St. Patrick's Day Parade on 15th March 2015

Do you know the St. Patrick’s Day?

The St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

Then who is Saint Patrick?

Most of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was written by himself. True, he was not born Irish. But he has become most important part of the Irish heritage that through his service across Ireland of the 5^th century. Patrick was the son of a Roman-British army officer.

He was growing up as naturally as other kids in British. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped along with many others by Irish pirates and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. He spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during that time changes came to him. He found the God. As a legend, he was dictated by God to escape with a getaway ship.

There are celebration and tradition.

On St. Patrick’s Day, it is customary to wear green clothing, green hat or green ribbon. According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans. Shamrock color is green and also there is a green color in Ireland flag. That’s why green color is chosen symbol of St. Patrick’s day.

<Parade Route>

 

St. Patrick’s Day parade was 15^th on Sunday. It began at 12:00 noon from St. George and east to Yonge Street, then south to Queen and finished at Nathan Philips Square.

 

 

We gathered at Yonge&Bloor Station and went to Dollarama to buy something green. Some of us bought hats, headbands, and ribbons. Then, we were ready to watch the parade! On the street, there were many people wearing green like us.

 

The first line of the parade was policemen riding motorcycles. After them a group of people wearing Irish traditional clothing (tartan check skirts) and playing Irish traditional musical instruments passed in front of us. After them another group showed up. Various kinds of groups were walking one after another. We really enjoyed watching them and taking pictures.

Furthermore, St. Patrick’s Day, they can drink green beer and eat corned beef with cabbage, soda bread, and Shepherd’s pie. They are Irish traditional foods. We were looking forward to drinking green beer, but unfortunately, we couldn’t find any place to drink it at the time. So we’ll try next time. Anyway we had a great time with our friends.

Have fun and enjoy! :D