As a 20-year-old African-American young woman, I have never celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. To be honest, I don’t entirely know what St. Patrick’s Day is or why it’s even celebrated. 2021 is all about open-mindedness and learning new things so when the opportunity presents itself to live with someone who is Irish, I took it.
Okay, that may not be how it went but one of my roommates is definitely Irish. With that being said, on March 17th, my roommates and I plan on going full Irish on this one. Before we get into our St. Patty’s Day plans, let’s learn a little more about the holiday.
St. Patrick’s Day is the celebration of a Roman Britain-born Christian named Saint Patrick who is said to have died on March 17, 461. Saint Patrick was brought to Ireland as a slave at 16 and then escaped. Saint Patrick then came back bringing Christianity to the land of Ireland and has been honored for this which has led to the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. According to the article linked above that was posted on History.com, St. Patrick’s Day was actually first celebrated in America and not Ireland.
As my roommates and I are in America (and are not all Irish), we’ll be trying our best to get in tune with culture as best as we can. We will be decorating our apartment, listening to Irish music and having Irish dishes. Some of the dishes that are in the talks of being made are corn beef hash, Irish soda bread and other things that I have to be willing to try. As a picky eater, this is the one thing that I will have to really step out of my comfort zone for.
Although I would love to take part fully in this holiday, I will do it to the best of my ability within the confines of my apartment with my roommates. After this week, I will assume that my dream of traveling to Ireland will increase and I think I know just the time to do so (when the world opens back up).
My goal is not to culture appropriate but to learn as much about the culture as I can. I don’t mean to offend anyone and I’m more than willing to learn from those who are more educated than I am. Cheers to St. Patrick’s Day and all of those who celebrate!