Shamrocks and bagpipes: Five great ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Vancouver.

1. Hire a bagpiper for your St. Patrick’s Day party or pub crawl.Top off your green-themed house

Four Leaf Clover
Four Leaf Clover

party with a grand entrance of a fully kilted bagpiper. Celtic tunes echo while everyone dances and drinks green beer. Or join any number of pubs and bars in Vancouver throwing parties with pipers and dancers this weekend. There’s nothing like great piping to set the scene.

2. Wear green. Dig out that green Christmas tie from your 65810_leprechaun 2mother-in-law or your least favourite green sweater. It’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Today’s the day to flaunt the green. And for those who feel particularly pumped about St. Patrick’s Day, wear a leprechaun costume.

3.  Bring the whole family or group of friends to the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday, March 16 at 11am. Wear your best green outfits, cheer on the bands and floats, and then make your way to a local pub for some Sunday morning Irish stew.

4.  Play Irish (or Celtic) music. There’s plenty of Irish music on the web. One of the

Delta Police Pipe Band
Delta Police Pipe Band

best North American stations is out of Boston. Check out www.wgbh.org/celtic  or from Ireland, http://my.liveireland.com.  Let the tunes sing out and get the Irish spirit pumping.

5.  Wrap up the St. Patrick’s Day weekend with a taste of live Irish music and dance delivered by  a number of great musicians at various stages around the downtown area. It’s the wrap-up of Celtic Fest. Check out the Sunday and Monday schedule here.   A great place to enjoy the music of Ireland, Scotland and beyond, over a pint of Guinness.

And a bonus idea…..

St. Patrick of Ireland

6.  Go to church.  This is, technically, a religious event and St. Patrick  is the patron saint of Ireland. The Christian missionary was originally from Wales but was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland. He escaped six years later, but after his priestly ordination and his elevation to bishop, he returned to Ireland to convert the heathen beasts. The shamrock, a three-leafed plant, was used to teach the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Legend has it that he drove the snakes out of Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day commemorates the date of his death, approximately 461 AD.

 

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