This weekend the Irish holiday of St Patrick's Day was celebrated with a parade, Irish music and lots of green outfits in the centre of Stockholm. We are travelling to Ireland on a two-week motorhome tour at the end of April, so what could be a better warm-up for the Ireland trip than this?
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Who is St Patrick?
St Patrick's Day is Ireland's national holiday, celebrated on 17 March each year in memory of the country's patron saint Patrick. Born around 387, Patrick was the bishop and missionary who brought Christianity to Ireland. According to legend, he also drove the snakes out of Ireland, although it is doubtful whether this should be interpreted literally.
Parade on St Patrick's Day
Nowadays, St Patrick's Day is not only celebrated in Ireland. Thanks to a large number of Irish people scattered around the world, the holiday is celebrated in many different cities. In Stockholm, a parade is held every year on the weekend closest to 17 March. The parade is organised by Swedish Irish Society and attracts more and more people every year. We will soon be travelling to Ireland for the first time, and of course thought the parade was a perfect warm-up for the trip!
Meeting in Kungsträdgården
The parade started in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm, and when we got there the atmosphere was great. The Irish music was flowing and people were milling around in their very best green outfits. A lot of Irish dogs had also gathered and of course they did not want to be worse - many of the dogs had also dressed up in green.
Parade to the Old Town
After a while it was time for the parade to head towards the Old Town! It was really cold, but the sun was shining!
Closure in the Old Town
The parade on St Patrick's Day ended in Old Town with singing, music, dancing and an award ceremony for best costume, on a small stage. People were dancing in the crowd and the "bucket snake" slithered by, but was probably pushed away by St Patrick... We were a bit tempted to have a beer in an Irish pub after the event, but can say that some more were hungry for beer, so we gave up that idea ...
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Britt-Marie Lundgren says:
As I said, we missed the parade, despite visiting Stockholm, but we got to celebrate a little in a pub together with many green-clad, happy Irish people before our train went home. Fun too.
Ireland is quite high on our wish list too. Then it will probably be a hiking trip. There are so many attractive trails with overnight stays in small villages ...
It will be fun to follow you there!
20 March 2018 - 6:30
Helena says:
It sounds like you got to take part in the party atmosphere anyway! 🙂
20 March 2018 - 8:07
Mr Steve says:
The Irish are good at celebrating St Patrick's Day no matter where they are in the world.
It will be fun to follow your trip to Ireland. I drove around Ireland about 35 years ago and it was a really nice experience. Especially the countryside fascinated and I think I met as many "horse and carts" as cars.
20 March 2018 - 7:11
Helena says:
Glad you have Bildt around Ireland! Perhaps the proportion of horse-drawn carriages has decreased... 😉.
20 March 2018 - 8:08
Mr Nils-Åke Hansson says:
I am not so fascinated by celebrations in our Sweden that belong to other countries. The Social Democrats have dismantled the Swedish. So there is nothing Swedish to celebrate anymore.
20 March 2018 - 8:25
Ruth in Virginia says:
It's amazing that St Pat's Day is celebrated so intensively in Stockholm!
I wonder when it started? There aren't too many Irish people living in Europe.
Sweden, but as the saying goes "On St Patrick's Day everybody is Irish".
Scottish bagpipes seem to be standard for all parades. 🙂
It will be fun to follow you on your journey around "The Emerald Isle".
20 March 2018 - 8:54
Helena says:
They told me last Saturday how many years the parade has been organised, but of course I can't remember ... but it was a bunch of years anyway! I actually think that there are some Irish people living in Sweden, but I don't know how many ... 😉.
21 March 2018 - 6:28
BP says:
Great fun with the parade! I agree with Steve. No matter where you are in the world, the Irish celebrate their St Patrick's Day. I thought bagpipes were a (terrible) Scottish invention, but....
The costumed dogs were cool, especially the little doggies.
20 March 2018 - 16:59
Helena says:
Yes, I have learnt that the Irish are good at celebrating this day, wherever they are 🙂 Also liked the dogs 🙂 .
21 March 2018 - 6:29
Ama de casa says:
How wonderful with the parade! But didn't Peter have a little bit of green to wear in honour of the day? 😉
The first time I "discovered" St Patrick's Day was when we were in Denver, Colorado in 1992. The girl who served us a beer in a bar said:
- Don't be alarmed, but the beer will be green...
Then she explained why. Haha! Had probably wondered a lot otherwise 😀.
20 March 2018 - 17:56
Helena says:
Haha, yes we should probably have had something green on us really 😉 Fun with the green beer! Well, you might have been a little "surprised" if you had not been warned ... 😉.
21 March 2018 - 6:31