Saint Patrick's Day: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Cultural and religious celebration on 17 March}} |
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{{Other uses}} |
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{{Infobox Holiday | |
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{{Use Hiberno-English|date=March 2022}} |
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|holiday_name=Saint Patrick's Day |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} |
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|color1=#008000 |
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{{Infobox holiday |
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|image=Chicago River dyed green, focus on river.jpg |
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| holiday_name = Saint Patrick's Day |
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|caption=The [[Chicago River]], dyed green with [[Fluorescein]] for the 2005 St. Patrick's Day celebration. |
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| type = Christian |
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|observedby=[[Irish people]]<br>[[Demographics of the Republic of Ireland|Irish citizens]]<br>[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholics]]<br>[[Church of Ireland|Anglicans]]<br>[[Western Orthodoxy |Eastern Orthodox]]<br>(St. Patrick lived prior to the [[East-West_Schism|Great Schism]])<br>Many others take part in some practices |
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| longtype = Ethnic, national, Christian |
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|date=[[March 17]] |
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| image = Kilbennan St. Benin's Church Window St. Patrick Detail 2010 09 16.jpg |
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|celebrations=[[Parade]]s<br>Wearing of [[green]] and colouring various objects green<br>Imbibing alcohol|longtype=National, Ethnic, Christian |
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| alt = A stained glass window depicts Saint Patrick dressed in a green robe with a halo about his head, holding a sham rock in his right hand and a staff in his left. <!-- The split between "sham" and "rock" is intentional. Certain screen readers enunciate "shamrock" more intelligibly when the word is split. --> |
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|type=Christian |
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| caption = Saint Patrick depicted in a [[stained-glass window]] at [[Benignus of Armagh|Saint Benin]]'s Church, Ireland |
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|significance=Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland [[feast day]] which celebrates [[Saint Patrick]], the patron saint of [[Ireland]] |
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| official_name = Saint Patrick's Day |
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| nickname = * Feast of Saint Patrick |
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* {{lang|ga|Lá Fhéile Pádraig}} |
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* Patrick's Day |
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* (St) Paddy's Day |
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* (St) Patty's Day (chiefly North America)<ref>{{cite news |title=One Irish creative agency is leading the charge against 'St. Patty's Day' |first=Doug |last=Bolton |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/st-patricks-day-2016-pattys-day-name-google-chrome-extension-a6935141.html |work=The Independent |quote=That's the thinking behind the No More Patty Google Chrome extension, created by Dublin-based creative agency in the Company of Huskies. The extension can be installed in a few clicks, and automatically replaces every online mention of the "very wrong" 'Patty' with the "absolutely right" 'Paddy'. |date=16 March 2016 |access-date=12 March 2018 |archive-date=12 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312211704/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/st-patricks-day-2016-pattys-day-name-google-chrome-extension-a6935141.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Why Some Irish People Don't Want You to Call It St. Patty's Day |first=Aric |last=Jenkins |url=https://time.com/4703066/st-patricks-day-paddys-pattys-dublin-ireland/ |magazine=Time |date=15 March 2017 |access-date=26 November 2019 |archive-date=10 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510120240/http://time.com/4703066/st-patricks-day-paddys-pattys-dublin-ireland/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Is It "St. Patrick's Day" Or "St. Patricks Day"? |work=dictionary.com |date=17 March 2021 |url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/st-patricks-day-apostrophe/ |access-date=28 March 2020 |archive-date=18 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318055949/https://www.dictionary.com/e/st-patricks-day-apostrophe/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Dublin Airport would like to remind you it's St. Paddy's Day, not St. Patty's Day |author=Jordan Valinsky. |url=https://theweek.com/speedreads/456377/dublin-airport-like-remind-st-paddys-day-not-st-pattys-day |work=The Week |date=8 January 2015 |access-date=28 March 2020 |archive-date=28 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328154635/https://theweek.com/speedreads/456377/dublin-airport-like-remind-st-paddys-day-not-st-pattys-day |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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| observedby = {{Plainlist| |
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* [[Irish people]] and people of [[Irish diaspora|Irish descent]] |
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* [[Catholic Church]] (see [[General Roman Calendar|calendar]]) |
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* [[Anglican Communion]] (see [[List of Anglican Church calendars|calendars]]) |
