Learn About St. Patrick's Day

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about St. Patrick's Day. There is always more history behind these holidays than I expect. Yet, with all the learning I'm doing, it's not exciting enough to keep me awake. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

St.

Patrick's Day.

St.

Patrick's Day,

Or the Feast of St.

Patrick,

Irish la flida padraig,

Literally,

The day of the Festival of Patrick,

Is a religious and cultural holiday held on the 17th of March,

The traditional death date of St.

Patrick,

Circa 385 to circa 461,

The foremost patron saint of Ireland.

St.

Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church,

The Anglican Communion,

Especially the Church of Ireland,

The Eastern Orthodox Church,

And the Lutheran Church.

The day commemorates St.

Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland,

And by extension celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.

Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals,

Ceilidh,

And the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.

Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend church services,

And historically the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day,

Which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

St.

Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,

Northern Ireland,

The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador,

For provincial government employees,

And the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat.

It is also widely celebrated in the United Kingdom,

Canada,

Brazil,

United States,

Argentina,

Australia,

South Africa,

And New Zealand,

Especially amongst Irish diaspora.

St.

Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival.

Modern celebrations have been greatly influenced by those of the Irish diaspora,

Particularly those that developed in North America.

However,

There has been criticism of St.

Patrick's Day celebrations for having become too commercialized and for fostering negative stereotypes of the Irish people.

St.

Patrick was a 5th century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland.

Much of what is known about St.

Patrick comes from the Declaration,

Which was allegedly written by Patrick himself.

It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century into a wealthy Romano-British family.

His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church.

According to the Declaration,

At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland.

It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he found God.

The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him home.

After making his way home,

Patrick went to become a priest.

According to tradition,

Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity.

The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands.

Patrick's efforts were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove snakes,

Heathen practices out of Ireland,

Despite the fact that actual snakes were not known to inhabit the region.

Tradition holds that he died on the 17th of March and was buried at Downpatrick.

Over the following centuries,

Many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.

Today's St.

Patrick's Day celebrations have been greatly influenced by those that developed among the Irish diaspora,

Especially in North America.

Until the late 20th century,

St.

Patrick's Day was often a bigger celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland.

Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals,

Irish traditional music sessions,

And the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.

There are also formal gatherings,

Such as banquets and dances,

Although these were more common in the past.

St.

Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century,

But did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century.

The participants generally include marching bands,

The military,

Fire brigades,

Cultural organizations,

Charitable organizations,

Voluntary associations,

Youth groups,

Fraternities,

And so on.

However,

Over time,

Many of the parades have become more akin to a carnival.

More effort is made to use the Irish language,

Especially in Ireland,

Where the 1st of March to St.

Patrick's Day on the 17th of March is Irish Language Week.

Since 2010,

Famous landmarks have been lit up and green on St.

Patrick's Day as part of Tourism Ireland's Global Greening Initiative,

Or Going Green for St.

Patrick's Day.

The Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland were the first landmarks to participate,

And since then over 300 landmarks in 50 countries across the globe have gone green for St.

Patrick's Day.

Celebrations may also attend church services,

And the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol are lifted for the day.

Perhaps because of this,

Drinking alcohol,

Particularly Irish whiskey,

Beer,

Or cider,

Has become an integral part of the celebrations.

In Ireland,

This relaxation of fasting rules is notably marked by the consumption of stout,

A dark ale beer that is a key part of the celebration,

With breweries preparing months in advance for the demand.

The St.

Patrick's Day custom of drowning the shamrock,

Or wetting the shamrock,

Was historically popular.

At the end of the celebrations,

Especially in Ireland,

A shamrock is put into the bottom of a cup,

Which is then filled with whiskey,

Beer,

Or cider.

It is then drunk as a toast to St.

Patrick,

Ireland,

Or those present.

A shamrock would either be swallowed with the drink or taken out and tossed over the shoulder for good luck.

Irish government ministers travel abroad on official visits to various countries around St.

Patrick's Day to promote Ireland.

On St.

Patrick's Day it is customary to wear shamrocks,

Green clothing,

Or green accessories.

St.

