St. Patrick's Day Festival

For one day, the whole world celebrates Ireland

It is celebrated all around the world, but nobody knows how to celebrate the Irish culture quite like the Irish themselves and what better place to celebrate than the Euopean cultural capital - Galway!

For such a small country, it's astounding just how many people take the time to acknowledge the Irish culture across the globe. Whether its the people of Chicago illuminating their river green or the thousands of people that march in parades all over the world, everyone looks to Ireland for the day to celebrate our culture.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade originally started off to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. St. Patrick came to Ireland to spread Christianity and that he did, as well as chase some (metaphorical) snakes off the Island. It might have only been a figure of speech, when what was actually meant was paganism, but we'll keep the story.

St. Patrick's Day in Galway

Today, the people of Galway celebrate Ireland by having a parade, which marches through the Galway City centre. There is a huge amount of traditional Irish music happening all over the city and county. We recommend starting the day off by walking the prom, before going to the parade and having an Irish coffee while listening to some trad! Be sure to arrive to the parade early enough to secure yourself a spot as town will be busy! Tigh Cóilí, Garavans, The Crane are a few spots where you can often find traditional players, regardless of what time of the day it is!

So get your green colours out, pull out some of your Irish dancing moves, learn a little bit of the Irish language and have the 'craic!'