Savannah is not only known for the Great Slow Travel Gathering; the city is also known for its celebration of St Patrick’s Day. In fact, Savannah claims to have one of the earliest celebrations this side of Ireland. Since 1813, Savannah had died its fountains green and celebrated the Irish Day.

St Patrick’s Day is usually celebrated on March 17. This year the city will turn green on March 15th so that the holiday doesn’t fall on Palm Sunday. The parade in Savannah was March 14th in honor of the holy week. It is the 2nd largest parade in the US. The city will be overwhelmed with 300,000 or more visitors for the weekend.

If you have ever watched the Sorrento Web cam… check out Savannah’s web cam on River Street. It will be quite a show this weekend. River front is turned into a giant block party- similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This is St Patrick's link at Savannah Now. There will be Ceili (key-lee) Music and Irish folk dancing, green beads and green hair, along with a little green beer.

You know that St Patrick’s Day is celebrated world wide by Irish people, even those who may be Irish for only the day. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He is known for converting pagans to Christianity and he also allegedly ran the snakes off the island by banging a drum. The 3 leaf clover is said to be a representation of the Holy trinity. In Savannah they will celebrate a special mass at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, the beautiful cathedral on Oglethorpe square.

I’ll end this little post with some useful information… As you raise your glasses, here are some Irish toasts:
As you slide down the banister of life
may none of the splinters go the wrong way

This, along with other Irish sayings, I've posted on my blog:
May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been
The insight to know where you are
And the foresight to know when you’ve gone to far.

See you in Savannah for the Great Slow travel Gathering, April 4-6! (that's 2 weeks!!)
Sandi

Minor typo edited at Sandi's request.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Doru,

It appears that there was a real damper on this year's St. Paddy's Day celebrations in Savannah. Story here.

Let's hope they get all that wild weather out of the way before the Slow Travelers arrive!

- Roz

Well, I should have read this before I posted a link to the story as well!!!

Jen