Patrick is said to have used the shamrock,

A three-leaved plant,

To explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

The story first appears in writing in 1726,

Though it may be older.

In pagan Ireland,

Three was a significant number,

And the Irish had many triple deities,

Which may have aided St.

Patrick in his evangelization efforts.

Roger Homan writes,

We can perhaps see St.

Patrick drawing upon the visual concept of the triskel when he uses the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

Patricia Monaghan says there is no evidence the shamrock was sacred to the pagan Irish.

Jack Santino speculates that it may have represented the regenerative powers of nature and was recast in a Christian context.

Icons of St.

Patrick often depict the saint with a cross in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other.

The first association of the color green with Ireland is from a legend in the 11th century,

The Book of the Taking of Ireland.

It tells of Gweedal Galash,

Gweedal the Green,

The eponymous ancestor of the Gaels and creator of the Gweedalic languages,

Irish,

Scottish,

Gaelic,

Manx.

Gweedal is bitten by a venomous snake but saved from death by Moses placing his staff on the snake bite,

Leaving him with a green mark.

His descendants settle in Ireland,

A land free of snakes.

One of the first,

Eith,

Visits Ireland after climbing the Tower of Hercules and being captivated by the sight of a beautiful green island in the distance.

The color green was further associated with Ireland from the 1640s when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation.

Later,

James Connolly described this flag as representing the sacred emblem of Ireland's unconquered soul.

Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on St.

Patrick's Day since at least the 1680s.

Since then,

The color green and its association with St.

Patrick's Day have grown.

The Friendly Brothers of St.

Patrick,

An Irish fraternity founded in about 1750,

Adopted green as its color.

The Order of St.

Patrick,

An Anglo-Irish chivalric order founded in 1783,

Instead adopted blue as its color,

Which led to blue being associated with St.

Patrick.

In the 1790s,

The color green was adopted by the United Irishmen.

This was a Republican organization founded mostly by Protestants but with many Catholic members who launched a rebellion in 1798 against British rule.

It was first called the Emerald Isle in When Aaron First Rose,

1795,

A poem by a co-founder of the United Irishmen,

William Drennan,

Which stresses the historical importance of green to the Irish.

The phrase,

Wearing of the Green,

Comes from a song of the same name about United Irishmen being persecuted for wearing green.

The flags of the 1916 Easter Rising featured green,

Such as the Starry Plough banner and the proclamation flag of the Irish Republic.

When the Irish Free State was founded in 1922,

The government ordered all post boxes be painted green with the slogan,

Green Paint for a Green People.

In 1924,

The government introduced a green Irish passport.

The wearing of the St.

Patrick's Day Cross was also a popular custom in Ireland until the early 20th century.

These were a Celtic Christian cross made of paper that was covered with silk or ribbon of different colors and a bunch of rosette of green silk in the center.

St.

Patrick's Feast Day,

As a kind of national day,

Was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries.

St.

Patrick's Feast Day was finally placed on the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church in the early 1600s,

Due to the influence of Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding.

St.

Patrick's Day thus became a holy day of obligation for Catholics in Ireland.

It is also a feast day in the Church of Ireland,

Part of the Anglican Communion.

A church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities,

Moving the saints' day to a time outside those periods.

St.

Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this requirement when the 17th of March falls during Holy Week.

This happened in 1940 when St.

Patrick's Day was officially observed on the 3rd of April to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday,

And again in 2008,

Where it was officially observed on the 15th of March.

St.

Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160.

However,

The popular festivities may still be held on the 17th of March or on a weekend near the feast day.

St.

Patrick's was perceived as the middle day of spring in the Irish calendar.

People expected that weather would be improved following the festival,

And farmers would begin planting potato.

In 1903,

St.

Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland due to the Bank Holiday Ireland Act 1903,

An act of the United Kingdom Parliament introduced by Irish MP James O'Mara.

The first St.

Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Waterford in 1903,

Hundreds of years after the first parade in North America.

The week of St.

Patrick's Day 1903 had been declared Irish Language Week by the Gaelic League,

And in Waterford they opted to have a procession on Sunday the 15th of March.

