Saint Patrick's Day is mellow over here, with none of the frenetic party-going typical elsewhere on the globe. Everyone goes to Mass and has the day off work. The pubs are actually closed during most of the day.
But, parades are definitely on. Our small town, population 8,000, has a marvelous parade. Thousands of people jam the one mile route, and there may be up to 7 bands and dozens of clever floats and ingenious costumes by local groups. One youth group, for instance, portrayed themselves as Busy Bees, and wore black trash bags with yellow ribbons sewed around the outside. It was cheap, colorful, and clever.
It takes upward of one full hour for the parade to pass. That's partly because a number of local firms stack the parade with ringers - oil trucks and dump trucks and the like emblazoned with that familiar St. Patrick's Day greeting: "Best oil in town. Call 3432."
In Ireland the Christmas holiday season swings into high gear come December 8th. The season is chock-a-block with parties and dinners for all businesses and voluntary groups, etc. December 24th everything closes by 5pm and the huge majority of people have the afternoon, at least, off. Christmas Day and the 26th are total holidays - nothing is open. The 26th is St. Stephen's Day, also known as Boxing Day in the UK.
During the week between Christmas and New Years Day, more and more stores are opening up. It used to be only the largest retail outlets in Dublin and Cork opened for the biggest sales of the year, but now that has spread to smaller towns. Nonetheless, the great majority of businesses remain closed. Many factories close for the week - this is when they do their annual maintenance and the like.
Like everywhere, the traditional church holidays are becoming a thing of the past. The churches still celebrate the full 12 days of Christmas which end in the new year. Many households still add a figure to the household Christmas Crib until the 12th day - but that little tradition is also dieing.
Holidays
in Ireland 