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* [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] (see [[Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar|calendar]]) |
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* [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]] (see [[Calendar of saints (Lutheran)|calendar]]) |
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}} |
}} |
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| duration = 1 day |
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[[Image:Ireland-St Patrick.jpg|thumbnail|190px|right|St. Patrick's Day 2004 in [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland.]] |
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| frequency = Annual |
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'''Saint Patrick's Day''' ({{lang-ga|Lá 'le Pádraig}} or ''Lá Fhéile Pádraig''), colloquially ''Paddy's Day'' or ''St. Patty's Day'', is the [[feast day]] which annually celebrates [[Saint Patrick]] (385-461), the [[patron saint]] of [[Ireland]], on [[March 17]], the day on which Saint Patrick died. |
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| scheduling = Same day each year |
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| date = 17 March |
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| observances = [[Christian procession]]s; attending [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] or [[Church service|service]] |
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| celebrations = {{Flatlist| |
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* Attending parades and a [[céilí]] |
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* Wearing green and [[Shamrock#Symbol of Ireland|shamrocks]] |
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* Drinking [[Beer in Ireland|Irish beer]] and [[Irish whiskey]] |
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}} |
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| relatedto = |
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| significance = [[Feast day]] of [[Saint Patrick]],<br />commemoration of the arrival of [[Christianity in Ireland]]<ref name="RitschelMichallon2022">{{cite web |last1=Ritschel |first1=Chelsea |last2=Michallon |first2=Clémence |title=What is the meaning behind St Patrick's Day? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/st-patricks-day-ireland-history-b2037858.html |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=17 March 2022 |language=English |date=17 March 2022 |quote=The day of celebration, which marks the day of St Patrick’s death, is a religious holiday meant to celebrate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and made official by the Catholic Church in the early 17th century. Observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church, the day was typically observed with services, feasts and alcohol.}}</ref><ref name="Ariel2018">{{cite book |last1=Ariel |first1=Shlomo |title=Multi-Dimensional Therapy with Families, Children and Adults: The Diamond Model |year= 2018 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-58794-5 |language=English |quote=In many culture, identity perception is supported by constitutive myths, traditions and rituals (e.g. the Jewish Passover, the myth of the foundation of Rome [the tale of Romulus and Remus] and St. Patrick's Day, which commemorates the arrival of Christianity to Ireland and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general).}}</ref> |
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}} |
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'''Saint Patrick's Day''', or the '''Feast of Saint Patrick''' ({{langx|ga|Lá Fhéile Pádraig|lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick}}), is a religious and cultural [[holiday]] held on 17 March, the traditional death date of [[Saint Patrick]] ({{circa|385|461}}), the foremost [[patron saint]] of [[Ireland]]. |
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Saint 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]]),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ireland.anglican.org/index.php?do=news&newsid=3496 |title=St Patrick's Day celebrations |website=Church of Ireland |publisher=The Irish Times |via=ireland.anglican.org |date=12 March 2011 |access-date=17 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515055936/http://www.ireland.anglican.org/index.php?do=news&newsid=3496 |archive-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], and the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]]. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of [[Christianity in Ireland]], and, by extension, celebrates the [[Culture of Ireland|heritage and culture of the Irish]] in general.<ref name="RitschelMichallon2022"/><ref name="Irish Culture 1">{{Cite book |title=Circles of Tradition: Folk Arts in Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |url=https://archive.org/details/circlesoftraditi00moor |url-access=registration |author=Willard Burgess Moore |year=1989 |page=[https://archive.org/details/circlesoftraditi00moor/page/52 52] |isbn=9780873512398 |quote=In nineteenth-century America it became a celebration of Irishness, more than a religious occasion, though attending Mass continues as an essential part of the day.|access-date=13 November 2010}}</ref> Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, [[céilithe]], and the wearing of green attire or [[shamrock]]s.