Odd and Sometimes Weird Saint Patrick Day Traditions

For most people, especially in America, Saint Patrick's Day is just a reason to wear green and drink as much green beer as possible. Most of these Americans don't even know what they are celebrating. For those who have some sort of Irish heritage, celebrating Saint Patrick Day has much more meaning than just getting drunk. 

Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday in Ireland. Saint Patrick was said to have converted people in Ireland to Christianity. He helped build churches and performed many miracles during his life time. 

When the Irish began to move to America, it was to escape poverty and starvation when famine hit their country. However, America was not very accepting of the Irish. They were considered to be drunk, violent monkeys.

Irish soldiers marched through the streets years ago on March 17th, which is also the date of Saint Patrick's death. They marched through the streets of New York City to reconnect with their Irish roots. The parade in NYC continued for many years, but the Irish people were not accepted by the country for years after.

As the popularity of the holiday rose, the Irish became more accepted and those who were not Irish began to celebrate this day every year. 

Apart from drinking, what are some of the traditions of celebrating Saint Patrick's Day? 

Here are a few Saint Patrick Day traditions, some a bit odd, some not.

• eating Irish bacon and cabbage
• going to mass in the morning wearing a sprig of shamrock
• going to Saint Patrick Day parades
• dressing up in traditional Irish clothing.
• Drinking, yes, drinking. Lots and lots of Green beer and Guiness.
• in Nebraska, the world's largest shamrock is painted on the road in the town of O'Neill which is the Irish capital of Nebraska. Every year they install a huge blarney stone at the corner of the Shamrock and have many festivities including a public reading of the book, "Green Eggs and Ham".
• Chicago dyes their river green.
• In Australia, their parade consists of residents dressing up as widows, orphans, gold miners, teachers and lawyers. 
• New London, Wisconsin holds a parade that includes a green hearse following a path of Shamrocks.
• Even the Japanese celebrate the holiday! Japan holds a parade where Japanese residents dress in green, perform Irish jigs, and fly the Japanese Flag alongside the Ireland flag. 
• Sing a drunken version of "Danny Boy".