Today's Kindness #293: March 17, 2023

03/17/2023

☘️Happy St. Patrick's Day☘️


Happy St. Patrick's Day! Unless you've been living under the Blarney Stone you already know that March 17 is St. Patrick's Day. Also affectionately known as St. Paddy's Day, it's the one day each year that everyone and anyone can call themselves Irish – if not by birthright, then in spirit. If you have been living under the Blarney Stone, lucky you! We bet you can share a thing or two about how a religious feast day commemorating the famed Irish patron saint who brought Christianity to Ireland ended up being a day celebrated almost globally, usually involving copious amounts of green beer and whisky shooters.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries around the world than any other single-day national festival, largely due to America's enthusiasm for what many consider a holiday, although it is not an official holiday in America.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City was held in 1762, 14 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and was organized by Irish troops serving in British colonies. Today the world's biggest St. Patrick's Day celebration is the annual parade in New York City, where more than two million spectators line the parade route, all claiming to be Irish, at least for the day.

How To Celebrate:

  1. Be Irish for the day

    Get your green on! Everyone is an honorary Irish lad or lass on St. Patrick's Day, so just go with it. Today, everyone looks stunning in green.

  2. Go watch a parade

    The biggest party on St. Patrick's Day by far is always the parade because that is how early Irish immigrants first celebrated their patron saint in America: with a parade. It's a family affair with glitter, glamour, fiddlers, cloggers, and lots and lots of green. A robust St. Patrick's Day parade gets the party started and the day only gets better from there.

  3. Hunt for leprechauns

    Legend has it that if you catch a leprechaun, the little fella has to surrender his pot of gold to you. So why not grab a couple of butterfly or fishing nets and take your wee lads and lasses out for a leprechaun hunt and bring home the gold? But be ye forewarned. Leprechauns are wickedly clever creatures known to trick their captors out of receiving the gold. Your best bet is to just keep quiet, not answer any questions the leprechaun may ask you, take your newfound fortune, and run. Quickly. Good luck.

"Whether it's St. Patrick's Day or not, everyone has a little luck o' the Irish in them."
~ Laura Sommers

Song Of The Day: