Celebrating A New Way

Cielo Giandomenico | Editor

St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated every March 17th, didn’t always start with celebrating Irish culture. The day celebrates the death of Saint Patrick, a patron saint of Ireland in the year 461. He was celebrated for bringing Christianity to his people in Ireland after being kidnapped. Records found that in the 17th century feasts and parades were used to celebrate this day across the globe.

Our ways of celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the 21st century isn’t much different from how the day was celebrated centuries ago. The holiday has evolved to celebrate Irish culture all together. For most people that means dressing up in green, dancing, feasting, and partying. Parades nowadays include people playing traditional Irish songs and dances on the bagpipes.

This year my family celebrated a different way. We invited close friends and family to our house where each family would come representing a different country. People brought different cuisine and beverages from Italy, Mexico, Ireland, America, and Korea. My family chose Belgium and my mom made Belgian waffles. We decorated with lots of green, and flags from countries around the world.

My family is a mix of Irish, Italian, and German. Besides having St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate the Irish part, there aren’t holidays to celebrate the other countries we’re from. We thought it was important to celebrate all countries because there aren’t many widely known holidays that celebrate all countries.