It’s 17^th March and time again to celebrate one of the most celebrated festivals in Ireland – St. Patrick’s Day. The St. Patrick’s Day is also known as a three-leaved festival because St. Patrick used to explain Holy Trinity to pagan Irish with the help of three leaves.

Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity (Wikipedia, 2017).

These are some known facts, but what is not known is…How do Indians celebrate St. Patrick’s Day…?

India is a festive country. It has a festival of colors, festival of lamps and firecrackers, festival of kites, festival of dance, a festival of the boat race, etc, but never fails to amaze me that it has always been open to foreign festivals. The Indians have always loved to adopt new cultures and celebrate life as much as they can.

For many years, they have been celebrating Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving as well as St. Patrick.

1. Wearing something green: As per tradition, people wear something green. All the corporate offices, who are known to this festival, wear green, especially companies dealing with Canada, USA and Ireland. The one who does not wear green gets pinched.

2. Click pictures: Clicking pictures and uploading them on social media is a must activity in India. No matter what is celebrated, clicking photos, taking videos, etc is a must.

3. The decoration of workplace: The workplace is decorated with green. It is decorated with green balloons, ribbons, and other decoration which makes the office look beautiful and green. People also keep something green on their desk like leaves or petals or paper cuts.

4. A parade like dancing: Here actual parade is not done but instead, people sing and dance and enjoy like parade. Some offices also have DJ parties which relaxed people from hectic schedule and participate in co-curricular activities. Also, some offices take their employees to church to pray to celebrate this fest in a religious way.

5. Food: Different offices have different ways with their food. Some believe in having green food and juices while some go out for lunch or dinner. The Indians are quite a foodie and St. Patrick is a perfect celebration and excuse to eat healthy and yummy food. Some also drink green drinks which range from Green smoothies to bottle-guard juice to honey-mint cocktails.

The Indians are enthusiasts and eager and curious souls. These festivals allow them to pour their enthusiasm out during this period. So St. Patrick is not limited to Ireland or Canada or USA, it’s for India too.

Author : Kalgee Shah