<ref name="Irish Culture 2">{{Cite book |title=Circles of Tradition: Folk Arts in Minnesota |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press |url=https://archive.org/details/circlesoftraditi00moor |url-access=registration |author=Willard Burgess Moore |year=1989 |page=[https://archive.org/details/circlesoftraditi00moor/page/52 52] |isbn=9780873512398 |quote=The religious occasion did involve the wearing of shamrocks, an Irish symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on drinking. |access-date=13 November 2010}}</ref> Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend [[church service]]s<ref name="Irish Culture 1" /><ref name="Irish Culture 5">{{Cite book |title=Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick's Day Symbols |publisher=Sandpiper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FleEqDJZD8C&pg=PA7 |first=Edna |last=Barth |year=2001 |page=7 |isbn=0618096515 |quote=For most Irish-Americans, this holiday (from holy day) is partially religious but overwhelmingly festive. For most Irish people in Ireland the day has little to do with religion at all and St. Patrick's Day church services are followed by parades and parties, the latter being the best attended. The festivities are marked by Irish music, songs, and dances. |access-date=13 November 2010 |archive-date=21 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121192012/https://books.google.com/books?id=7FleEqDJZD8C&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref>. Historically, the [[Lenten]] restrictions [[Christian fasting|on eating]] and [[Christianity and alcohol|drinking alcohol]] were lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of mass alcohol consumption.<ref name="Irish Culture 1" /><ref name="Irish Culture 2" /><ref name="Irish Culture 3">{{Cite book |title=Multiculturalism's Double-Bind |first=John |last=Nagle |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-754-67607-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-HhnQEACAAJ |quote=Like many other forms of carnival, St. Patrick's Day is a feast day, a break from Lent in which adherents are allowed to temporarily abandon rigorous fasting by indulging the forbidden. Since alcohol is often proscribed during Lent the copious consumption of alcohol is seen as an integral part of St. Patrick's day. |access-date=13 November 2010 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819064358/https://books.google.com/books?id=f-HhnQEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Irish Culture 4">{{Cite book |title=Communion of Immigrants: A History of Catholics in America |author=James Terence Fisher |date=2007 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199842254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=voeg2IjM4YAC&pg=PA88 |quote=The 40-day period (not counting Sundays) prior to Easter is known as Lent, a time of prayer and fasting. Pastors of Irish-American parishes often supplied "dispensations" for St. Patrick s Day, enabling parishioners to forego Lenten sacrifices in order to celebrate the feast of their patron saint. |access-date=13 November 2010 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006103354/https://books.google.com/books?id=voeg2IjM4YAC&pg=PA88 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The day is the [[national holiday]] of the [[Irish people]]. It is a [[bank holiday]] in [[Northern Ireland]], and a [[public holidays in the Republic of Ireland|public holiday]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]], [[Montserrat]], and the [[Provinces of Canada|Canadian province]] of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]. In [[Great Britain]], the [[United States]], |
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[[Australia]] and the rest of [[Canada]], it is widely celebrated but is not an official holiday. |
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Saint Patrick's Day is a [[public holiday]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Public holidays in Ireland |publisher=Citizens Information Board |quote=There is only one place outside of Ireland that celebrates St. Patrick's Day as a national public holiday: the island of Montserrat. The small pear-shaped island is about 40 square miles and is located just south of Antigua. It's known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean. |url=http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/public_holidays_in_ireland.html |access-date=13 November 2010 |archive-date=17 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117072632/http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/public_holidays_in_ireland.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Northern Ireland]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Bank holidays |publisher=NI Direct |url=http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/government-citizens-and-rights/living-in-northern-ireland/bank-holidays.htm |access-date=13 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122114013/http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/government-citizens-and-rights/living-in-northern-ireland/bank-holidays.htm |archive-date=22 November 2010 }}</ref> 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]],<ref>{{cite web | last=Ritschel | first=Chelsea | title=St Patrick's Day 2019: When is it and where can I celebrate? | website=The Independent | date=17 March 2019 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/st-patricks-day-2019-when-where-events-history-fancy-dress-costume-a8818061.html | access-date=26 November 2019 | archive-date=23 April 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423230741/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/st-patricks-day-2019-when-where-events-history-fancy-dress-costume-a8818061.html | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Canada]], [[United States]], [[Argentina]], [[Australia]], [[South Africa]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dfa.ie/irish-embassy/south-africa/our-role/irish-community/st-patricks-day/|title=St Patrick's Day – Department of Foreign Affairs|website=www.dfa.ie}}</ref> and [[New Zealand]], especially amongst [[Irish diaspora]]. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other [[National Day|national festival]].{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=242|ps=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5TYHqrao2PwC&pg=SL26-PA42]}} 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 Saint Patrick's Day celebrations for having become too commercialised and for fostering negative stereotypes of the Irish people.<ref>{{cite web | last=Varin | first=Andra | title=The Americanization of St. Patrick's Day | work=ABC News | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91823 | access-date=17 March 2020 | archive-date=17 April 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417133943/https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=91823 | url-status=live }}</ref> |
