After Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in New York And Brazil, I Finally Made It To The Emerald Isle And Celebrated This Special Irish Day In Dublin

My First St Patrick’s Day In Dublin, Ireland

Two weeks ago, I received my roster for St Patrick’s week, and to my disappointment, I was scheduled to work on the Friday of St Patrick’s. My very first time in Ireland during that time, and I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to ask my boss for the day off. I was so frustrated with myself. I work in a restaurant, and I was rostered for the morning shift, which meant I was going to miss the parade if I had worked on that day.

But, one of the most beautiful acts of kindness showed me why Irish people are considered to be the nicest people in Europe. My Irish co-worker told me to take the day off because he’d cover for me. He said if I covered for him on Sunday, he would cover for me on Friday. “I’ve celebrated this holiday my whole life. This is your first St Patrick’s in Ireland, so you deserve to celebrate it”.

I wanted to scream! I was so happy and grateful that he’d done such a kind thing. So, my first St Patrick’s Day in the Emerald Isle could not be wasted.

I planned to meet up with my childhood best friend who had just come back to Ireland after 3 weeks of vacation in Brazil, and we were going to watch the parade together, and of course, go to a traditional Irish pub afterward.

My previous St. Patrick’s celebrations…

I had previously celebrated this holiday in Brazil, and for many years in New York City, so I’d always dreamed of the day that I’d finally be able to celebrate this Irish holiday in Ireland. I think there’s nothing more authentic than doing something from a certain country in the country where that thing belongs. Eating sushi in Japan is a completely different experience than eating sushi in New York. And celebrating incredibly unique holidays such as St Patrick’s Day wouldn’t be any different. It feels a lot more impactful and immersive when you do it in the country where it is from.

It was the talk of the town…

Everyone was super mega excited about this year’s celebration because it was going to be the first real one since the pandemic, so they were expecting it to be massive.

Dublin is a very vibrant city. The nightlife and the pub culture are truly amazing, so I was just too excited to see all of that during Ireland’s most popular holiday.

Of course, there were people that were very uninterested in attending the parade and going to the pubs during that day. I had heard a lot, and I mean A LOT of comments from the local Irish people saying that “The parade is for tourists, kids, and young American travelers who think they’re Irish too”. This made me laugh so much. Based on this comment I realized the parade was suitable for me: I’m not a young American, and I don’t have kids, but I am certainly not from Ireland. I am a foreigner from Brazil living in the Emerald Isle, so for me, the parade was certainly a MUST!

On the day…

All the comments they made about who attended the parade made so much sense. It was so funny to notice that, though I saw thousands of locals enjoying the day, the parade and the streets were packed with teenagers/ kids, and the pubs were infested with very young American tourists. I love that, I mean, I lived in the U.S. for many years, so I miss Americans so much (even though my Irish friends think I’m crazy because Americans are all seen as “Karens” here in Europe, which I think is a very unfair stereotype to make about them all). Yes, they were the loudest when they walked into any room, and they “had” to tell everyone that they were from the U.S. and that their great-great-great-great-grandfather was Irish. My Irish friends from Ireland find that hilarious. It’s funny how different people from different countries will interpret where they’re from in a way that is so uniquely theirs. To most of my Irish friends as well as in Brazil, if you were born in America and grew up in America and you have U.S. citizenship, it doesn’t make sense to say that you’re from another country just because somebody a thousand generations before you was from that country. And I agree with that 100%. I’m nobody to judge, but I find it a bit weird how Americans interpret this nationality thing. I think there should be more educational discussions so that people learn how to differentiate nationality from ethnicity. To say you’re from a place implies so many things. If you were born in Jersey and grew up in Jersey and have American citizenship, baby, you’re an American.

But this is another topic for another article…

The parade…

To me, it was great. To most of my Latin and Brazilian friends, it sucked.

Coming from the country with the largest Carnaval celebration in the world, our standards for parades are VERY HIGH. We invest millions and millions of dollars into our Carnaval Parades, so yes, when we finally travel internationally to a first-world country and we see how simple and sometimes “poor” these decorations, costumes, and parades are, we always say they suck. Our carnavals are a whole another vibe. They are a huge party, so, some parades (like St Patrick’s) just seem to be too boring.

But I think that this is where we learn how NOT to compare. This is St Patrick’s parade and not carnaval. So, I highly disagree with how many people from Latin countries will complain about parades in European countries (even though I understand where their complaints come from. Not to sound rude, but then again, our standards are very high).

Anyways…

The parade was great and I simply loved it. I found it such a blessing to be celebrating this Irish holiday in Dublin.

I watched the parade from Dame Street, and all I could think was how that street was such a part of my everyday life, as I have to walk past there to go to work, school, pubs…

The green of Ireland…

Ireland doesn’t have to wait for St Patrick’s Day to turn green. It’s green all year round, and that’s what makes the country so beautiful.

But during St Patrick’s Day, the country was greener. And that made it look absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It felt amazing to wear green and to see everyone else in green too. The funny thing is that so many people see this color as ugly, but I disagree. People wearing green in Ireland made them look happy, vibrant, and alive. And I simply loved it!

After the parade…

After the parade, my best friend and I walked from Dame Street to St Patrick’s cathedral. It is normally a 25-minute walk, but we took a lot longer because we were not in the rush of our everyday lives. As we walked, we talked about how blessed we were that we live in Ireland. As the streets were all closed, it felt liberating to walk in the middle of them with other hundreds of thousands of strangers who were all wearing green and looking so happy.

The pub experience…

All my Irish friends said that they hated going to pubs on St Patrick’s day because “you’d have to fight with the tourists to get in”. And that was true. There were huge queues of people trying to get into most pubs, but I didn’t mind at all. At the end of the day, this was Ireland’s biggest holiday and not wanting to deal with huge crowds could not be anyone’s desire if they were out.

The Temple Bar area was fully packed and during certain times of the day, you couldn’t even make a simple move. The Temple Bar district is the most touristy location in Dublin. It’s fun for first-timers in town, but it is “The Times Square of Dublin” (without the billboard and the lights, of course).

So, I told my friend about this other pub with incredible Irish music, and we agreed to go there. On the way to this pub, which is located on Grafton Street, we saw this amazing duo singing together so beautifully and getting the crowd to enjoy their original songs.

We stayed there for a while as the music was really good. This is what I love so much about Grafton Street in Dublin. It is considered to be one of the Buskers’ capitals in Europe. There are just so many talented artists, and I was sure they were all going to be out there on this day.

After a few songs, we went to this pub and had the time of our life. I truly enjoyed the music there, and of course, the pints.

My first St Patrick’s Day in Ireland was truly special. I loved every single second of it. I loved how the whole country stopped to celebrate each other and how proud they are to be Irish (But not in a sickening patriotic way). Ireland has gone through a very rough time in history, and it’s just amazing how these people stood up together as a nation and arrived where they are today. I just wish the very best to everyone here. Ireland has welcomed me and I love living here.

How about next year? I can’t wait for next year’s St Patrick’s celebration. But next time, I’ll try to go to a different city. I’ve heard amazing things about St Patrick’s Day in Cork and Galway, so I’ll make a choice next year.

Have you ever celebrated St Patrick’s Day in Ireland? How was it? I’d love to hear from you!

Let’s Show Some Green — This article was inspired by the Monthly Challenge from my favorite travel publication on Medium, Globetrotters.

The articles that inspired me were:

And

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