The procession comprised the Mayor and members of Waterford Corporation,

The Trades Hall,

The various trade unions and bands who included the Berwick Saint Band,

And the Thomas France and Meagher Band.

The parade began at the premises of the Gaelic League in George's Street and finished in the People's Park,

Where the public were addressed by the Mayor and other dignitaries.

On Tuesday the 17th of March,

Most Waterford businesses,

Including public houses,

Were closed,

And marching bands paraded as they had two days previously.

On St.

Patrick's Day 1916,

The Irish Volunteers,

An Irish nationalist parliamentary organization,

Held parades throughout Ireland.

The authorities recorded 38 St.

Patrick's Day parades,

Involving 6,

000 marchers,

Almost half of whom were reported to be armed.

The following month,

The Irish Volunteers launched the Easter Rising against British rule.

This marked the beginning of the Irish Revolutionary period and led to the Irish War of Independence.

During this time,

St.

Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland were muted,

Although the day was sometimes chosen to hold large political rallies.

The celebrations remained low-key after the creation of the Irish Free State.

The only state-organized observance was a military procession and trooping of the colours and an Irish-language mass attended by government ministers.

In 1927,

The Irish Free State government banned the selling of alcohol on St.

Patrick's Day,

Although it remained legal in Northern Ireland.

The ban was not repealed until 1961.

The first official state-sponsored St.

Patrick's Day parade in Dublin took place in 1931.

Public St.

Patrick's Day festivities in Ireland have been cancelled three times,

All for public health reasons.

In 2001,

Celebrations were postponed to May due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak,

While in 2020 and 2021 they were cancelled outright due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Northern Ireland,

The celebration of St.

Patrick's Day was affected by sectarian divisions.

A majority of the population were Protestant Ulster Unionists who saw themselves primarily as British,

While a substantial minority were Catholic Irish Nationalists who saw themselves primarily as Irish.

Although it was a public holiday,

Northern Ireland's Unionist government did not officially observe St.

Patrick's Day.

During the conflict known as the Troubles,

Late 1960s to late 1990s,

Public St.

Patrick's Day celebrations were rare and tended to be associated with the Catholic community.

In 1976,

Loyalists detonated a car bomb outside a pub crowded with Catholics celebrating St.

Patrick's Day in Dungannon.

Four civilians were killed and many injured.

However,

Some Protestant Unionists attempted to reclaim the festival,

And in 1985 the Orange Order held its own St.

Patrick's Day parade.

Since the end of the conflict in 1998,

There have been cross-community St.

Patrick's Day parades in towns throughout Northern Ireland,

Which have attracted thousands of spectators.

In the mid-1990s,

The government of the Republic of Ireland began a campaign to use St.

Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.

The government set up a group called St.

Patrick's Festival,

With the aims of creating a world-class national festival and to project internationally an accurate image of Ireland as a creative,

Professional,

And sophisticated country with wide appeal.

The first St.

Patrick's Festival was held on 17 March 1996.

In 1997 it became a three-day event,

And by 2006 the festival was five days long.

More than 675,

000 people attended the 2009 parade,

And that year's festival saw almost 1 million visitors,

Who took part in festivities that included concerts,

Outdoor theater performances,

And fireworks.

From 2006 to 2012,

The Skyfest formed the centerpiece of the St.

Patrick's Festival.

The week around St.

Patrick's Day is Irish Language Week,

When more Irish language events are held and there is more effort to use the language.

Christian leaders in Ireland have expressed concern about the secularization of St.

Patrick's Day.

In the World Magazine's March 2007 issue,

Friar Vincent Toomey wrote,

It's time to reclaim St.

Patrick's Day as a church festival.

He questioned the need for mindless alcohol-fueled revelry and concluded that it is time to bring the piety and the fun together.

One of the biggest celebrations outside the cities is in Downpatrick County Down,

Where St.

Patrick is said to be buried.

The shortest St.

Patrick's Day parade in the world formerly took place in Dripsey,

County Cork.

The parade lasted just 23.

4 meters and traveled between the village's two pubs.

The tradition began in 1999,

But ended after five years when one of the pubs closed.

