Most of us have celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in one way or another. Whether it be with a traditional Irish dinner, or simply by wearing green, the celebration of the patron saint has been a part of our lives for decades. Many of us, however, don’t know much about the holiday.
St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland and its national apostle in the fifth century, but he wasn’t actually of Irish descent. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped as a 16 year old and brought to Ireland as a slave. He had managed to escape, but later returned, having brought Christianity to Ireland.
Since then, people in Ireland have been holding celebrations and feasts in honor of St. Patrick on March 17th, a tradition that began around the 9th century. It would be a few more centuries until celebrations would spread outside of Ireland. Records show that the first celebrations held in the American continent occurred when Irish soldiers who served in the English military held a march through New York City. This began the growth of enthusiasm for the holiday.
In the mid 1800s, when Ireland was experiencing a widespread famine, hundreds of thousands of Irish people poured into the United States. Oftentimes they were treated very poorly by the American Protestant population. St. Patrick’s day however, stood as a bit of an escape for the Irish. It was a day they could celebrate their heritage. They would go all out on these celebrations.
Around the mid 20th century, efforts were being made to decrease the anti-Irish sentiment in America. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman attended the St. Patrick’s day parade in New York City.
Since the holiday has been celebrated in the United States, many new traditions have emerged. One of which being the annual dying of the Chicago River, which started in 1962 as an attempt to trace illegal sewage disposals. Though the initial purpose of pouring the dye in the river was unsuccessful, people quickly adopted the practice as tradition, now dumping around 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river on March 17th. Today however, the dye has been limited to only 40 pounds so as to minimize potential pollution risks.
Though celebrated mostly in Ireland, the UK, and North America, St. Patrick’s day has a significant global presence. Countries like Russia, Japan, and Singapore also participate in holiday festivities.
