Is Saint Patrick’s Day A National Holiday – Washington, D.C. : US President George W. Bush receives the Shamrocks Bowl (L) from Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern March 13, 2002. Bush becomes.
Although St. Patrick is Ireland’s patron saint, parades and festivities are held in his name on Tuesdays. The holiday’s popularity is global, spreading beyond the Emerald Isle to many Irish towns. There is no clear explanation as to why Ireland’s National Day is so widely celebrated instead of Bastille Day, the Fourth of July, or Cinco de Mayo.
Is Saint Patrick’s Day A National Holiday
As historian and Dublin-based Boston College professor Michael Cronin explains, the modern version of the holiday is largely an American export, with the celebration gaining popularity as Irish immigrants asserted their cultural and political presence in American society. Parades in America began to flourish in the 1800s, but in Dublin, Cronin says, you didn’t see a celebration like this until the 1990s.
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Now, decades later, wearing green is an international tradition – but each place’s individual history informs the rest of the celebration.
“St. Patrick’s Day as we know it is a New World event,” said Patrick Griffin, a history professor at Notre Dame. “There’s nothing really Irish now; it’s nostalgic and schmaltzy.”
But beneath all the paper shamrocks and Guinness merchandise, each town still has its own history and holiday flair, some involving Irish immigrants and, funnily enough, some not. Here’s how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world:
Happy St. Patty’s Day
The port city of Louisiana loves a good party, and since New Orleans was a major center for Irish immigration to America, it’s no wonder they’ve been hosting festivals since 1809. Somewhat strangely, however, it was one of those days. Their most cherished tradition: a veggie food fight. According to Cronin, the practice has a benign origin.
“On St. Patrick’s Day, which is of course a Catholic holiday, it is customary for the rich float in the parade to throw food down to the poor,” he said.
In the end, all the nobler intentions come back to the free cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and onions that float the parade. Revelers toss them into the crowd, along with moonbees, another New Orleans St. Patrick’s Day staple.
In most countries, including the United States, St. Patrick’s Day is also an unofficial holiday. It is only officially recognized in Ireland and Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and the small Caribbean island of Montserrat. Also known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean, the island was a refuge for persecuted Irish Catholics until the 17th century. Most of Montserrat’s 5,000 residents claim some Irish heritage or connection.
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The celebration, a unique fusion of Irish, African and Caribbean heritage, commemorates the failed slave rebellion of 1768 on St. Patrick’s Day. The island hosts a “freedom run” to mark the anniversary, while still participating in some familiar practices, such as serving green beer.
The capital of Japan has hosted St. Patrick’s Day celebrations since 1992. In these years, the celebrations spread throughout the country. The Tokyo march was unique in that it was organized primarily by non-Irish people. Some Japanese, Cronin says, were so impressed with the holiday and Irish customs that they adopted the holiday.
The annual festivities are now organized by the non-profit organization Irish Network Japan, a group of Irish and non-Irish Japanese people who seek to promote cultural exchange and unity.
One of the longest parades on the North American continent takes place in Montreal, where the Quebecois have held a parade every year since 1824. It has been celebrated in some fashion since the mid-1700s, when Irish soldiers in the British army there observe it. It was St. Patrick’s Day at the time of the victory.
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In this case, Cronin says, the excitement is less about Irish identity and more about a shared Roman Catholic faith. Montreal was first colonized by Catholic missionaries and maintains a strong Catholic identity today.
A village in southern Ireland has set a Guinness World Record for the shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade. Beginning in 1997, residents would walk only 77 feet – the distance between the two village bars. Unfortunately, the parade has been inactive since 2007 after one of the pubs, the Lee Valley Inn, closed.
“It’s different for people in Ireland than in America,” says Griffin. “They’re enjoying themselves.”
Every year, the White House hosts a “shamrock ceremony” for the Irish prime minister, where visitors present the president with a crystal bowl filled with shamrocks. This year, President Barack Obama will meet with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. The ceremony was followed by dinner, where Irish politicians were treated to a “traditional” Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage.
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But Cornyn says most Irish people aren’t really familiar with the pink, savory dish. It may have developed in Irish American communities because corned beef was a cheaper cut of meat. In Ireland, a more common St. Patrick’s Day might feature a spring lamb, he says.
The love for the holiday is so widespread that it extends beyond the atmosphere of the International Space Station. In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield photographed Ireland from orbit and sang “Danny Boy” aboard the ISS, wearing a green sweater and bow tie. Two years ago, American astronaut and flutist Katherine Coleman played an Irish flute song in space for the holidays.
“It surprised me,” said Cronin. “There is no other country in the world that can convince all other countries to celebrate their national day. Why should an American child care about the patron saint of Ireland?”
Whatever the reason, when you dig out that shamrock tie you only wear once a year on Tuesday, know that you’re definitely not alone. Patrick’s Day is now part of the social calendar around the world, a time for music, revenge and parades. Ireland’s colonial history helps explain how a national celebration can become international.
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St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, so the celebrations took place over the weekend. The New York parade is more than 250 years old and has long included a political element. In the 1970s and 80s there was controversy over the recruitment of groups that actively supported Irish terrorist organisations. For most, however, the event is pure fun.
The presence of an Irish diaspora around the world helps explain why a national celebration is marked in so many ways around the world. The first documented celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in America took place in Boston in 1737. Meanwhile, in Chicago, the city’s river is dyed green every year to mark the event. Both cities have a strong history of immigration from Ireland.
It is believed that Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain – possibly Wales. He was kidnapped by pirates and taken to Ireland, but the story goes that he underwent a spiritual awakening. He converted many Christians. Famously, he is said to have banished all snakes from Ireland. This Dublin reveler took inspiration from the famous saint when he started his celebrations in the early hours of Sunday morning.
There doesn’t need to be a tradition of mass immigration from Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The weekend saw celebrations in Russia, where parades have become routine since the fall of communism. They included an official military parade – the soldiers were among the first Irishmen to make Russia their home – as well as an unofficial carnival procession.
St Patrick’s Day
The large Irish community in England has long celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, although the celebrations were somewhat muted during the “troubles” in Northern Ireland. In the new era of peace, everything has changed. While London hosts an annual parade and lights key monuments green, Birmingham has the UK’s largest parade, said to be the third largest in the world after Dublin and New York.
St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity for Ireland to present itself on the world stage. Even the White House turned green this week, as President Donald Trump welcomed Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to the annual Shamrock Festival. The tradition dates back to the 1950s and a pot of shamrock was presented to the Oval Office holder on St. Patrick’s Day. However, it is widely recognized and celebrated throughout America. It is celebrated primarily as a recognition of Irish and Irish American culture; Celebrations include large grill displays, food and drink, religious observances and many parades. This holiday has been celebrated in the United States since 1601.
According to the National Retail Federation, US consumers spent $4.4 billion on St. Patrick’s Day in 2016. That amount has decreased.
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