In England,

The British royals traditionally present bowls of shamrock to members of the Irish Guards,

A regiment in the British Army following Queen Alexandra introducing the tradition in 1901.

Since 2012,

The Duchess of Cambridge has presented the bowls of shamrock to the Irish Guards.

While female royals are often tasked with presenting the bowls of shamrock,

Male royals have also undertaken the role,

Such as King George VI in 1950 to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Irish Guards.

And in 2016,

The Duke of Cambridge in place of his wife.

Fresh shamrocks are presented to the Irish Guards,

Regardless of where they are stationed,

And are flown in from Ireland.

While some St.

Patrick's Day celebrations could be conducted openly in Britain pre-1960s,

This would change following the commencement by the IRA's bombing campaign on mainland Britain.

And as a consequence,

This resulted in a suspicion of all things Irish and those who supported them which led the people of Irish descent wearing a sprig of shamrock on St.

Patrick's Day in private or attending specific events.

Today,

After many years following the Good Friday Agreement,

People of Irish descent openly wear a sprig of shamrock to celebrate their Irishness.

Christian denominations in Great Britain observing his feast day include the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.

Birmingham holds the largest St.

Patrick's Day parade in Britain with a city centre parade over a two-mile route through the city centre.

The organizers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York.

London since 2002 has had an annual St.

Patrick's Day parade,

Which takes place on weekends around the 17th,

Usually in Trafalgar Square.

In 2008,

The water in the Trafalgar Square fountains was dyed green.

In 2020,

The parade was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Liverpool has the highest proportion of residents with Irish ancestry of any English city.

This has led to a long-standing celebration on St.

Patrick's Day in terms of music,

Cultural events and the parade.

Manchester hosts a two-week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St.

Patrick's Day.

The festival includes an Irish market based at the city's Town Hall,

Which flies the Irish tricolour opposite the Union flag,

A large parade as well as a large number of cultural and learning events throughout the two-week period.

The first St.

Patrick's Day celebrations in Malta took place in the early 20th century by soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers,

Who were stationed in Floriana.

Celebrations were held in the Balzaneta area of the town,

Which contained a number of bars and was located close to the barracks.

The Irish diaspora in Malta continued to celebrate the feast annually.

Today St.

Patrick's Day is mainly celebrated in Spinola Bay and Patcheville areas of St.

Although other celebrations still occur at Floriana and other locations.

Thousands of Maltese attend the celebrations,

Which are more associated with drinking beer than traditional Irish culture.

Norway has had a St.

Patrick's Day parade in Oslo since 2000,

First organized by Irish expatriates living in Norway and partially coordinated with the Irish Embassy in Oslo.

The first St.

Patrick's Day parade in Russia took place in 1992.

Since 1999 there has been a yearly St.

Patrick's Day festival in Moscow and other Russian cities.

The official part of the Moscow parade is a military-style parade and is held in collaboration with the Moscow government and the Irish Embassy in Moscow.

The unofficial parade is held by volunteers and resembles a carnival.

In 2014,

Moscow Irish Week was celebrated from the 12th to the 23rd of March,

Which includes St.

Patrick's Day on the 17th of March.

Over 70 events celebrated Irish culture in Moscow,

St.

Petersburg,

Ekaterinburg,

Voronezh,

And Volgograd were sponsored by the Irish Embassy,

The Moscow city government,

And other organizations.

In 2017,

The Russian Orthodox Church added the feast day of St.

Patrick's to its liturgical calendar to be celebrated on the 30th of March.

Sarajevo,

The capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Has a large Irish expatriate community.

The community established the Sarajevo Irish Festival in 2015,

Which is held for three days around and including St.

Patrick's Day.

The festival organizes an annual parade,

Hosts Irish theatre companies,

Screens Irish films,

And organizes concerts of Irish folk musicians.

The festival has hosted numerous Irish artists,

Filmmakers,

Theatre directors and musicians such as Conor Horgan,

Ailis Nee Ryan,

Dermot Dunn,

Mick Maloney,

Chloe Anew,

And others.