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It became a feast day in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] due to the influence of the [[Waterford]]-born [[Franciscan]] scholar [[Luke Wadding]], as a member of the commission for the reform of the Breviary <ref>{{cite web|title=''The Catholic Encyclopedia: Luke Wadding''|accessdate=15 February|accessyear=2007|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15521d.htm}}</ref> in the early part of the 17th century. |
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==Saint Patrick== |
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{{Main|Saint Patrick}} |
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Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the ''Declaration'', which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in [[Roman Britain]] in the fourth 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 sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to [[Gaelic Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.ii.html |title=Confession of St. Patrick |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College |access-date=10 March 2010 |archive-date=16 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216091245/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.ii.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he [[religious conversion|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 on to become a priest.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Bridgwater |editor1-first=William |editor2-last=Kurtz |editor2-first=Seymour |year=1963 |chapter=Saint Patrick |title=The Columbia Encyclopedia |edition=3rd |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=1611–12}}</ref> |
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== History == |
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According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the [[Celtic polytheism|pagan]] Irish to Christianity. The ''Declaration'' says that he spent many years evangelising in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands. |
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Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born, probably in Roman Britain, about AD 385, and was originally called Maewyn. |
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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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/140315-saint-patricks-day-2014-snakes-ireland-nation |title=Did St. Patrick Really Drive Snakes Out of Ireland? |last=Owen |first=James |date=15 March 2014 |publisher=[[National Geographic]] |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318031847/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/140315-saint-patricks-day-2014-snakes-ireland-nation |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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At the age of 16, he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. Having been a pagan before, he became closer to Christianity during his captivity. |
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Tradition holds that he died on 17 March and was buried at [[Downpatrick]]. Over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint. |
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He escaped from slavery after six years and went to Gaul where he studied in the monastery under St. Germain, bishop of Auxerre for a period of twelve years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity. |
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==Celebration and traditions== |
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He wished to return to Ireland and to convert the native pagans to Christianity, but his superiors instead appointed [[Palladius|St. Palladius]]. However, two years later Palladius transferred to Scotland. Patrick, having adopted that Christian name earlier, was then appointed as second bishop to Ireland. |
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[[File:Traditional-irish-stipatricksidayibadges.jpg|thumb|Traditional Saint Patrick's Day badges from the early 20th century, [[Museum of Country Life]] in [[County Mayo]]]] |
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[[File:Irish clover.jpg|thumb|upright|According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved [[shamrock]] to explain the [[Holy Trinity]] to [[Ancient Celtic religion|Irish pagans]].]] |
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[[File:Sydney Opera House on St. Patrick's Day (41260243671).jpg|thumb|Sydney Opera House lit up green in honour of Saint Patrick in [[Sydney]], Australia]] |
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Present day Saint 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, Saint Patrick's Day was often a bigger celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=242|ps=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5TYHqrao2PwC&pg=SL26-PA42]}} |
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Patrick was quite successful at winning converts which upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity. |
