It is known that Saint Patrick’s Day has real importance on Irish history, but moving to nowadays the real message has been lost or miss understood. It was supposed to be a catholic celebration and a reminder of Saint Patrick death and is celebrated every 17th of March, at the beginning as a religious celebration only, but since 1903 is has become a public national party.
Nowadays it has moved all around the world, it is celebrated in the States, Latino America and many European countries as well. In Spain in concrete it is celebrated on different dates, depending the year it could be in October, November or December. In Ireland, especially Dublin, one can find the whole city on the streets since the morning hours, including individuals that will stay partying and enjoying for as long as they can. Apart from all the Irish population, thousands of people from all around the world come to live and enjoy it. It is one of the main tourist attractions the country has in the whole year and the opportunity is not wasted at all.
Anyway, nobody at this stage really cares about history no more, but definitely wants to know what kind of party he or she should attend, how good these are and what is the main thing to do, see and spend your time on.
So, getting into mater, the tradition of this day is to dress in green, wear any kind of costume-related with Ireland and to watch the parades around the city. While wearing an enormous hat will seem stupid 364 days per year, on the 17th of March you will be one of the few that seem weird for not wearing one. Ones the right traditions have covered, the one that is considered the main one by man people and myself including, based on my last year’s experience is that is probably the day where it is not bad seen waking up drinking a beer and finish the day doing the same thing. People from different countries and cultures are peacefully drinking, singing and dancing in pubs, clubs and even the streets for the whole day. This public party continuous for the next three or four days after the 17th, but the amount of people and spirit decreases as the day goes by.
During a ‘normal’ night out it is quite common to see fights or even getting involved in it for completely unnecessary reasons, but on this day, and I can tell because I have lived it, you can be in the most crowded place next to someone and unintentionally push her/him or make her/him drop her/his drink and nothing will happen, while on any other night this would have produced a dispute or fight. Nevertheless, if it does get you into a fight, then you are very unlucky or you have been punished for something more serious.
While the beginning of this article will probably make you even more enthusiastic with regards to the upcoming Saint Patrick’s Day, not everything is as perfect as it seems. A huge problem being the over-crowded party locations. Most pubs and all-night clubs will take advantage of it, they will charge high prices for the entrance knowing that you have no chance than paying it because the rest of the places near are doing exactly the same. Once finally inside, and without getting any drink coupons as usually, you will find out that the prices for the drinks have increased extremely, again, taking advantage of the situation and the few different chances you will have. Furthermore, make sure to bring a lot of time with you, as you will probably have to spend half an hour of your time to be able to reach the waiter and order a Guinness. The enormous amount of people could give you a great atmosphere, but in the end, it will finish by stressing you and making it very uncomfortable for staying there for more than half an hour.
As a summary and personal opinion based on my experience from Saint Patrick’s Day last year, I will say that it is a great event and something everyone should live ones in their lives, the atmosphere, songs, traditions and drinking plan is absolutely amazing. On the other hand, it is not something I could handle for too long, I arrived after lunch, around 3 pm and I could not be there for longer than two hours even though I was surrounded by my closest friends.
Arturo Lopez Sanchez
Dublin Insight 