The Scottish town of Coatbridge,

Where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent,

Also has a St.

Patrick's Day festival,

Which includes celebrations and parades in the town centre.

Glasgow has a considerably large Irish population,

Due for the most part to the Irish immigration during the 19th century.

This immigration was the main cause in raising the population of Glasgow by over 100,

000 people.

Due to this large Irish population,

There are many Irish-themed pubs and Irish interest groups who hold yearly celebrations on St.

Patrick's Day in Glasgow.

Glasgow has held a yearly St.

Patrick's Day parade and festival since 2007.

While St.

Patrick's Day in Switzerland is commonly celebrated on the 17th of March,

With festivities similar to those in neighbouring Central European countries,

It is not unusual for Swiss students to organise celebrations in their own living spaces on St.

Patrick's Eve.

Most popular are usually those in Zurich's Kreis 4.

Traditionally,

Guests also contribute with beverages and dressing green.

Although it is not a national holiday in Lithuania,

The Vilnius River is dyed green every year on St.

Patrick's Day in the capital Vilnius.

One of the longest-running and largest St.

Patrick's Day parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal,

Whose city flag includes a shamrock in its lower right quadrant.

The yearly celebration has been organised by the United Irish Societies of Montreal since 1929.

The parade has been held yearly without interruption since 1824.

St.

Patrick's Day itself,

However,

Has been celebrated in Montreal since as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers and the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France.

In St.

John,

New Brunswick,

St.

Patrick's Day is celebrated as a week-long celebration.

Shortly after the J.

P.

Collins Celtic Festival is an Irish festival celebrating St.

John's Irish heritage.

The festival is named for a young Irish doctor,

James Patrick Collins,

Who worked on Partridge Island,

St.

John County,

Quarantine station tending to sick Irish immigrants before he died there himself.

In Manitoba,

The Irish Association of Manitoba runs a yearly three-day festival of music and culture based around St.

Patrick's Day.

In 2004,

The Celtic Fest Vancouver Society organised its first yearly festival in downtown Vancouver to celebrate the Celtic nations and their cultures.

This event,

Which includes a parade,

Occurs each year during the weekend nearest St.

Patrick's Day.

In Quebec City,

There was a parade from 1837 to 1926.

The Quebec City St.

Patrick Parade returned in 2010 after more than 84 years.

For the occasion,

A portion of the New York Police Department pipes and drums were present as special guests.

There has been a parade held in Toronto since at least 1863.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team was known as the Toronto St.

Patricks from 1919 to 1927 and wore green jerseys.

In 1999,

When the Maple Leafs played on St.

Patrick's Day,

They wore green St.

Patrick's retro uniforms.

Some groups,

Notably Guinness,

Have lobbied to make St.

Patrick's Day a national holiday.

In March 2009,

The Calgary Tower changed its top exterior lights to new green CFL bulbs just in time for St.

Patrick's Day.

Part of an environmental non-profit organisation's campaign,

Project Porchlight,

The green represented environmental concerns.

Approximately 210 lights were changed in time for St.

Patrick's Day and resembled a leprechaun's hat.

After a week,

White CFLs took their place.

The change was estimated to save the Calgary Tower some $12,

000 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 104 tonnes.

Since 2019,

The City of Waterloo,

Ontario has had to contend with an ever-growing massive street party that has coincided with the St.

Patrick's Day celebrations.

In 2023,

Police could be seen putting fences up on Ezra Avenue to discourage partiers to participate in the unauthorised event that has cost the City as much as $750,

000 a year for police,

Paramedics,

And municipal services.

St.

Patrick's Day,

While not a legal holiday in the United States,

Is nonetheless widely recognised and observed throughout the country as a celebration of Irish and Irish-American culture.

Celebrations include prominent displays of the colour green,

Religious observances,

Numerous parades,

And copious consumption of alcohol.

The holiday has been celebrated in what is now the U.

S.

Since 1600,

With the first parade occurring in 1601.

It is customary for the Irish Taoiseach,

Irish Prime Minister,

To meet with the President of the United States on or around St.

Patrick's Day.

Traditionally,

The Taoiseach presents the U.