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Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions ([[céilidh|céilithe]]), and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.<ref name="Irish Culture 2"/> There are also formal gatherings such as banquets and dances, although these were more common in the past. Saint Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century but did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=xxiii}} The participants generally include marching bands, the military, fire brigades, cultural organisations, charitable organisations, [[voluntary association]]s, [[Youth organization|youth groups]], [[Fraternity|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 1 March to St Patrick's Day on 17 March is Seachtain na Gaeilge ("[[Seachtain na Gaeilge|Irish language week]]").<ref>{{Cite web|title=Seachtain na Gaeilge – 1 – 17 MARCH 2021|url=https://snag.ie/|access-date=17 March 2021|language=Irish|archive-date=10 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310110330/https://snag.ie/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17 in AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. |
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Since 2010, famous landmarks have been lit up in green on Saint Patrick's Day as part of [[Tourism Ireland]]'s "Global Greening Initiative" or "Going Green for St Patrick's Day".<ref>St Patrick's Day: Globe Goes Green. (17 March 2018). [[BBC News]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019.</ref><ref>The World Goes Green for St Patrick's Day. (16 March 2018) [[RTE News]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> The [[Sydney Opera House]] and the [[Sky Tower (Auckland)|Sky Tower]] in [[Auckland]] were the first landmarks to participate and since then over 300 landmarks in fifty countries across the globe have gone green for Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>Global Greening Campaign 2018. (2018) [[Tourism Ireland]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref><ref>Ó Conghaile, Pól. (16 March 2018). Green Lights: See the Landmarks Going Green for St Patrick's Day!. [[Independent.ie]] Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> |
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Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day. Some of this lore includes the belief that Patrick raised people from the dead<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mallow.ie/newsevents/story.php?u=1173866422&i=350 |title=St. Patrick's Day Parade, Mallow, 17th. March 2007|accessdate=2007-03-16|publisher='Mallow Tourist Office'' }}</ref>.He also is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland, although paleontologists have pointed out that no snakes were ever native to Ireland<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/NewsEvents/irelandsnakes.cfm |title=Why Ireland has no snakes |accessdate=2007-03-16|publisher=''national zoo'' }}</ref>. (In response, some scholars say the snake story was a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans.) Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. |
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Christians may also attend [[church service]]s,<ref name="Irish Culture 1" /><ref name="Irish Culture 5"/> and the [[Lenten]] restrictions [[Christian fasting|on eating]] and [[Christianity and alcohol|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.<ref name="Irish Culture 1" /><ref name="Irish Culture 2" /><ref name="Irish Culture 3" /><ref name="Irish Culture 4"/> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How is St. Patrick's Day Celebrated in Ireland in 2024? |url=https://www.travellertoday.com/best-places-celebrate-st-patricks-day/ |author=Lucy Price |date=18 January 2024 |access-date=19 January 2024 |website=www.travellertoday.com |language=en}}</ref> The Saint 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 (honor)|toast]] to Saint Patrick, Ireland, or those present. The shamrock would either be swallowed with the drink or taken out and tossed over the shoulder for good luck. {{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=26}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Santino|first=Jack|title=All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life |year=1995|publisher=University of Illinois Press|page=82}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Donal |last=Hickey |url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/donal-hickey/the-facts-about-shamrock-262195.html |title=The facts about shamrock |work=[[Irish Examiner]] |date=17 March 2014 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312072313/http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/donal-hickey/the-facts-about-shamrock-262195.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. This stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day. |
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Irish Government ministers travel abroad on official visits to various countries around Saint Patrick's Day to promote Ireland.<ref>[https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/03/09/how-st-patricks-day-celebrations-went-global How St Patrick's Day Celebrations Went Global] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109011907/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/03/09/how-st-patricks-day-celebrations-went-global |date=9 January 2019 }} (9 March 2018) [[The Economist]] Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref><ref>Doyle, Kevin. (16 January 2018). [https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/st-patricks-day-exodus-to-see-ministers-travel-to-35-countries-36495240.html St Patrick's Day Exodus to See Ministers Travel to 35 Countries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108202901/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/st-patricks-day-exodus-to-see-ministers-travel-to-35-countries-36495240.html |date=8 January 2019 }}. [[Irish Independent]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> |
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The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737, the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated, in Boston, Massachusetts. |
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===Wearing green and shamrocks=== |
