St Patrick’s Day 2026 has come and gone, and what a day it was! I will admit that I took it upon myself to have a day off from lectures and the Main Library to instead spend my time between the Library Bar and the Pear Tree. The craze that is St Patrick’s Day in Edinburgh really points towards the huge spread of Irish culture across the globe, as well as its possible stray from Irish tradition.
Whilst most of us have only ever seen the university-style celebration of St Patrick’s Day, characterised by Guinness and green face-paint, there are certainly more traditional celebrations beyond this. Ruben Lee, an Edinburgh student from Cork, Ireland, spoke in our interview of the “parades throughout the city” that he grew up attending with his parents, enjoyed “across all ages.”
But it’s not just Ireland enjoying these festivities. It’s incredible how international the Irish culture has become. Quite literally, everyone and their mother seem to have some Irish links. 80 million people worldwide have Irish ancestry, with the largest diasporas located in the US, UK, and Australia. And on a day like St Patrick’s, it really shows. The Chicago River is dyed green, Tokyo holds an annual parade, and landmarks around the world are lit up green, from The London Eye to the Great Wall of China.
St Patrick’s Day shows how inclusive and accessible Irish culture is. President Catherine Connolly’s 2026 St Patrick’s Day Message displayed this by addressing the Irish “communities around the world” and the invaluable contributions of migrants in Ireland. Not to mention the fact that St Patrick’s Day used to be a “dry holiday,” but has adapted to the growing secularisation of Ireland, as “most young people nowadays are atheist or non-practising,” according to Lee. Hence, the high engagement with the holiday by students.
He stated: “There’s no denying that Irish culture has been having its moment in the last few years.” He pointed predominantly to the impact of pop culture and arts in having this impression on the world, particularly the role of Irish actors appearing in many big films in the past decade. As someone on my third run of watching Peaky Blinders, I can definitely vouch for this! Lee highlights that the culture has been romanticised and describes students’ association with being Irish as a “self-fulfilling prophecy” as “being Irish is currently ‘cool’, and so many have weaved what adjacency they have to Irishness into their identity.”
In this sense, there’s a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. Lee stated that he would be hesitant to label the Edinburgh celebrations as appropriation as “the term is so often associated with condemnation,” but sometimes there are resemblances of it. Leprechaun outfits, exaggerated fiddle songs, and many an Ivory Coast flag painted on people’s faces demonstrate the shallow and naive understanding of Irish culture by some. He highlighted that this “perpetuates the Paddy whackery stereotype, that the Irish are these diddly-eye-day alcoholics.”
As a non-Irish student, getting involved in the collective celebration of St Patrick’s Day is something I would not want to pass up. In that way, it is certainly an excuse for a day of fun. And the same could be said about Christmas and Easter and New Year’s. But Lee is right in saying that the fun comes when “the culture isn’t chewed up and spit out.” St Patrick’s Day in Edinburgh is more detached from traditional Irish celebrations, but for Irish students in Edinburgh, it’s still a day that means a lot more.
Photo by Albane Mbow for The Student.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
St Patrick’s Day and Irishness: Do our Celebrations Overlook Cultural Significance?
St Patrick’s Day 2026 has come and gone, and what a day it was! I will admit that I took it upon myself to have a day off from lectures and the Main Library to instead spend my time between the Library Bar and the Pear Tree. The craze that is St Patrick’s Day in Edinburgh really points towards the huge spread of Irish culture across the globe, as well as its possible stray from Irish tradition.
Whilst most of us have only ever seen the university-style celebration of St Patrick’s Day, characterised by Guinness and green face-paint, there are certainly more traditional celebrations beyond this. Ruben Lee, an Edinburgh student from Cork, Ireland, spoke in our interview of the “parades throughout the city” that he grew up attending with his parents, enjoyed “across all ages.”
But it’s not just Ireland enjoying these festivities. It’s incredible how international the Irish culture has become. Quite literally, everyone and their mother seem to have some Irish links. 80 million people worldwide have Irish ancestry, with the largest diasporas located in the US, UK, and Australia. And on a day like St Patrick’s, it really shows. The Chicago River is dyed green, Tokyo holds an annual parade, and landmarks around the world are lit up green, from The London Eye to the Great Wall of China.
St Patrick’s Day shows how inclusive and accessible Irish culture is. President Catherine Connolly’s 2026 St Patrick’s Day Message displayed this by addressing the Irish “communities around the world” and the invaluable contributions of migrants in Ireland. Not to mention the fact that St Patrick’s Day used to be a “dry holiday,” but has adapted to the growing secularisation of Ireland, as “most young people nowadays are atheist or non-practising,” according to Lee. Hence, the high engagement with the holiday by students.
He stated: “There’s no denying that Irish culture has been having its moment in the last few years.” He pointed predominantly to the impact of pop culture and arts in having this impression on the world, particularly the role of Irish actors appearing in many big films in the past decade. As someone on my third run of watching Peaky Blinders, I can definitely vouch for this! Lee highlights that the culture has been romanticised and describes students’ association with being Irish as a “self-fulfilling prophecy” as “being Irish is currently ‘cool’, and so many have weaved what adjacency they have to Irishness into their identity.”
In this sense, there’s a fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. Lee stated that he would be hesitant to label the Edinburgh celebrations as appropriation as “the term is so often associated with condemnation,” but sometimes there are resemblances of it. Leprechaun outfits, exaggerated fiddle songs, and many an Ivory Coast flag painted on people’s faces demonstrate the shallow and naive understanding of Irish culture by some. He highlighted that this “perpetuates the Paddy whackery stereotype, that the Irish are these diddly-eye-day alcoholics.”
As a non-Irish student, getting involved in the collective celebration of St Patrick’s Day is something I would not want to pass up. In that way, it is certainly an excuse for a day of fun. And the same could be said about Christmas and Easter and New Year’s. But Lee is right in saying that the fun comes when “the culture isn’t chewed up and spit out.” St Patrick’s Day in Edinburgh is more detached from traditional Irish celebrations, but for Irish students in Edinburgh, it’s still a day that means a lot more.
Photo by Albane Mbow for The Student.
Share this:
Like this:
Related