St. Patrick’s Day

by Shane Foster

This Friday marks the annual ‘feast of Saint Patrick’ which is more commonly known as ‘Saint Patrick’s Day’, and is celebrated each year on 17th of March, the date of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

The day is a public holiday in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and it is widely celebrated across the UK as well as other countries in which there is a rich history of Irish ancestry, such as Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries across the world than any other national day in modern times.

Indeed, it is widely known to be a much celebrated day in some parts of the world, particularly in the UK and North America, just as much as in Ireland itself. These celebrations generally involve large-scale parades and festivals, which includes lots of dancing as well as plenty of refreshment, very much like a carnival.

In England, there are many parades and festivals to celebrate this annual event, the biggest of which was always in Birmingham which was regarded as the 3rd largest in the world after Dublin and New York. However, this parade has not been held from 2020 due largely to the outbreak of Covid.

Because St. Patrick’s Day falls within the period of Lent, the restrictions of drinking alcohol are lifted for the day, hence the modern tradition of consuming copious amounts of alcohol during the celebration! Due to this, there are many traditional customs, particularly in Ireland, that include drinking, such as putting a shamrock at the bottom of a glass that is then filled with either whiskey, beer or cider prior to drinking a toast to St. Patrick and then either consuming the shamrock or throwing it over the shoulder for luck.

Of course the other key part of the celebrations is the colour Green, which is derived from the shamrock when it became the national symbol at some point in the 18th Century, hence why so many people wear green or dress as leprechauns.

Strangely enough, what is less well known is the fact that St. Patrick was not actually Irish. He was in fact born in Britain and he is understood to have come either from Wales or Scotland, although the exact location is not known. He was captured by Irish raiders and taken to the present-day Northern Ireland as a slave to become a shepherd, and it was during his later life when he spread the christian faith across Ireland which led to his becoming a Saint after his death.

So whatever you are doing this weekend, if you are planning to join in the celebrations this Friday and you are looking for a new outfit, whether Green or not, then look no further than here at Crossdressing Closet - well what are you waiting for?