St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 every year. "The date marks the saint's death. Patrick died in 461 in Saul, County Down. He is buried in the grounds of Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down," Ireland.com, the official website of Tourism Ireland, explains.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in Boston in the U.S. back in 1737, while Ireland's first parade was held in the city of Waterford in 1903.
Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, celebrations and events are taking place virtually. Below are some St. Patrick's Day-themed memes, images and quotes you can share with friends and family to celebrate the holiday.
Memes
Gfycat has over 164,000 "St. Patrick's Day" gifs at its website. The embed code for these gifs is available directly at the Gfycat website.
Users can also choose from an eclectic array of creative gifs from Giphy to share St. Patrick's Day-inspired memes. The website's range of gifs spans from more animated ones inspired by different television shows including The Simpsons, The Office and Saturday Night Live to animal and food-themed gifs.
Giphy can also be accessed via its mobile app, which can be downloaded at Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store.
More fun St. Patrick's Day gifs are available at Tenor. They include plenty of dancing and floating leprechauns as well as different people drinking, including Baby Yoda, and more scenes from The Simpsons.
The Tenor mobile app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or Apple's App Store.
Images
Wallpaper Access offers 88 different St. Patrick's Day-themed wallpapers and backgrounds, who are free to download from the website. The images offered include several featuring clovers and leprechaun hats. Others feature animation graphics including ones of the Snoopy and Betty Boop.
Users can also access a host of free St. Patrick's Day-themed images from Unsplash, which has "over 2 million free high-resolution images brought to you by the world's most generous community of photographers," according to the website.
The company offers free HD wallpapers for desktops as well as phones which have been submitted by its members. The pictures offered range from St. Patrick's Day street parades and dogs in green-colored accessories to green scenery in nature.
Pixabay also has a collection of more than 200 free images inspired by St. Patrick's Day submitted by various users. The pictures can be downloaded for free at the website. Some of the images available include ones of green-themed food and drinks as well as different graphic letters saying "Happy St. Patrick's Day."
Quotes
Below are some Irish phrases, blessings, toasts and greetings that could be shared to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, according to IrishCentral, a website dedicated to all information "related to Ireland and the Irish," authored by several Irish journalists.
- 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.
- Here's to our wives, and here's to our sweethearts, may the two never meet!
- May the leprechauns dance over your bed and bring you sweet dreams.
- There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were.
- What is Irish diplomacy? It's the ability to tell a man to go to hell, so that he will look forward to making the trip.
Below are some "lucky Irish phrases" for St. Patrick's Day spoken in the Irish language, according to Mango, an online language learning software:
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you
In Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit (pronounced "LAA ey-lu PAAD-rig SOH-na ghit")
Literal translation: Happy Day of the Festival of Patrick to you.
Good luck
In Irish: Go n-eirí an t-ádh leat (pronounced "Guh NAH-ree on TAAH-laht!")
Literal translation: That luck may rise with you
Cheers
In Irish: Sláinte (pronounced "SLAAN-tye")
Literal translation: Health
Thank you
In Irish: Go raibh maith agat (pronounced "gu ro MAHH aht")
Literal translation: May there be good at you
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel and health.
Soo ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