S.

President a Waterford crystal bowl filled with shamrocks.

This tradition began in 1952 when the Irish Ambassador to the U.

S.

,

John Hearn,

Sent a box of shamrocks to President Harry S.

Truman.

From then,

It became a yearly custom for the Irish Ambassador to send St.

Patrick's Day shamrocks to an official in the U.

S.

President's Administration,

Although on some occasions the shamrocks were given personally by the Irish Taoiseach or Irish President to the U.

S.

President in Washington.

After the meeting between Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and President Bill Clinton in 1994,

The presenting of the shamrocks became a yearly custom.

The St.

Patrick's Battalion is honoured in Mexico on St.

Patrick's Day.

In Buenos Aires,

A party is held in the downtown street of Reconquista,

Where there are several Irish pubs.

In 2006,

There were 50,

000 people in this street and the pubs nearby.

Neither the Catholic Church nor the Irish community,

The fifth largest in the world outside Ireland,

Take part in the organization of the parties.

The island of Montserrat is known as the Emerald Island of the Caribbean because of its founding by Irish refugees from St.

Kitts and Nevis.

Montserrat is one of the three places where St.

Patrick's Day is a public holiday,

Along with Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The holiday in Montserrat also commemorates a failed slave uprising that occurred on 17 March 1768.

St.

Patrick's Day is not a public holiday in Australia,

Although it is celebrated each year across the country's states and territories.

Festivals and parades are often held on weekends around 17 March in cities such as Sydney,

Brisbane,

Adelaide,

And Melbourne.

On occasion,

Festivals and parades are cancelled.

For instance,

Melbourne's 2006 and 2007 St.

Patrick's Day festivals and parades were cancelled due to sporting events,

Commonwealth Games,

And Australian Grand Prix.

Brisbane booked on and around the planned St.

Patrick's Day festivals and parades in the city.

In Sydney,

The parade and family day was cancelled in 2016 due to financial problems.

However,

Brisbane's St.

Patrick's Day parade,

Which was cancelled at the outbreak of World War II and wasn't revived until 1990,

Was not called off in 2020 as precaution for the COVID-19 pandemic,

In contrast to many other St.

Patrick's Day parades around the world.

The first mention of St.

Patrick's Day being celebrated in Australia was in 1795,

When Irish convicts and administrators,

Catholic and Protestant,

And the penal colony came together to celebrate the day as a national holiday,

Despite a ban against assemblies being in place at the time.

This unified day of Irish nationalist observance would soon dissipate over time,

With celebrations on St.

Patrick's Day becoming divisive between religions and social classes,

Representative more of Australian-ness than of Irish-ness,

And held intermittently throughout the years.

Historian Patrick O'Farrell credits the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin and Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne for reigniting St.

Patrick's Day celebrations in Australia and reviving the sense of Irish-ness against those with Irish heritage.

The organizers of the St.

Patrick's festivities in the past were,

More often than not,

The Catholic clergy,

Which often courted controversy.

Bishop Patrick Phelan of Sale described in 1921 how the authorities in Victoria had ordered that a Union Jack be flown at the front of the St.

Patrick's Day parade,

And following the refusal by Irishmen and Irish-Australians to do so,

The authorities paid for an individual to carry the flag at the head of the parade.

This individual was later assaulted by two men who were later fined in court.

From 1878 to 1955,

St.

Patrick's Day was recognized as a public holiday in New Zealand,

Together with St.

George's Day,

England,

And St.

Andrew's Day,

Scotland.

Auckland attracted many Irish migrants in the 1850s and 1860s,

And it was here where some of the earliest St.

Patrick's Day celebrations took place,

Which often entailed the hosting of community picnics.

However,

This rapidly evolved from the late 1860s onwards to include holding parades with pipe bands and marching children wearing green,

Sporting events,

Concerts,

Balls,

And other social events where people displayed their Irishness with pride.

While St.

Patrick's Day is no longer recognized as a public holiday,

It continues to be celebrated across New Zealand with festivals and parades at weekends on or around the 17th of March.

St.

Patrick's Day parades are now held in many locations across Japan.

