When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, most people will imagine green beer, ridiculous green outfits, and a certain camaraderie with the other drunk next to you that you would normally never feel. With the big day fast approaching, we decided to go to an actual Irish guy to get the best practices of St. Patrick’s Day. The Youtuber/social media phenom Sean Connolly gives us a quick overview of what he thinks is the best way to approach this hallowed drinking day.
1. Make it a family affair.
In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just a day for the newly minted drinkers to go and drink themselves silly. It’s quite often considered valuable family time. A time to have a drink with your parents and have the kids run around in their usual boisterous way, only now you’re just as boisterous as they are.
2. Have a violin and tin whistle handy.
Sean can’t stop ranting and raving about the traditional music that is associated with St. Patrick’s Day. He swears that it will completely transform your drinking experience.
“Celtic Woman is the much more accessible and mainstreamized version of trad songs,” Seán explained. “If you listen to a Celtic Woman version of a trad song and you listen to an original, a small grouping just kind of getting together and playing roughly, it feels like it’s more emotional.”
3. It’s not all about St. Patrick.
Here in the U.S. we usually consider St. Patrick’s Day a day to celebrate the Irish and all that comes to mean. But, in Ireland it has transformed into a celebration of cultural diversity. Sean says it’s not unusual to see other cultural icons in their parades like Latin dancing or a Chinese dragon.
5. Leave the slogan tee at home.
The ubiquitous slogan “Kiss me, I’m Irish” is probably the best way to know if St. Patrick’s Day has arrived. Printed on literally everything from glasses to t shirts there is no end to the commercialization. Irish people have been known to say or wear a shirt or two but usually it carries the weight of irony with it. Most of us probably can’t pull that off. But, the subtle use of it is okay in Sean’s opinion.
“We don’t really know where it came from, but we don’t really mind,” Seán said with a chuckle. “If we go over to America, we’re like, ‘Hey, kiss me I’m Irish,’ and everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, wahey!’ and we just kind of have fun.”
6. But do go green.
Even in Ireland, everyone dons the flashy national color. From kids to grandparents people just tend to have fun and go all out. The biggest accessory in Ireland though, is a big fresh bunch of real live shamrocks. Other additions like face paint, leprechaun hats, and other little things are also welcome additions.
7. It’s OK to celebrate your way.
You don’t have to do anything the “traditional” way. Sean emphasizes that the Irish way isn’t the only way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In fact some practices originated from other places. Ireland just started recently dying their rivers green, something that was started in Chicago of all places. Sean jokes that Ireland started doing it because they didn’t want to be left out of the St. Patrick’s Day fun.
Most importantly, spend it with friends.
Sean emphasizes that the day doesn’t have to be a massive extravagant sort of day. He plans on just spending a quiet night in with his friends, drinking of course. Maybe go out for a while and enjoy the general vibe of the day.
“The atmosphere of the day is always kind of the best part, because we’re Irish, and the entire world is kind of making a big deal about Irishness and being Irish, and we just love it,”
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