爱尔兰庆祝圣帕特里克节
On March 17, people around the world celebrate theIrish holiday of Saint
Patrick's Day.
It is a major holiday in Ireland, but the rest of theworld has influenced its
celebration as much as theIrish themselves.
Most Americans think of Saint Patrick's Day as a bigparty centered around
drinking alcohol. But itsbeginnings in Ireland were religious, says Mike Cronin,
a professor of Irish history with BostonCollege of Massachusetts.
Ireland is a mostly Roman Catholic country. Saint Patrick lived in Ireland
more than 2,000 yearsago. He is widely considered to have established
Christianity in the country.
The Church honored him with a holy day in the 17th century. March 17 marks
the date of hisdeath.
St. Patrick, a Briton reportedly, is believed to have served in Ireland as a
Catholic Bishop. Onetraditional story says that St. Patrick drove all the snakes
out of Ireland.
The average Irish person honored March 17 quietly. Attending church services
was the mainactivity. In fact, most businesses that served alcohol would close
in honor of the day.
In the early 1900s, Ireland's government made St. Patrick's Day an official
holiday. By the 1960s, towns across Ireland started celebrating the holiday with
parades and music. In Irelandtoday, St. Patrick's Day is a four-day public
celebration that includes parades, music, food, andgames.
For Irish people living outside Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day became a chance
to celebrate theirIrish identity and culture.
It's very much a day by which the Irish put themselves center stage, Cronin
said.
Now, countries and cities around the world celebrate March 17 in creative
ways.
Many countries hold Saint Patrick's Day parades. Famous monuments, including
the Great Wallof China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Niagara Falls, and the
Gateway of India in Mumbai will allbe colored by green light for the day.
The U.S. is especially famous for its Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. Many
cities with largeethnic Irish communities, like Boston, New York and Chicago,
hold parades and parties. Citieswill also color local rivers green for the
day.
Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle. The country is covered in deep green
grass.
Cronin says that the worldwide popularity of Saint Patrick's Day has helped
the Irishgovernment, which uses the holiday as a form of diplomacy.
So what you have is this quite remarkable day where literally over much of
the globe, everybody, whether they're Irish or not, the one thing they do know
is the 17th of March isSaint Patrick's Day. And for a small island of 4.5 to 5
million people it's quite remarkable thatthey have that kind of soft power.
However, Cronin says many modern Saint Patrick's Day traditions were invented
by the Irish inAmerica.
In the U.S. on Saint Patrick's Day, it is common for Americans to drink green
beer or eat cornedbeef and cabbage.
However, Cronin, says, many of these traditions are not really Irish.
You could walk around the streets of Dublin all day and not find any corned
beef and cabbage, he said.
Neil O'Flaherty, an Irish citizen now living in the U.S., agrees.
Growing up in a small town in Ireland, O'Flaherty remembers celebrating Saint
Patrick's Daymuch differently than it is now.
Back then, for Catholic families, it was the day you had to go to church, you
were required to goto Mass on that day. It had much more the feeling of a
religious holiday than a public holiday.
He also remembers everyone wearing small, three-leaf plant pieces, called
shamrocks.
O'Flaherty said that he was surprised to see how much Saint Patrick's Day in
the U.S. hasbecome linked to drinking lots of beer or other alcoholic
drinks.
However, there are some Irish connections between drinking and Saint
Patrick's Day.
One tradition that does come from Ireland is called drowning the shamrock.
Cronin explainsthat this tradition involved taking the shamrock that people wore
all day, and placing it in aglass of whiskey or beer before drinking it.
Professor Mike Cronin suggests it is not that important how people celebrate
March 17. He callsSaint Patrick's Day "a day for everyone to be Irish."
I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
And I'm Phil Dierking.
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