Yesterday we met my mum and my brother and his family for a nice lunch in Söder. Then Peter and I walked up Götgatsbacken towards Gamla stan and ended up in the middle of ... the celebration of St Patrick's Day in Stockholm.
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ShareSt Patrick's Day
In Ireland, St Patrick's Day (17 March) is celebrated with a parade in almost every town. Since a lot of Irish people live abroad, they have brought the celebrations to other parts of the world as well, such as Sweden! Here the parade was organised by The Swedish-Irish Society and took place on Saturday 19 March.
The parade went from Humlegården to Old Town, and the celebrations included bagpipers, Irish settlers and performances on a stage in Kornhamn Square. But I'm guessing that the celebration was much smaller here than it might be in Ireland. Has anyone experienced the celebrations there?
St Patrick
So who was St Patrick? Well, apparently he was the bishop and missionary who brought Christianity to Ireland. He had the gift of speech and managed to Christianise the country a little more peacefully and less bloodily than what happened here in the North, so to speak. According to legend, he also drove the snakes out of the country, although it's not entirely clear whether this should be interpreted literally...
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Ditte says:
I haven't yet been to Ireland on this day, but I have been to New York and I will never forget the fun. Great parade along 5th Avenue and party, party, party. After that evening I drink more of the green drink "grasshopper". Had previously never tasted it ...
Glad you got to experience some of this celebration in Stockholm.
It definitely adds extra spice!
20 March 2016 - 9:27
Alexandra says:
Celebrating St Patrick's Day afterwards... That was the worst! 😉 No I have not been to Ireland on the 17th of March but I can imagine that there is a lot of Guinness drinking ?
20 March 2016 - 9:21
Ama de casa says:
No, I have never been to Ireland to celebrate that day. The first time we encountered the tradition was in Denver in 1992:
https://amacasa.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/ama-kor-en-repris/
A bit surprising with green beer then.
🙂
20 March 2016 - 10:27
admin says:
Alexandra, yes probably! There are quite a few Irish pubs in Stockholm 😉.
Ditte, St Patrick's Day in New York sounds fun! I googled the drink and it looked very green and nice! 🙂
Ama de casa, oh talk about very green beer if you say so! Hope it was good too 😉
20 March 2016 - 12:15
Lennart says:
What a nice surprise!
20 March 2016 - 12:35
Mr Steve says:
It's nice to have a little oddity in the cityscape.
20 March 2016 - 12:55
FANTASYDINING-A blog about themed restaurants and travel says:
I think it's great fun with this day! But this year there were no green clothes or green beer for us. Not easy being pregnant... Sometime in the future we have to go and celebrate in Dublin.
20 March 2016 - 17:03
Ama de casa says:
sv: I understand that you could get bored with risotto... When we travelled around Malaysia for the first time in the late 80's, I didn't want to look at nasi and mee goreng for a long time... 😉.
20 March 2016 - 18:00
Discovering The Planet says:
Wondered why people were wearing green hats in the pub yesterday :)....
20 March 2016 - 21:28
admin says:
Lennart, nice when things happen, at least when it's positive and people are happy 🙂 .
Fantasy Dining, celebrating in Dublin can certainly be fun! 🙂
Ama de casa, yes, you can really get tired ....! 😉
Discovering the planet, haha, you got the answer now 😉.
20 March 2016 - 22:04
Elisabeth says:
I hadn't expected to be in Stockholm, but it's fun to have surprises. Have never been to Ireland, but it is on the wish list, like so many other things.
20 March 2016 - 22:54
BP says:
Irish people know how to celebrate, and it shows! Almost like student celebrations on a flatbed. Cool! Liked! Here it was also full speed on all Irish / English tourists in all pubs. In contrast to the English who are embarrassing themselves, the Irish are much more tidy if you say so.
Never been to Ireland actually.
20 March 2016 - 22:23
Ruth in Virginia says:
Imagine St Pat's Day being celebrated in Stockholm! Unexpected!
There are parades everywhere, and our little O´Sullivan´s Pub
had entertainment most of the day. Inside Washington.
it's full steam ahead. Many cities and suburbs offer free taxis home,
for those who have had too much Irish whiskey and stout,
rather than letting them drive.
21 March 2016 - 6:46
admin says:
BP, fun that it was full speed in Spain too! 🙂
Elisabeth, Ireland is on our wish list too!
Ruth in Virginia, the celebration is certainly much less here, but it was celebrated anyway! What a good initiative to offer a taxi home ðŸ™'
21 March 2016 - 8:30
Micah says:
Thanks for an interesting blog. I also use to travel a lot, but then it is private. I would also like to recommend that you always look at discount sites when travelling. I blog about discounts on my blog, feel free to check it out.
21 March 2016 - 14:07
admin says:
Michan, glad you like our blog and thanks for your comment! I will check out your page!
21 March 2016 - 20:24