The first parade in Tokyo was organized by the Irish Network Japan,

INJ,

In 1992.

The Irish Association of Korea has celebrated St.

Patrick's Day since 1976 in Seoul,

The capital city of South Korea.

The place of the parade and festival has been moved from Itaewon and Ehangno to Cheonggyecheon.

In Malaysia,

The St.

Patrick's Society of Selangor,

Founded in 1925,

Organizes a yearly St.

Patrick's Ball,

Described as the biggest St.

Patrick's Day celebration in Asia.

Guinness Anchor Burrhead also organizes 36 parties across the country in places like the Klang Valley,

Penang,

Johor Bahru,

Malacca,

Ipoh,

Kuantan,

Kota Kinabalu,

Miri,

And Kuching.

Irish United Nations UN Peacekeepers also celebrating St.

Patrick's Day outside Ireland during their participation in UN peacekeeping missions in conflict-raged countries.

Astronauts on board the International Space Station have celebrated the festival in different ways.

Irish-American Catherine Coleman played a 100-year-old flute belonging to Matt Malloy and a tin whistle belonging to Patti Maloney.

Both members of the Irish music group The Chieftains,

While floating weightless in the space station on St.

Patrick's Day in 2011.

Her performance was later included in a track called The Chieftains in Orbit on the group's 2012 album,

Voice of Ages.

Chris Hadfield took photographs of Ireland from Earth's orbit and a picture of himself wearing green clothing in the space station,

And posted them online on St.

Patrick's Day in 2013.

He also posted online a recording of himself singing Danny Boy in space.

St.

Patrick's Day celebrations have been criticized,

Particularly for their association with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

Some argue that the festivities have been too commercialized and tacky,

And have strayed from their original purpose of honoring St.

Patrick and Irish heritage.

Irish-American journalist Niall O'Dowd has criticized attempts to recast St.

Patrick's Day as a celebration of multiculturalism,

Rather than a celebration of Irishness.

St.

Patrick's Day celebrations have also been criticized for fostering demeaning stereotypes of Ireland and Irish people.

An example is the wearing of leprechaun outfits,

Which are based on derogatory 19th-century caricatures of the Irish.

In the run-up to St.

Patrick's Day 2014,

The Ancient Order of Hibernian successfully campaigned to stop major American retailers from selling novelty merchandise that promoted negative Irish stereotypes.

Traditionally,

The All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship were held on St.

Patrick's Day in Croke Park,

Dublin.

But since 2020,

These now take place in January.

The Interprovincial Championship was previously held on the 17th of March,

But this was switched to games being played in autumn.

The Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup,

Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup,

And Ulster Schools Senior Cup are held on St.

Patrick's Day.

The Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup is held on the weekend before St.

Patrick's Day.

Horse racing at the Cheltenham Festival attracts large numbers of Irish people,

Both residents of Britain and many who travel from Ireland,

And usually coincides with St.

Patrick's Day.

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union tournament competed by England,

France,

Ireland,

Italy,

Scotland,

And Wales,

And reaches its climax on or around St.

Patrick's Day.

On St.

Patrick's Day 2018,

Ireland defeated England 24-15 at Twickenham,

London,

To claim the third Grand Slam in their history.

The St.

Patrick's Day Test is an international rugby league tournament that is played between the U.

S.

And Ireland.

The competition was first started in 1995 and continued in 1996,

2000,

2002,

2003,

2004,

2011,

And 2012.

Ireland won the first two tests,

As well as the one in 2011,

With the U.

S.

Winning the remaining five.

The game is usually held on or around March 17 to coincide with St.

Patrick's Day.

The major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada that play during March often wear special third jerseys to acknowledge the holiday.

Examples include the Buffalo Sabres,

Who have won special Irish-themed practice jerseys,

Toronto Maple Leafs,

Who wear Toronto St.

Patrick's throwbacks,

New York Knicks,

Toronto Raptors,

And most Major League Baseball teams.

The New Jersey Devils have won their green and red throwback jerseys on or around St.

Patrick's Day in recent years.

Reviews

Thank you Ben! Interesting subject but you still knocked me out!