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Today, people celebrate the day with parades, wearing green, and drinking beer<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mallow.ie/newsevents/story.php?u=1173866422&i=350 |title=St. Patrick's Day Parade, Mallow, 17th. March 2007|accessdate=2007-03-16|publisher='Mallow Tourist Office'' }}</ref>. |
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[[File:"The Wearing of the Green.".jpg|thumb|upright|A Saint Patrick's Day greeting card from 1907]] |
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On Saint Patrick's Day, it is customary to wear [[shamrock]]s, green clothing or green accessories. Saint Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the [[Holy Trinity]] to the [[Celtic polytheism|pagan Irish]].<ref name="natgeo">{{cite web |first=Jennifer |last=Vernon |date=15 March 2004 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0312_040312_stpatrick_2.html |title=St. Patrick's Day: Fact vs. Fiction |website=National Geographic News |page=2 |access-date=31 March 2009 |archive-date=2 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202063415/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0312_040312_stpatrick_2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Jill |last=Newell |url=http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/spring00/news/v7n91-holiday.html |title=Holiday has history |work=Daily Forty-Niner |date=16 March 2000 |volume=7 |issue=91 |access-date=21 March 2009 |archive-date=16 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316052428/http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/spring00/news/v7n91-holiday.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This 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 deity|triple deities]], which may have aided St Patrick in his [[evangelism|evangelisation]] efforts.<ref name="Monaghan2009">{{cite book|last=Monaghan|first=Patricia|title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-438-11037-0 |quote=There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts in any way. However, the Celts had a philosophical and cosmological vision of triplicity, with many of their divinities appearing in three. Thus when St Patrick, attempting to convert the Druids on Beltane, held up a shamrock and discoursed on the Christian Trinity, the three-in-one god, he was doing more than finding a homely symbol for a complex religious concept. He was indicating knowledge of the significance of three in the Celtic realm, a knowledge that probably made his mission far easier and more successful than if he had been unaware of that number's meaning.}}</ref><ref name="Hegarty2012">{{cite book|last=Hegarty|first=Neil|title=Story of Ireland|date=24 April 2012|publisher=Ebury Publishing |isbn=978-1-448-14039-8 |quote=In some ways, though, the Christian mission resonated: pre-Christian devotion was characterized by, for example, the worship of gods in groups of three, by sayings collected in threes (triads), and so on – from all of which the concept of the Holy Trinity was not so very far removed. Against this backdrop the myth of Patrick and his three-leafed shamrock fits quite neatly.}}</ref> Roger Homan writes, "We can perhaps see St Patrick drawing upon the visual concept of the ''[[Triple spiral|triskele]]'' when he uses the shamrock to explain the Trinity".<ref>{{cite book|last=Homan|first=Roger|title=The Art of the Sublime: Principles of Christian Art and Architecture|year=2006|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|page=37}}</ref> [[Patricia Monaghan]] says there is no evidence the shamrock was sacred to the pagan Irish.<ref name="Monaghan2009" /> [[Jack Santino]] speculates that it may have represented the regenerative powers of nature, and was recast in a Christian context{{nsmdns}}[[icon]]s of Saint Patrick often depict the saint "with a [[Christian cross|cross]] in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other".<ref name="Santino1995">{{cite book|last=Santino|first=Jack|title=All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life|year=1995|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-06516-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/allaroundyear00jack/page/80 80]|url=https://archive.org/details/allaroundyear00jack/page/80}}</ref> |
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The first association of the colour green with Ireland is from a legend in the 11th century ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). It tells of [[Goídel Glas]] (Goídel the green), the [[eponymous ancestor]] of the [[Gaels]] and creator of the [[Goidelic languages]] ([[Irish language|Irish]], [[Scottish Gaelic]], [[Manx language|Manx]]).<ref name=Koch2005/><ref name=MacKillop2005/> Goídel is bitten by a venomous snake but saved from death by [[Moses]] placing his staff on the snakebite, leaving him with a green mark. His descendants settle in Ireland, a land free of snakes.<ref name=Macalister1939/> One of the first, [[Milesians (Irish)|Íth]], visits Ireland after climbing the [[Tower of Hercules]] and being captivated by the sight of a beautiful green island in the distance.<ref name=Koch2005/><ref name=MacKillop2005/><ref name=Macalister1939/> |
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==Celebration overview== |
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Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide by [[Irish people]] and increasingly by many of non-Irish descent (usually in the US and Ireland), hence the phrase, "Everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day." Celebrations are generally themed around all things green and Irish; both [[Christianity|Christians]] and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing [[green]], eating [[Irish cuisine|Irish food]], imbibing Irish drink, and attending parades. |
