St.Patrick’s Day is synonymous with leprechauns, guinness and pots of gold in popular culture.

The holiday has become Americanized mostly celebrated with booze and “luck.” San Francisco is notorious for pub crawls and festivalsFrom the four leaf clover to chugging Irish car bombs, St.Patrick’s day has and always will be a holiday reflected on the wrong circumstances. 

St. Patrick’s Day observes the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green. It almost makes you wonder when will we get it right for holidays being respected as a unit for what they are, and what they aren’t. 

SF State student, Thomas Galatas , has an Irish background and is  majoring in marketing. Galatas was wearing an emerald green shirt, that stated. “I heart beer”, with the four leaf clover representing the heart. He said his culture is represented wrongly, but is used to it as well. Stating “It’s been misrepresented for awhile now,” Galatas said. 

Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling. 

“I don’t think Irish people are disrespectful in California, I just think that for example with Hispanic holidays and cultures, as well as African-American holidays you’re expected to give some mind to it, you’re expected to care about it.” Galatas said. 

Galatas goes into saying that all holidays should be respected and learned properly before celebrating. 

“But for St. Patrick’s Day is all about let’s get drunk and that’s okay sometimes, but us as an Irish culture we’re all about positivity, but at the same time we don’t really get that same sensitivity as cultures get it, that’s just a fact.” 

For generations now we have used this lucky holiday, as a way to flourish ourselves with a “good time.” 

On social media it’s even  reflected as a hoax on multiple peoples accounts not knowing the history behind it. 

One user from Whidbey Island, Washington posted a picture decorating a Christmas tree stating “Happy March! Just finished decorating my St. Patrick’s day holiday tree”. 

The comment above it wrote, “Dear Americans. This is not a thing. Please stop.”

Stop there events, from running a 5k beer run, to how many corned beef cabbages can you eat in a contest. 

So while others are misinterpreting this holiday season, let’s remember and learn more about  students like Thomas Galatas, wishing them not luck or pots of gold, but the respect that their holiday deserves on St. Patrick’s day.