There’s a Serious Story Behind Mexico’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations

Though St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday about Ireland that’s perhaps most famously celebrated in the United States, one of the more festive St. Patrick’s Day venues is Mexico City. There, in the city’s San Jacinto Plaza, a plaque commemorates the “martyrs” of St. Patrick’s Battalion who gave their lives to the Mexican cause.

Also known as the “San Patricios,” that group consisted largely of Irish natives who defected from the U.S.