The First Parade
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the
anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day
as a religious holiday for thousands of years.
On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish
families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the
afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and
people would dance, drink, and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and
cabbage.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in
Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English
military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their
music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as
well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.
Over the next thirty-five years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants
flourished, prompting the rise of so-called "Irish Aid" societies, like the
Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold
annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the
Scottish and British armies) and drums.
No Irish Need Apply
Up until the mid-nineteenth century, most Irish immigrants in America were
members of the Protestant middle class. When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland
in 1845, close to a million poor, uneducated, Catholic Irish began to pour into
America to escape starvation. Despised for their religious beliefs and funny
accents by the American Protestant majority, the immigrants had trouble finding
even menial jobs. When Irish Americans in the country 's cities took to the
streets on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed
them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.
However, the Irish soon began to realize that their great numbers endowed them
with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize,
and their voting block, known as the "green machine," became an important swing
vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a
show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew
of political candidates. In 1948, President Truman attended New York City 's St.
Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to
fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America.
Wearing of the Green Goes Global
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 productions, St. Patrick's Day 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. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed
on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national
campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and
showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. Last year, close to one million
people took part in Ireland 's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, a multi-day
celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and
fireworks shows.