Also, guys today it's another holiday! (Though if Ágota wouldn't have mentioned it, now I would probably have nothing to write about)
To tell you the truth, I actually have no idea why this is such a huge holiday- but since people celebrate it all around the world, I'm going to post a couple of things about it. (As in...this is what our friend Wiki says about it)
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, among others. Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.
The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services (what else, eh?), wearing of green attire (again... what's new?) and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol (what kind of celebration would it be without alcohol? Even Jesus approved of it!), which is often proscribed during the rest of the season.
This Irish clover - or shamrock - is not only the symbol of Ireland, but according to the legend it was the plant Saint Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian (for some reason this word was stroked out and auto corrected a bunch of times to pee-Christians by the program...sorry, I just had to add this interesting tidbit.) Irish people.
Since 1996, there has been a greater emphasis on celebrating and projecting a fluid and inclusive notion of "Irishness" rather than an identity based around traditional religious or ethnic allegiance. The week around Saint Patrick's Day usually involves Irish language speakers using more Irish during seachtain na Gaeilge ("Irish Week").
Ooooh... and here's another fun fact about it... The shortest St Patrick's Day parade in the world takes place in Dripsey, Cork. The parade lasts just 100 yards (about 92 meters) and travels between the village's two pubs.
I think that one would be just for my liking.
