News
17 March: what is celebrated today
17 March arrives with a double energy: that of the celebration seen from afar—green, street-based and contagious—and that of causes that work quietly, sustaining whole communities. Today the calendar mixes tradition and awareness: celebrating an identity, defending rights, learning to manage money wisely and remembering that a language is also a shared home. Between toasts, words and decisions, the idea that unites the day is simple: what we share is better cared for.
Saint Patrick's Day
For Ireland, Saint Patrick is much more than a saint: he is a collective memory that became a global celebration. On 17 March — the date associated with his death — the day becomes a ritual of belonging, even for those without Irish roots. There is something magnetic about that tide of shamrocks, music and gatherings that seem to say: today the city is one shared table.
Behind the colour green, layers of history and symbolism endure. The shamrock, turned into an emblem, recalls the way ideas travel: a simple image can sustain a tradition for centuries. And although popular imagination reduces the celebration to beer and pubs, its true heart is community: going out, meeting up, recognising one another.
World Social Work Day
This 17 March also coincides with World Social Work Day, which is celebrated on the third Tuesday of March each year. It is a young observance compared with the great traditions, but an essential one: it focuses on those who work where life becomes difficult, confusing or unfair, yet still needs a way forward.
Social work usually happens far from the limelight: in neighbourhoods, schools, hospitals, community services and conversations that rebuild trust. It is a profession that listens before proposing, that supports before judging. Its value lies not only in “helping”, but in creating conditions for people to regain agency and dignity.
Global Money Week
Global Money Week begins today, an international campaign inviting us to think of money as a tool rather than an obsession. In a world where buying is easy and getting into debt even easier, talking about financial education means talking about freedom: the freedom to make informed decisions, avoid traps and build a future without falling for illusions.
This week usually focuses particularly on children and teenagers, because early financial decisions — however small — leave their mark. Budgeting, saving, responsible consumption, digital security: these are not cold words, but protective habits. Learning to “think before moving on” means learning not to hand control over to haste.
French Language and Francophonie Week
And, in parallel, French Language and Francophonie Week continues, embracing a bright idea from 16 to 24 March: a language is not just grammar, it is a cultural network. French travels with its literature, its cinema, its thought, its many accents; it belongs not to a single place, but to those who use it to name the world.
Celebrating Francophonie means celebrating diversity within a shared voice. Workshops, readings, gatherings and cultural activities remind us that languages do not divide by nature: a lack of curiosity does. When a language is shared, so too is a way of seeing, debating, creating and feeling.