Saint Patrick's Day, which is a national holiday and a big deal in Ireland, feels very different in Germany where it is more or less a non event in most places. This year I worked, which felt somewhat strange (normally I take the day off). The majority of Germans don't seem to even know what St. Patrick's Day is or even if they do know, they forget which day it is. In fact in Germany it's just a normal day in most places. I've heard in the States it's common to pinch people who aren't wearing green on St. Patrick's day. Well if I were to do that here, it would have been a very busy day of pinching! It would have been faster to point out the people who were wearing green.
After work I made my way to one of the local Irish pubs, and that felt more like it! There were lots of people, singing songs, drinking, laughing and it was just a great atmosphere! And of course there was lots of craic, which is a special fun atmosphere that only Irish people can produce.
Then last weekend we were also invited to a Paddy's Day themed party hosted by another Irish-German couple like us, which was also good fun. We watched some of the highlights online from the St. Patrick's day celebrations in Ireland. I hear that is was a four-day affair this year with loads of different events organized. And everything green of course!
Several Germans asked me about Saint Patrick, the man himself, and embarrassingly I couldn't say much apart from him being the patron saint of Ireland and that he got rid of all the snakes! And they also asked me about typical food we eat on the day, which was also difficult to answer. It's not an event revolving around food (but rather drink!), it's more about celebrating everything Irish!
Hopefully some year we'll make it back to Ireland for the few days. Flights then are always extra-expensive, of course. In the meantime, all the Irish people abroad can get back to planning our secret mission of world domination or - at the very least - world inebriation!
Did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day where you are?
