March 17—St. Patrick's religious feast day and the
anniversary of his death in the fifth century.
A date that falls during the Christian season of Lent. The Irish have observed this date as a
religious holiday for over a thousand years.
Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and
celebrate in the afternoon.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in the U.S.,
not in Ireland. Irish soldiers serving
in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762, (when
we were still a British colony). In
1848, several New York Irish aid societies united their parades to form one New
York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Today, that parade is the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest
in the United States with over 150,000 participants.
Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all
backgrounds in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest
celebrations, it has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland,
including Japan, Singapore, and Russia.
In modern day Ireland, St. Patrick's Day has traditionally
been a religious occasion. Until the
1970s, Irish laws mandated pubs be closed on March 17. In 1995, the Irish government began a
national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to promote
tourism.
Symbols and
Traditions
The shamrock was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland,
symbolizing the rebirth of spring. By
the seventeenth century, it became a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism.
Music is often associated with St. Patrick's Day and Irish
culture in general. Since the ancient
days of the Celts, music has always been an important part of Irish life. The Celts had an oral culture where religion,
legend, and history were passed from one generation to the next through stories
and songs.
Banishing snakes from Ireland has been associated with St. Patrick. A long held belief says St. Patrick once
stood on a hilltop and with only a wooden staff managed to drive all the snakes
from Ireland. The fact is the island
nation of Ireland has never had snakes.
Every year on St. Patrick's Day the traditional meal of
corned beef and cabbage is consumed.
Cabbage has long been an Irish food, but corned beef only began to be
associated with St. Patrick's Day at the turn of the century (circa 1900).
Belief in leprechauns probably comes from Celtic belief in
fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or
evil. Leprechauns are only minor figures
in Celtic folklore, cantankerous little men known for their trickery which they
often used to protect their fabled treasure.
The cheerful, friendly image of the leprechaun is a purely American
invention created by Walt Disney in his 1959 movie, Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
There are over 36 million U.S. residents who claim Irish
ancestry. This number is almost nine
times the population of Ireland.
Chicago is famous for a somewhat peculiar
annual event: dyeing the Chicago River green. The tradition started in 1962, when city
pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges and
realized that the green dye might provide a unique way to celebrate the
holiday. That year, they released one
hundred pounds of green vegetable dye into the river—enough to keep it green
for a week. Today, in order to minimize
environmental damage, they use only forty pounds of dye, making the river green
for several hours rather than days.
Green
beer, certainly associated with St. Patrick's Day here in the United States, is
NOT an Irish creation. Purists claim
that Arthur Guinness would turn over in his grave if anyone attempted to add
green food coloring to the traditional Irish brew. Green beer is most likely of American
origins.
And Irish coffee? The
forerunner of today's Irish coffee was said to have originated at Foynes' port
(the precursor to Shannon International Airport on the west coast of Ireland
near the town of Limerick) one miserable winter night in the 1940s. Joseph Sheridan added some whiskey to the
coffee to warm the arriving American passengers, proclaiming it to be Irish coffee.
A travel writer named Stanton Delaplane brought Irish coffee
to the U.S. after drinking it at Shannon Airport. He worked with the Buena Vista Café in San
Francisco to develop the perfect drink.
The Buena Vista Cafe started serving Irish coffee on November 10, 1952,
and continues to serve large quantities of it to this day starting from the
time they open in the morning for breakfast until they close at night. And any of you who have had your morning ham
and eggs at the Buena Vista have seen the coffee cups lined up along the bar
and the bartender at the ready, prepared to fill them with the beverage of
choice for the breakfast crowd.
So, here's to everyone celebrating on March 17 whether Irish
or not. Enjoy your corned beef and
cabbage, green beer, and Irish coffee.
