If it’s March, and it’s green, it must be St. Patrick’s Day. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of foods and drinks are given an emerald hue.
Quick Read
- St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated globally on March 17th, honors St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Initially a religious observance, it has evolved into a broader celebration of Irish heritage, especially in the United States.
- St. Patrick, who lived in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, was not originally Irish. He was captured and enslaved in Ireland, escaped, and later returned as a Christian missionary.
- The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in America predates the country’s founding, with the first parade held in Manhattan in 1762. Irish immigrants brought their culture and traditions, transforming the day into a festive occasion that influenced celebrations in Ireland.
- St. Patrick’s Day has become a way for Irish immigrant communities in the U.S. to assert their presence and overcome discrimination. Celebrating the holiday is a means of claiming a place in American culture and civic life.
- The shamrock, or three-leaf clover, is associated with St. Patrick and Ireland. Four-leaf clovers, though rare and linked to luck, are genetically possible due to recessive traits. They can be found by those who are observant and look for patterns in nature.
- St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated a day early in various U.S. cities, with major parades in Manhattan and Savannah, Georgia.
- The Manhattan parade, dating back to 1762, is among the world’s largest Irish heritage events.
- Megan Stransky of Houston and her relatives attended the Manhattan parade to honor their Irish roots.
- Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney, born in Ireland, served as the grand marshal in New York, marking a historic first for a female CEO of a major U.S. beer company.
- Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee acknowledged Timoney’s role and celebrated Irish actor Cillian Murphy’s recent Oscar win.
- New York City’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade allowing LGBTQ+ groups to march is set for Staten Island on Sunday.
- In Chicago, thousands watched the annual tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green, a practice started by the local plumbers union.
- Savannah, Georgia, expected a record turnout for its parade, which began in 1824, especially with nearly 18,000 hotel rooms booked for the weekend.
The Associated Press has the story:
St. Patrick’s Day: From 4-leaf clovers to some unexpected history
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) —
If it’s March, and it’s green, it must be St. Patrick’s Day. The day honoring the patron saint of Ireland is a global celebration of Irish heritage. And nowhere is that more so than in the United States, where parades take place in cities around the country and all kinds of foods and drinks are given an emerald hue.
In fact, it was among Irish American communities that the day became the celebration it is, from its roots as a more solemn day with a religious observance in Ireland.
But even in America, it was about more than a chance to dye a river green (looking at you, Chicago) or just bust out a favorite piece of green clothing, it was about putting down roots and claiming a piece of the country’s calendar.
WHO IS ST. PATRICK AND WHY DOES HE EVEN HAVE A DAY?
Patrick was not actually Irish, according to experts. Born in the late fourth century, he was captured as an adolescent and ended up enslaved in Ireland. He escaped to another part of Europe where he was trained as a priest and returned to Ireland in the fifth century to promote the spread of Christianity.
Several centuries later, he was made a saint by the Catholic Church and like other saints had a day dedicated to him, which was March 17th. He became Ireland’s patron saint, and even when religious strife broke out between Catholics and Protestants, was claimed by both, says Mike Cronin, historian and academic director of Boston College Dublin.
HOW DID AN IRISH SAINT’S DAY BECOME AN AMERICAN THING?
The short answer: Irish people came to America and brought their culture with them. St. Patrick’s Day observances date back to before the founding of the U.S., in places like Boston and New York City. The first parade was held in Manhattan in 1762.
While the day was marked with more of a religious framing and solemnity in Ireland until well into the 20th century, in America it became the cultural and boisterous celebration it is today, marked by plenty of people without a trace of Irish heritage.
It was because people in Ireland started seeing how the day was marked in the U.S. that it became more of a festival in the country of its origin rather than strictly a religious observance, Cronin says, pointing to the parades, parties and other festivities that are held.
Oh, and by the way, for those who like to shorten names: Use St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s Day. Paddy is a nickname for Pádraig, which is the Irish spelling of Patrick.
WHY IS IT SUCH A BIG DEAL TO CELEBRATE A HOLIDAY LIKE THIS?
