Today You’re Irish.
That day is St. Patrick’s Day. Your colour is green. Your culture is Irish. Your celebration is St. Paddy (Saint Patrick’s nickname).
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are, or what you know. On St. Paddy’s Day, you’re Irish. Everyone is Irish on the 17th of March. That’s also why, for a national festival, it’s celebrated in many countries. Being Irish that day, you might want to know a few things about your (the Irish) culture.
St. Patrick’s Day is more about celebrating the culture and heritage of the Irish. It’s not so much about St. Paddy, the Church, or religion. The celebration as it is today didn’t come from Ireland, but actually came from outside Ireland. That’s right. St. Patrick’s Day, and the way we celebrate it now, is because of Irish living abroad. They wanted to remember and reconnect with their culture. So they made a celebration of St. Patrick by partying, marching in parades, and wearing green – lots of green.
If you’re going to celebrate Irish culture, there isn’t a better way than speaking Gaelic. In the past, Gaelic started dying. It’s one of the reasons the whole week is dedicated to the Gaelic language. Imagine speaking Russian or German for everyday communication. You’d speak Czech or Slovak as your second language not knowing it that well. Soon, only a few people would be able to speak your language. You’d do what you could to revive the language. When the chance came, you’d celebrate and express yourself in your own language once again.
Remember that time when it just didn’t turn out right. You studied hard for the exam and still got a bad mark. Sometimes life is tough. To celebrate your misfortune1, you go out for ice cream. Things aren’t so bad. That’s the luck of the Irish – looking at a bad situation in a good light.
“I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.”
Oscar Wilde (an Irishman)
The Irish are known for their way of using words. It’s called “the gift of the gab.” Don’t worry, you can get it too. How? Kiss the Blarney stone. It’s in Blarney castle near Cork. Eww!
On St. Patrick’s Day though, you don’t have to go all the way to Blarney castle. Just kiss the person who’s wearing the sign saying “Kiss me I’m Irish.” Now you’ve got the gift too. Whatever you do, when you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, remember: It’s for everybody.
Steve McIntosh
Vocabulary: 1 nešťastie, smola – neštěstí, smůla; 2 trojlístok – trojlístek; 3 táranie – žvanění, tláchání