圣帕特里克节 每个人都会成为爱尔兰人

Everyone Gets to be Irish on Saint¹ Patrick’s Day

On March 17, people around the world celebrate the Irish holiday of Saint Patrick’s Day.

It is a major holiday in Ireland, but the rest of the world has influenced its celebration as much as the Irish themselves.

Calm, religious beginnings

Most Americans think of Saint Patrick’s Day as a big party centered around drinking alcohol. But its beginnings in Ireland were religious, says Mike Cronin, a professor of Irish history with Boston College of Massachusetts.

Ireland is a mostly Roman Catholic² country. Saint Patrick lived in Ireland more than 2,000 years ago. He is widely considered to have established Christianity in the country.

The Church honored him with a holy day in the 17th century. March 17 marks the date of his death.

St. Patrick, a Briton reportedly, is believed to have served in Ireland as a Catholic Bishop³. One traditional story says that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland.

The average Irish person honored March 17 quietly. Attending church services was the main activity. In fact, most businesses that served alcohol would close in honor of the day.

In the early 1900s, Ireland’s government made St. Patrick’s Day an official holiday. By the 1960s, towns across Ireland started celebrating the holiday with parades and music. In Ireland today,

St. Patrick’s Day is a four-day public celebration that includes parades, music, food, and games.

Putting the Irish on center stage

For Irish people living outside Ireland, Saint Patrick’s Day became a chance to celebrate their Irish identity and culture.

“It’s very much a day by which the Irish put themselves center stage,” Cronin said.

Now, countries and cities around the world celebrate March 17 in creative ways.

Many countries hold Saint Patrick’s Day parades. Famous monuments, including the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome, the Niagara Falls, and the Gateway⁴ of India in Mumbai will all be colored by green light for the day.

The U.S. is especially famous for its Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations. Many cities with large ethnic⁵ Irish communities, like Boston, New York and Chicago, hold parades and parties. Cities will also color local rivers green for the day.

Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle⁶. The country is covered in deep green grass.

Cronin says that the worldwide popularity⁷ of Saint Patrick’s Day has helped the Irish government, which uses the holiday as a form of diplomacy⁸.

“So what you have is this quite remarkable⁹ day where literally¹⁰ over much of the globe, everybody, whether they’re Irish or not, the one thing they do know is the 17th of March is Saint Patrick’s Day. And for a small island of 4.5 to 5 million people it's quite remarkable that they have that kind of soft power."

An American holiday

However, Cronin says many modern Saint Patrick’s Day traditions were invented by the Irish in America.

In the U.S. on Saint Patrick’s Day, it is common for Americans to drink green beer or eat corned beef and cabbage.

However, Cronin, says, many of these traditions are not really Irish.

“You could walk around the streets of Dublin all day and not find any corned beef and cabbage,” he said.

Neil O’Flaherty, an Irish citizen now living in the U.S., agrees.

Growing up in a small town in Ireland, O’Flaherty remembers celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day much differently than it is now.

"Back then, for Catholic families, it was the day you had to go to church, you were required to go to Mass on that day. It had much more the feeling of a religious holiday than a public holiday."

He also remembers everyone wearing small, three-leaf plant pieces, called shamrocks.

O’Flaherty said that he was surprised to see how much Saint Patrick’s Day in the U.S. has become linked to drinking lots of beer or other alcoholic¹² drinks.

However, there are some Irish connections between drinking and Saint Patrick’s Day.

One tradition that does come from Ireland is called “drowning the shamrock.” Cronin explains that this tradition involved taking the shamrock that people wore all day, and placing it in a glass of whiskey or beer before drinking it.

Professor Mike Cronin suggests it is not that important how people celebrate March 17. He calls Saint Patrick’s Day “a day for everyone to be Irish.”

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

whiskey - n. a strong alcoholic drink made from a grain (such as rye, corn, or barley)?

beer - n. an alcoholic drink made from malt and flavored with hops¹³?

remarkable - adj. unusual or surprising?

literal¹¹ - adj. involving the ordinary or usual meaning of a word?

globe - n. an object that is shaped like a large ball with a map of the world on it

1 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

2 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

3 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

4 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

5 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

6 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

7 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 literal   

adj.照字面的，原义的，逐字的

参考例句：

• This word should not be taken in its literal sense.这个词不能按本义去理解。
• He made a literal interpretation.他逐字解释。

12 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

13 hops   

跳上[下]( hop的第三人称单数 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• The sparrow crossed the lawn in a series of hops. 那麻雀一蹦一跳地穿过草坪。
• It is brewed from malt and hops. 它用麦精和蛇麻草酿成。