There are holidays in the world that make the heart of any beer lover beat faster. One of them is St. Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated annually on March 17. Originally, it was celebrated only on the Emerald Isle as a day of remembrance of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

According to legend, he brought Christianity to the pagan island and banished all the snakes. According to legend, St. Patrick drove them off the island into the sea after they pestered him during a 40-day fast on a hilltop (there may have been another reason for the snakes’ disappearance, but they don’t really exist in Ireland). In honor of St. Patrick there is a parade with songs and dances, beer and whiskey flowing by the river. It is not only a celebration of an Irish saint, but also of the Irish soul.

Gradually, not without the help of talented Guinness marketers, this holiday grew beyond national borders and became a kind of international Ireland Day and then Guinness Beer Day. It is celebrated in different cities of the world – in New York, Buenos Aires, Melbourne. Bright processions, parades and festivities of people dressed in green (the national color of Ireland) are noticeable everywhere where the Irish live. The clover, a symbol of Ireland and good luck, is worn in the buttonhole on this day.

One of the main instruments in brass bands is the famous Irish bagpipe. Popular rumor has it that this parade tradition was born in Ireland. New York and Boston dispute the palm of superiority. New Yorkers claim that the first parade was held in 1762 in their city. At that time, Ireland was under the rule of the British, and it is quite possible that the inhabitants of the unruly North American colonies expressed their solidarity with them in this way.

There are many legends associated with the name of St. Patrick, for example, that he used the three-leaf clover (shamrock) to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to people. “Just as three leaves can grow from one stem, so God can be one in three persons,” – this phrase of the saint has already become a textbook example.

In modern Ireland there is a tradition: on the day of this holiday to attach a shamrock leaf to the clothes, symbolizing the cross, the color of Catholicism and the symbol of the “Emerald Country” itself. There is a church hymn about how St. Patrick used the shamrock to interrupt a pagan ritual in the village of Tara, the royal capital of Ireland at that time.

Today St. Patrick is one of the most revered saints around the world. The Western Church celebrates the day of his memory on March 17, in some Orthodox Churches his memory is honored on March 30 New Style (March 17 Old Style), but St. Patrick’s Day also has pagan motifs. For example, one of its indispensable heroes is the Leprechauns, fairy-tale shoe-makers who possess a hidden pot of gold. If a lucky treasure seeker manages to catch a leprechaun, this creature should tell the man where his treasure is hidden. However, if you catch a shoe-maker, remember that you should not trust him completely – these little men are malicious and mischievous and can easily deceive a gullible treasure seeker.

It is said that Leprechauns entered the St. Patrick’s Day celebration quite recently – the companies that sell cards for this holiday needed a cute character that could appear in the drawings. And the stern, though kind, preacher St. Patrick didn’t quite fit the role. In the drawings, leprechauns are usually dressed in a pointy hat and leather apron.

We don’t have parades on St. Patrick’s Day in Israel, but it’s not the first year that many pubs celebrate this wonderful holiday on March 17, along with the magical Guinness beer.