Although St Patrick's Day began as a religious celebration of Ireland's patron saint, these days it's a merry affair which is celebrated in (green) style with street festivals and parties world-wide.

timesofmalta.com dispatched its investigative team, to find out how to celebrate the day like the Irish do. At at Irish-run Dubliner pub in St Julian’s, they bumped into some ex-pat Irish Maltese Circle members who were only too happy to share some tips and the craic.

For ease of reference, here’s a mini-dictionary which might come in handy while you’re watching this multimedia feature or for when you hit the pubs tomorrow:

Sláinte Meaning:  health

Pronunciation: pretend you've got a mouthful of potatoes and it should sound something like shlonche.

Jax Meaning: toilet

Pronunciation: the origins of this word started out in some obscure pub, as a pet name for the loo “[titter, titter] let’s call it Jack”. It quickly turned into an expression – “Am off to the Jack’s”, which was soon shortened to ‘jax’ (which is easier to say when talking in a slur).

Craic Meaning: Fun (can also, mean gossip or news)

Pronunciation: same as in “get crack-ing and head for the pub”.   

For more information on Irish activities log on to: irishmaltesecircle.org.mt