St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated longer than Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. The holiday started out as a celebration of honoring St. Patrick by establishing a Feast Day in 1631. Throughout the centuries, traditions, information, and disastrous events have changed the way that St. Patrick’s Day was originally celebrated.
According to CNN, St. Patrick was not from Ireland, even though this holiday has many Irish roots. St. Patrick was from Roman Britain. He was captured as a young boy by Irish pirates. During this time, most of Ireland believed in Druids, which is a priest, magician, or soothsayer in the ancient Celtic religion. After a couple years of staying in Ireland, St. Patrick escaped and made his way back to Britain. Once back in his homeland, St. Patrick had a vision that inspired him to study priesthood. Even though he escaped from Ireland, he willingly returned and converted thousands of Irish people to Catholicism. This remarkable conversion led St. Patrick to be the patron Saint of Ireland. St. Patrick used shamrocks, which are now commonly associated with the holiday, as a tool in his ministry to explain the Holy Trinity. It is uncertain the exact day that this Saint died, but March 17 is celebrated to commemorate the mission of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick's Day celebrations have evolved throughout the centuries. During the first several centuries, March 17 was a day of solemnity in Ireland. Catholics attended church in the morning and partook of modest feasts in the afternoon. There were no parades, and emerald-tinted food products were not a part of the holiday—because blue was the traditional color, not green, until the 1798 Irish Rebellion.
Immigrants from Ireland brought over the traditions and holiday to the U.S. Boston is known to be the first place of St. Patrick’s Day celebration in 1737. However, the British started the green tradition of America’s largest and longest St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1762. The parade was started by Irish-born soldiers serving in the British Army. They marched through lower Manhattan to a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at a local tavern. This parade raised opposition from nativist and anit-Catholic mobs that started a tradition of “paddy-making” on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. This tradition involves erecting effigies of Irishmen wearing rags and necklaces of potatoes with whiskey bottles in their hands. This practice was banned in 1803. The Irish potato famine of 1845 led to more practices and traditions involving food. The St. Patrick’s Day meal became corned beef and cabbage, which was an American innovation.
Today, celebrations of this holiday are practiced differently around the world. In Portland Maine, they start off the day by doing a Paddy’s Day Plunge into the freezing Atlantic Ocean at 5:30am. Afterwards, those who survive the frigid waters, enjoy a free Irish breakfast, a live auction, and a raffle at a nearby restaurant. Going down south to New Orleans, Louisiana, people come flocking to the city to the Irish Channel neighborhood for a street party. This party may be the only place where you could participate in a vegetable food fight! This tradition is to memorialize how cabbage replaced potatoes during the potato famine and became a staple of Irish cuisine. Up north in Chicago, the city dyes the Chicago River green and a parade is held to honor the Saint. Ireland and Montserrat, a Caribbean island, are the only two countries that have the day off. In Brussels, Belgium, residents play Irish sports such as Gaelic football and put on a traditional St. Patrick’s parade. Banwen, Wales, claims to be St. Patrick’s birthplace and they take pride in this. Their parade commemorates the saint’s birthplace and celebrates various other traditions. St. Patrick’s Day was also celebrated by a Canadian astronaut who wore green in the International Space Station, and took a video of himself singing “Danny Boy.” Lastly, a place least expected to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is Ise Japan. Japan's St. Patrick’s Day parades start at the Ise Shrine, which is dedicated to a Shinto sun goddess. Japanese and Irish flags fly together while residents dress up like leprechauns, play bagpipes, dance jigs, and end the day with an oyster festival.
Irish families in America also have a unique relationship with St. Patrick's Day. Alexander Hess (senior, English), a student with Irish ancestry, shares his relationship with this holiday:
Growing up, my family’s celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day was fairly minimal and Americanized. This mostly consisted of wearing lots of green and eating culturally-specific foods like stew or shepherd’s pie. At Andrews, I have definitely become more interested and invested in re-connecting with my Irish culture. Since my family is fairly removed from Ireland (my great-great grandparents moved to the U.S.), it’s been difficult for me to feel connected to my past. However, as I’ve gotten older I’ve had the privilege to dig deeper into my ancestry and begin exploring what being Irish means to me.
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world. It is a day that honors not only a Saint that converted Ireland to Catholicism, but it also celebrates trials, famines, joys, and wars. Unlike other U.S Holidays, St. Patrick’s Day involves everybody from every background, religion, and race. It is a holiday that unites the world by wearing green, sharing shamrocks, eating food, and most of all sharing the joy and happiness of the holiday.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.