Reminiscing about St. Patrick's Day

By M. Gonçalves

t’s been about a year since the entire world had to adapt and develop a “COVID-19 friendly” atmosphere. Countless concerts, professional sport games and parades have been cancelled, among those parades is the St. Patrick’s Day parade. St. Patrick’s Day is a world-renowned celebration in honor of St. Patrick in the fifth century. This traditional celebration is held in the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death, March 17th. Although it commemorates the arrival of St. Patrick and Christianity to Irelan, it is celebrated all over the world with massive parades, special foods, drinks, singing and dancing, and most importantly, an overabundance of the color green. All decorations during this occasion have the habitual three leaf clover that exhibits the bold, radiant colour. Traditionally, people wear green in St. Patrick’s Day in order to make you invisible to leprechauns who will pinch you if you aren’t wearing green.  

No city celebrates St. Patrick’s Day better than the Big Apple. In 2019, 5th Avenue turned ablaze with green, around 150,000 people marched to the bagpipes played on the street. New York is not the only city that engages with these joyful festivities, all across the globe people gather on the anniversary of St. Patrick’s death. Chicago and New York have the most people gather in celebration with around 2 million people each year. Munich is also well known for their memorable St. Patrick’s celebrations, as is Kuala Lumpur. Worldwide, around 5.1 billion US dollars are spent on decorations and treats during this notorious celebration. 
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Sadly, as a precaution, all over the world parades had to be cancelled this year because of the ongoing pandemic, however those who couldn’t stand being deprived of this celebration for more than a year recreated the parade virtually. Although, the turn up for the online celebration was smaller than orthodox, it was still an enjoyable way for people around the globe to gather, wear green, display festive ornaments and celebrate the historic accomplishment of St. Patrick. ​