St. Patrick’s Day: The International Party!
Did you know that St. Patrick's Day isn't just celebrated in Dublin? We'll let you in on some of the worldwide fun for St. Patrick's Day!
Who is Saint Patrick?
Saint Patrick is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland and is the patron saint of the country. He is associated with the color green, which is one of the colors of the Irish flag. His memorial falls on 17th of March and will mark one of the biggest international parties of the year.
Where’s the party?
Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is seen as the center of the world's celebrations for St. Patrick’s Day. Nowadays, around 750,000 attend the festival each year.
This year, the Kaplan Social Media will be joining in the party at our Dublin school! We can't wait to join our students, who will be treated to face painting, a bar crawl, an Irish rugby game and street parties. Some of the students will even be volunteering at the world-famous parade!
It won’t just be our Dublin students having all the fun! Students from our other colleges will also be treated to lots of different activities, as cities from all over the world have developed traditions of their own:
London has celebrated since 2002. Our Covent Garden and Leicester Square colleges will see a parade, comedy shows and concerts and have a paddle along the Thames, all on their doorstep!
Students at our Boston colleges will be happy to hear that the city has more Irish pubs than any other in the USA!
In Chicago the river is dyed green for a few hours every year.
Florence, Italy hosts 'Festa Irlandese' which is ten days of live music, food and drink.
The Sydney St Patrick’s Day parade is one of the top five in the world. (The others are in New York, Dublin, Boston and London. In 2010, the Sydney Opera House was lit green to mark the 200th anniversary of the celebration.
Since 2001, the people of Copenhagen, Denmark have taken part in an annual 3-Legged Charity Race.
New York says it has the “biggest and best” St Patrick’s Day parade, which has been going since 1768!
How can I join in the fun?
Next week, some of us from the Kaplan office in London will be bringing you live hangouts and interviews from Dublin on Google Plus.
If you would like to join in our celebrations this year, check out our video explaining how!
What are you doing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day?