Holidays aren’t simply days to watch bands go by, or wear a specific outfit or costume.
Being able to mark a holiday, and have others mark it, is a way of “putting down roots, showing that you’ve made it in American culture,” says Leigh Schmidt, professor in the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. “You’ve made your claim on that American calendar, in American civic life, by having these holidays widely recognized.”
The spread of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the U.S. was a way for Irish immigrant communities, who in the 19th century faced discrimination and opposition, to stake that ground, he says: “It’s a kind of immigrant Irish way of combating nativist antagonism against them.”
WHAT’S WITH FOUR-LEAF CLOVERS, ANYWAY?
A popular sight around the holiday is the shamrock, or three-leaf clover, linked to Ireland and St. Patrick.
The lucky ones, though, come across something that’s harder to find: a four-leaf clover. That’s because it takes a recessive trait or traits in the clover’s genetics for there to be more than the normal 3 leaves, says Vincent Pennetti, a doctoral student at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He has been fascinated by the plants since high school.
Four-leaf clovers “are real. They are rare,” he says.
That doesn’t mean they can’t be found. People just have to keep their eyes open and “get really good at noticing patterns and breaks in the patterns, and they just start jumping out at you,” he says.
Katie Glerum finds them. The 35-year-old New York City resident says it’s not unheard of for her to be somewhere like Central Park and see one. She usually scoops it up and often gives it to someone else, to a positive response.
“If it happened every day, then I probably would be less excited about it,” she says. “But yeah, when it happens, it is exciting.”
With green and glee, major US parades mark St. Patrick’s Day — a little early
NEW YORK (AP) — People across the United States celebrated Irish heritage at several major St. Patrick’s Day parades Saturday, marking the holiday a day early at events that included a big anniversary in Savannah, Georgia, and honored a pioneering female business leader as grand marshal in New York.
The holiday commemorates Ireland’s patron saint and was popularized largely by Irish Catholic immigrants. While St. Patrick’s Day falls on March 17, some parades were moved up from Sunday, a day of worship for the Christian faithful.
Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which dates to 1762 — 14 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence — is one of the world’s largest Irish heritage festivities.
Megan Stransky of Houston and two relatives planned a Broadway weekend to coincide with the parade, seeing it as a prime opportunity to remember their family’s Irish roots and the traditions that helped shape their upbringing.
The event didn’t disappoint.
“There is no comparison to any other parade or city that I’ve been to,” Stransky marveled as she took in the bagpipers, bands, police and military contingents and more.
The grand marshal, Irish-born Heineken USA CEO Maggie Timoney, is the first female CEO of a major U.S. beer company. At a pre-parade reception at New York’s mayoral residence, Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee hailed the recognition for Timoney and noted some other causes for celebrating Irish American links this year, including Irish actor Cillian Murphy’s best actor Oscar win last weekend.
New York City has multiple parades on various dates around its five boroughs — including, on Sunday, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade allowing LGBTQ+ groups to march on Staten Island.
Mayor Eric Adams last month announced the plan for the new, privately organized celebration, arranged after a local organization asked for years to join the borough’s decades-old parade. That longstanding event, which does not allow groups to march under LGBTQ+ banners, happened earlier this month.
The Manhattan parade began allowing LGBTQ+ groups and symbols in 2015, after decades of protests, legal challenges and boycotts by some politicians.
Ahead of Chicago’s parade, thousands of people — many decked out in green with beers in hand — gathered along the Chicago River to watch the local plumbers union boats turn the water green. Organizers say the tradition, started by the union, uses an environmentally friendly powder once used to check pipes for leaks.
Katie and Ryan Fox, of suburban Mount Pleasant, landed a spot on a tour boat and saw one of the union boats spraying the dye in front of them.
Ryan Fox, 37, said seeing the river dyed by boat was one of his “bucket list” items.
“If there’s a city that does it better than Chicago, I’d like to see it,” he said.
In Savannah, Georgia, organizers expected a historic crowd to participate in the parade, which started in 1824. Ahead of the bicentennial, Georgia’s oldest city had nearly 18,000 hotel rooms booked for the weekend.
