Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Cisco Ireland

Today, the 17th of March, is a day where many around the world will become just a bit more Irish as they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. A tad more green will be worn throughout the offices and four leaf clovers will be heavily sought after, but what is St. Patrick’s Day like for those of us here in Ireland? We’d love to share with you why this day is so important to us, and why it even helps us to love where we work here at Cisco!

The weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day are always an exciting time for us as this holiday also falls around our Cisco Sports Day. This is a day where we raise money for our charity of the quarter – Multiple Sclerosis Galway – and participate in a variety of team building games and sports. Many of these games will have our Galway office take on our Dublin office, or even our staff challenging the managers. It’s a great day of bonding together as our Cisco folk are a generous bunch and will do anything for the “Craic” (Irish slang for fun) – that also leads us into our St. Patricks’ Day festivities.

While on site here in Ireland, we have nearly 30 different nationalities from around the globe! They have all embraced St. Patrick’s Day in their own way, and really love learning about the Irish culture as well. Some of the most endearing qualities in being Irish is our sense of humor and our ability to make people feel welcome – or as we say, “Cead Mile Failte” (1,000 welcomes) – and we really love that our entire Cisco family is part of these celebrations.

I asked a few staff around the site here in Ireland their thoughts on St Patrick’s Day. As you can see, their answers highlight our true Irish nature from humor and tradition to hospitality and sports.

Martin Burke

It’s the day when the whole world changes their Jabber status to Irish!

Adam Grennan

Our National holiday reminds me that we have a long, complex and rich heritage here in Ireland – something we should all celebrate. At Cisco, it’s quite similar, and while the heritage may not be quite as long as Ireland’s – there’s no doubt it is equally complex, rich, and worthy of celebration.

Shane Tuohy

St. Patrick’s Day gives Cisco employees in Ireland a chance to highlight our Irish culture and draw attention to the contributions that Cisco Ireland makes to the larger community and our very global company. Also, with the diversity that exists just here in the Cisco offices in Ireland, it gives us a chance to share Irish culture with our co-workers who are from elsewhere in the world.

Katie NicGabhann

St. Patrick’s Day for me means travelling up to Dublin where Croke Park Stadium and the home of GAA for the All Ireland Club finals are held! This is where teams represent their local clubs at the highest level of their sports – Hurling and Gaelic Football.

If I’m lucky enough my club or a club from my county will be there. Having so many Cisco colleagues from all over Ireland and the world means there is always some rivalry and competition at the coffee dock on the build-up to the matches as flags are put up at desks, while everyone tries to outdo each other – It’s friendly competition, of course, and always makes for fun around the office.

Peter Doran

For me St. Patrick’s is all about celebrating and having fun. As an Irish Cisco Employee I am proud the event is global and open to all, and looks to bring people together to celebrate.

Throughout the years, St. Patrick’s Day has come to mean many things to me personally and as I have grown the holiday has taken on a different meaning. I’ve had the opportunity now to travel around the world, and I have seen how recognized the Irish people are. This makes me so proud of my heritage, and it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by that pride when you see the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome turning green for St Patrick’s Day. That this small country, and our people – with a population of only 5.5 million – is being celebrated all over the world is something truly beautiful. How can you not be proud of that?

How are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? We’d love to see you celebrating on social media! Don’t forget to tag #WeAreCisco!

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