’t seem to matter. We have to celebrate the greatest Irish tradition to the world (no disregard to Guinness) in an Irish way.
I definitely think a parade in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day should be on everyone’s bucket list. I have that ticked on mine already and ended the day in an even more Irish way, with my pint of black bittersweet alcohol.
Click here for parade pictures
Sláinte!!!
