St. Patrick's Day
March 17th
St. Patrick's Day is Ireland's greatest national holiday as well as
a holy day. The date marks the anniversary of the death of the missionary
who became the patron saint of Ireland. It is a happy holiday for the
Irish wherever they may be - in Dublin, New York City, Boston, or San
Francisco. The day celebrated with parades, speeches, festive dinners,
and dances. Green is the color of the day, with thousands of little
cloth shamrocks worn even by those whose forefathers never touched the
shores of Ireland.
It is known that St. Patrick was born in
Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. At the
age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders
who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland
where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as
a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned
to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.
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. 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.
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St.
Patrick's Festival was established by the Government of Ireland in November
1995.
The principle aim of St. Patrick's Festival is to develop a major annual
international festival around the national holiday over which the 'owners'
of the festival, the Irish people, would stand proud. It sets out to reflect
the talents and achievements of Irish people on many national and world
stages, and it acts as an exciting showcase for the manifold skills of
the people of Ireland, of every age and social background.
As the one national holiday that is celebrated in more countries around
the world than any other, St. Patrick's Day is the day when everyone wants
to be Irish.
The first St Patrick's Festival was held over one day, and night, on March
17th 1996. The live audience for the day was estimated to be 430,000..jpg)
In 1997 it became "St. Patrick's Festival", a three day event.
The festival has since grown to become a four day festival and in 2001
is was enjoyed by 1.2million people
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Irish Tradition
Many people will be eating Irish food such as Irish Stew and Corned Beef
and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. Corned Beef is not an Irish dish. It
is what Americans think the Irish eat. A more traditional meal would be
ham and cabbage or bacon and cabbage. Some say that in Ireland on St.
Patrick's Day the traditional green beer is prominent. However, in Ireland,
many years ago, St. Patrick's Day is considered a holy day and Pubs were
not open for business. There were no parades, no drinking or wearing green.
Green was considered an unlucky color.
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