Do You Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day

Do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

I”d really like to know. If you do, how do you celebrate it? Bar-hopping and drinking green bear? Making St. Patrick’s Day crafts with the kids and wearing green? Something else?

What Is St. Patrick’s Day?

Saint Patrick’s Day […] is an annual feast day that celebrates St. Patrick (circa AD 387–493), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on 17 March. The day is a national holiday of Ireland: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland. It is also widely celebrated in Great Britain, the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Montserrat. There are also celebrations in other major cities throughout the world.

So if it’s not a national holiday in Canada or the US, why do we celebrate it? Just another reason to have fun? To dress green? To drink beer?

Every year I struggle with whether I should do anything for St. Patrick’s Day and if I should explain it to my kids. Now that my children are three and four they are old enough to wonder about it. Is it just a holiday to celebrate the colour green and shamrocks for children?

If you are looking for something to do with your children, here are some good links:

St. Patrick’s Day 2010 at Kaboose
St. Patrick’s Day at Enchanted Learning (great for homeschoolers too!)

I’d really like to know… Do you (and your children if you have some) celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? How

* Photo Credit: Lolligag World on Flickr