just the mere utterance of the glorious day, probably evokes images like...

聽到這個歡樂的節日，你的腦中可能會浮現這些畫面...

The question is, St. Patrick's Day, how did we get here?

問題是，「聖派翠克節」怎麼來的？

So, we decided to ask an expert in everything St. Patrick,

所以我們決定問問看專家，關於「聖派翠克」的大小事，

the rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

一位紐約聖派翠克教堂的牧師。

We go nice conversation.

那我們來好好聊聊，

Date's been affected. The official feast day in the Catholic Church of St. Patrick of Ireland is March 17th.

日期是有根據的，因為愛爾蘭的聖派翠克天主教堂，訂定的官方日期是 3 月 17 日，

That's why it's always celebrated here in New York on the 17th itself.

所以紐約這裡也是 3 月 17 日慶祝這個節日，

In Ireland, it's a holy day of obligation of the people at Catholic church.

在愛爾蘭，天主教徒會在這神聖的一天，到教堂參與節日儀式，

It's amazing. It started before there was in the United States at George Washington's troops,

不可思議的是，這起自當時是愛爾蘭人的美國喬治華盛頓部隊，

who were Irish at the time, marched up Broadway on the 17th of March.

3 月 17 日在百老匯上的遊行，

They celebrated the first St. Patrick's Day in New York,

他們慶祝了第一個在紐約的聖派翠克節，

and over the years the parade started to be formed by different Irish groups,

幾年下來，遊行開始由不同的愛爾蘭族群組成，

so now St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York is the biggest in the world.

所以紐約的聖派翠克節遊行，是現今世上最大的，

In front of the cathedral every year the parade marches, and it's just filled with people of every group, every ethnicity,

每年遊行都會在教堂前經過，遊行充滿了各個族群、種族的人，

fans from all over the world, a lot of bagpipes, a lot of green. It's a great day.

也有來自世界各地的聖派翠克節粉絲，會看到許多風笛和綠色的東西，很棒的一天。

Speaking of all that green, where did that come from and a couple of those other traditions that we know and love?

說到「一片綠」，它的由來是什麼？還有其他我們熟知、喜愛的傳統的由來呢？

I remember the first time I went to Ireland, and I came in on the plane and looked at the window,

我記得我初次去愛爾蘭的時候，我在機上望著窗外，

and I looked down and sure enough they say forty shades of green. It was forty shades of green.

往下看之後，就懂了什麼是所謂的「四十種綠色」，愛爾蘭真的有「四十種綠色」。

I think part of the Irish culture is to eat, drink, and be merry, so I think that was always connected with St. Patrick's Day,

我覺得，因為部份愛爾蘭文化就是吃吃喝喝、開開心心，所以對聖派翠克節才總有這樣的聯想，

and maybe when young people got involved, it got a little more raucous and a little more drinking than is necessarily good.

不過年輕人慶祝的時候，也許會有點過於吵鬧、酒喝太多，一切還是適量就好。

But finally the most important part of the fabled day, according to Monsignor Ritchie?

最後，Monsignor Ritchie 牧師覺得，這節日最重要的部分是什麼呢？

Everybody says they become Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

大家都說他們在聖派翠克節，當一日愛爾蘭人，

You don't have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

其實，就算不是愛爾蘭人，也能慶祝聖派翠克節。