Global Greening Celebrates Ireland and St Patrick’s Day

This week marks an important celebration in Ireland an all around the world–it’s St. Patrick’s Day.  When I was little my Irish American father told me that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.  He also was known for planting his staff into the ground which grew into a tree that legend has it stills grows in Ireland today.  In Ireland today, St. Patrick’s Day is a huge celebration, literally the biggest pub crawl in the world.

This year over 250 iconic landmarks and sites around the world will be illuminated with green light to celebrate Ireland’s 2017 Global Greening initiative to celebrate the island of Ireland and St Patrick.  Stadiums, statues, castles and towers will go green to celebrate St. Patrick’s  day (March 17) with exciting additions for 2017 including the One World Trade Center in New York – the main building of the re-built World Trade Center in New York and the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. These major landmarks around the world turn green for St Patrick’s Day, has grown from strength to strength, with many new landmarks signing up to take part this year.

Why will so many around the world celebrate? Because so many Irish, like my ancestor’s had to leave Ireland to build a better life. They went to American, Canada, Australia.  “More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland, ” says Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland

St. Patrick’s Celebrations in Ireland

In Dublin, Ireland’s capital city, the ‘St Patrick’s Festival’ will last for four great days, taking in the weekend and running from 16-19 March.  The city will be alive with music, film, arts, dance, culture, fun and even international rugby.

Each year the festival has a different theme with this year’s ‘Ireland We Are’ giving the city a chance to showcase all that Ireland stands for today.  Festival favourites include the world’s largest outdoor céilí, world-class museums hosting free workshops and guided historic walks including famous sites such as the Guinness Storehouse. The main event, the St Patrick’s Festival parade, is held on Friday, March 17 in Dublin’s city center.

In Northern Ireland, the newly curated ‘Home of St Patrick Festival’ celebrates St Patrick, the man and the saint, as one of the world’s most inspiring and loved saints of all time. Taking place in the beautiful landscape of Counties Armagh and Down, which was once Patrick’s home, the festival will culminate on Sunday March  19th with ‘The Voice of the Irish’ closing concert in spectacular Newry Cathedral.