Mentre a Milano si festeggia il Festival di San Patrizio, la nostra traduttrice in Irlanda ci manda questo breve articolo su cosa significa il 17 Marzo per gli Irlandesi di tutto il mondo.
Se poi vi serve la traduzione…chiedetecela, siamo qui per questo!
In the year 432AD a group of raiders from Ireland went to Wales and captured a young man as a slave.The young man was put to work on a farm minding pigs for 6 years before escaping and returning to his homeland,he would later return to Ireland as a bishop that man was St Patrick.The day of his death March the 17th is called Lá Fhéile Pádraig and is celebrated around the world from Japan to Russia,Iceland to Brazil.
It is strange to think all these years later that the life and times of one man are celebrated by some many people in so many countries around the world,and stranger still to think that Ireland though small in size has the bragging rights to the biggest global party of the year. In Ireland St Patricks day is an excuse to pin on some shamrocks, dress in some silly green wigs and hats, watch the local parade and then head to the pub for the day to drink Guinness and whiskey until stumbling home at 4am singing Low Lie The Fields Of Athenry loud enough to wake the neighbours. Talking to friends who live abroad they describe it as being one of the days they miss Ireland the most.
There are many legends associated with St Patrick.That he drove the snakes from Ireland and fought druids with a magic staff.There are also theories that the legend of St Patrick might in fact be the story of three different men combined. One of these men was Palladius sent to Ireland by the pope to tame the savage tribes of Ireland around the same time that St Patrick appears in Irish folklore.
St Patricks day is important in other ways as well it is one day in the year when everyone is talking about Ireland, The Taoiseach will present Barack Obama with a bowl of shamrocks as is tradition, and Irish politicians travel around the world representing the country.
St Patricks day is important too in that given the tough times we find ourselves in economically it is a day that people can go out meet friends, drink too much, have a ceili session (a popular form of folk dancing) and forget about their worries.
The greatest thing about St Patricks day though is the knowledge that no other country in the world has a day that the world stops and has a drink in memory of a slave who through some magic banished snakes from Ireland.
