With the number of foreigners in Korea increasing steadily, celebrations of overseas festivals are becoming quite familiar.

On St. Patrick’s Day ― Irish cultural and religious festival ― Koreans and foreigners wore green and drank Guinness together, celebrating the onset of spring.

The globalization of the holiday has found a comfortable niche in Seoul’s expat hangouts of Itaewon and Hongdae, helping outsiders get a taste of what it means to be Irish.

“Irish people like to gather like Koreans, although we don’t drink soju,” said Gerry Brown, an executive at DPR Construction, on March 14 in Itaewon. “We drink Guinness.”

Brown, a Belfast native who moved to America 25 years ago, said the religious holiday has turned into an annual carnival to commemorate St. Patrick, a Romano-British Christian missionary who introduced Catholicism to Ireland in the second half of the fifth century.

“Every Irish celebration involves drinks, music and talking,” he said. “We are very sociable and open with a strong pride in our heritage.”

Brown noted that there are about 6.5 million people in the island of Ireland, but there is about 10 times the population worldwide. Many Irish immigrants settled in the U.S. and U.K. after a devastating famine killed more than a million people in mid-19th century. 


“Most Irish immigrants were working-class people in construction and other blue-collared work,” Brown explained, adding that they congregated in Irish pubs, bars and dancehalls to meet fellow countrymen, and many married this way.

“Today, these customs have largely disappeared, but our unique Celtic heritage is a strong bond and identity.”

Color green symbolizes Ireland’s lush green landscape characterized by ever-present rain and pasture, Brown said. People also draw shamrock ― a young sprig of clover representing the emblem of Irish Catholic Church and nationhood alongside the harp.

“Then there is the leprechaun, which Hollywood likes to promote,” he highlighted, referring to the green folk character with magical powers.

Sarah Curtin from County Kerry in southwestern Ireland said St. Patrick’s Day is about community and friendship.

“People around the world think St. Paddy’s Day is all about drinking but it’s not all we do,” she said. “In small towns in Ireland, all the local businesses and neighbors get together and have a parade. It brings the whole community together.”

Curtin, who has lived in Korea for over four years, said the celebration is well established in the country, although many Koreans are newbies to the event.

“When I told my Korean friends about St. Patrick’s Day, they asked me, ‘Did you meet him?’” she quipped. “So I told them, ‘Well, I never met him but I’m sure he was a nice guy.’”

Brown said traditional Irish music and dance are a big part of the celebration, but in the course of becoming a global festival, the music has turned into an eclectic mix of genres.

“The celebration has overcome politics,” he said, pointing out to both the Irish and English joining to party around the world. In large part owing to the Good Friday Agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process of the late 1990s, tensions and conflicts between Ireland and England have “very much dissipated,” said Brown.

Traditional language Gaelic is another salient feature of Irish culture, he emphasized. As a language “totally different” from English, Gaelic still survives in pockets of rural communities across the island, where people speak English as a second language.

The Irish government recognizes both English and Gaelic as official languages, and there is a national effort to revive its linguistic and cultural heritage through education, he said.

Kim Ji-won, who works at the Jordanian Embassy and helped organize the festival with the Irish Association of Korea, said she hoped to promote the event as an “Irish-Korean” holiday not exclusive to foreigners.

“There are many commonalities between the Irish and Korean, such as ‘jeong (affection),’ hardworking mentality and hard-won identity shaped by invasions,” she said. “The Irish are a rather approachable and amicable people.”

Kim, 26, went to middle and high schools and university in Dublin. Compared to when she first set foot in Ireland, the number of Koreans has risen markedly over the years and now one can easily hear Korean on the streets of Dublin, she said

Because Ireland is safe and less expensive than Britain, more Koreans are choosing Ireland for working holidays, language programs and college education, she pointed out.

“Ireland has the freedom of mind unlike Korea,” Kim said. “Participating in the festival reminded me of the time I spent there. I really miss Ireland.”

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)