Onesie St Patrick's Day - Luck of The Irish

 

‘May the Irish hills caress you;may her lakes and rivers bless you;may the luck of the Irish enfold you;may the blessings of Saint Patrick, behold you.’

Traditional Irish blessing

St.Patrick's Day is a cultural and religious celebration occurring annually on 17 March the death date of the most commonly-recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, as well as celebrating the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe,(a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing) and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador and Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora (Irish people and their descendants who live outside Ireland) around the world; especially in Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.On St. Patrick's Day it is customary to wear shamrocks and/or green clothing or accessories, this is known as the "wearing of the green".  St Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. Another popular custom is the wearing of the 'St Patrick's Day Cross', especially in the World War I era, by the Irish. These St Patrick's Day Crosses have a Celtic Christian cross made of paper that is "covered with silk or ribbon of different colours, and a bunch or rosette of green silk in the centre.The colour green has been associated with Ireland since at least the 1640s, when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation. Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on St Patrick's Day since at least the 1680s. Saint Patrick's feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries. In later times, he became more and more widely known as the patron of Ireland. In 1903, Saint Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland.The first Saint Patrick's Festival was held on 17 March 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 it was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long; more than 675,000 people attended the 2009 parade. In 2009, the five-day festival saw close to 1 million visitors! They took part in the festivities that included concerts, outdoor theatre performances and fireworks. The biggest celebrations outside Dublin are in Downpatrick, County Down, where Saint Patrick is rumoured to be buried. In 2004, according to Down District Council, the week-long Saint Patrick's Festival had more than 2,000 participants and 82 floats, bands, and performers and was watched by more than 30,000 people.In Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army consisting primarily of soldiers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Guards still wear shamrock on this day, flown in from Ireland.Since 2002, London has held an annual St Patrick's Day parade which usually takes place in Trafalgar Square, on weekends around March 17th. In 2008 the water in the Trafalgar Square fountains was dyed green. In Manchester, they host a two-week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St Patrick's Day. The festival includes an Irish Market based at the town's City Hall. One of the longest-running and largest Saint Patrick's Day parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal, whose city flag includes a shamrock in its lower-right quadrant. The parade has been held annually without interruption since 1824. St. Patrick's Day itself, however, has been celebrated in Montreal since as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France. Other countries that celebrate St Patrick's Day include Japan, Malaysia, Montserrat, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, Canada, the United States and even the International Space Station! Will you be celebrating St Patrick's Day? Why not celebrate in style in your very own Green, St Patrick's  Onesie? You can have a look through our Green Onesies.. Or create your very own on our personalised onesie builder. You can personalise your onesiewith Green embroidery, and even a lucky shamrock! Whatever you get up too this St. Patrick's Day, we hope you have a lovely time!