New Year's Day (January 1), if falling on a weekday, or if not, the next day.
St Patrick's Day (March 17), if falling on a weekday, or if not, the next day.
Good Friday - the Friday before Easter.
Easter Monday - the day after Easter.
May Holiday - the first Monday in May.
June Holiday - the first Monday in June.
Summer Holiday - the first Monday in August.
October Holiday - the last Monday in October.
Christmas Day, if falling on a weekday or, if not, the next Tuesday.
St Stephen's Day (December 26), if falling on a weekday or, if not, the next day.
St. Patrick's Day
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 7,000, 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."