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The colour green was further associated with Ireland from the 1640s, when the [[Flag and coat of arms of Leinster|green harp flag]] was used by the [[Confederate Ireland|Irish Catholic Confederation]]. Later, [[James Connolly]] described this flag as representing "the sacred emblem of Ireland's unconquered soul".<ref>Phelan, Rachel, (May/June 2016). [https://www.historyireland.com/volume-24/james-connollys-green-flag-ireland/ "James Connolly's ‘Green Flag of Ireland'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111175128/https://www.historyireland.com/volume-24/james-connollys-green-flag-ireland/ |date=11 November 2020 }} [[History Ireland]] Vol. 24 Issue 3, pp. 8–9. Retrieved from History Ireland on 26 March 2018</ref> Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on Saint Patrick's Day since at least the 1680s.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002}} Since then, the colour green and its association with St Patrick's Day have grown.<ref name="history.com">{{Cite video |url=http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/videos#green |title=St. Patrick: Why Green? – video |publisher=A&E Television Networks |website=History.com |access-date=17 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307170353/http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/videos |archive-date=7 March 2010 }}</ref> The Friendly Brothers of St Patrick, an Irish [[fraternity]] founded in about 1750,<ref>Kelly, James. ''That Damn'd Thing Called Honour: Duelling in Ireland, 1570–1860''. Cork University Press, 1995. p.65</ref> adopted green as its colour.<ref>''The Fundamental Laws, Statutes and Constitutions of the Ancient Order of the Friendly Brothers of Saint Patrick''. 1751.</ref> The [[Order of St Patrick]], an Anglo-Irish [[chivalric order]] founded in 1783, instead adopted blue as its colour, which led to blue being [[St. Patrick's blue|associated with Saint Patrick]]. In the 1790s, the colour green was adopted by the [[United Irishmen]]. This was a [[Irish republicanism|republican]] organisation—founded mostly by Protestants but with many Catholic members—who launched a [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|rebellion in 1798]] against British rule. Ireland was first called "the Emerald Isle" in "When Erin 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.<ref>Drennan, William. [https://www.libraryireland.com/CIL/DrennanErin.php When Ireland First Rose] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205154813/https://www.libraryireland.com/CIL/DrennanErin.php |date=5 February 2021 }}. in Charles A. Reed (ed.) (1884) The Cabinet of Irish Literature. Volume 2. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via Library Ireland</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Maye|first=Brian|date=3 February 2020|title=Star of the 'Emerald Isle' – An Irishman's Diary on William Drennan|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/star-of-the-emerald-isle-an-irishman-s-diary-on-william-drennan-1.4160503|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=5 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205143053/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/star-of-the-emerald-isle-an-irishman-s-diary-on-william-drennan-1.4160503|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Langan |first=Sheila |date=13 June 2017 |title=How did Ireland come to be called the Emerald Isle? Ireland's resplendent greenery played a big part, of course, in earning it the nickname the Emerald Isle but there's more to the story. |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/how-did-ireland-come-to-be-called-the-emerald-isle |work=IrishCentral |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208034001/https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/how-did-ireland-come-to-be-called-the-emerald-isle |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 January 2021 |title=When Erin First Rose, Irish poem |url=http://ireland-calling.com/william-drennan-when-erin-first-rose/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |archive-date=16 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116170257/http://ireland-calling.com/william-drennan-when-erin-first-rose/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> The phrase "wearing of the green" comes from a [[The Wearing of the Green|song of the same name]] about United Irishmen being persecuted for wearing green. The [[List of flags of Ireland#Political flags|flags]] of the [[Easter Rising|1916 Easter Rising]] featured green, such as the [[Starry Plough (flag)|Starry Plough banner]] and the [[Irish Republic|Proclamation Flag of the Irish Republic]]. When the [[Irish Free State]] was founded in 1922, the government ordered all [[Pillar box#Ireland|post boxes]] be painted green, with the slogan "green paint for a green people";<ref name=Ferguson2016>{{cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Stephen |year=2016 |title=The Post Office in Ireland: An Illustrated History |page=226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hV1mDwAAQBAJ&q=green+irish+post+box&pg=PT339 |location=Newbridge: Co Kildare |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=9781911024323 |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519151109/https://books.google.com/books?id=hV1mDwAAQBAJ&q=green+irish+post+box&pg=PT339 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Harrison |first=Bernice |date=18 March 2017 |title=Design Moment: Green post box, c1922: What to do with all those bloody red Brit boxes dotting the Free State? Paint 'em green |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/interiors/design-moment-green-post-box-c1922-1.3004436 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112003532/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/interiors/design-moment-green-post-box-c1922-1.3004436 |url-status=live }}</ref> in 1924, the government introduced a green [[Irish passport]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Fanning|first=Mary|date=12 November 1984|title=Green Passport Goes Burgendy 1984: New Passports for European Member States Will Have a Common Look and Format|url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/1024/1085411-new-european-passport/|work=[[RTÉ Libraries and Archives|RTE News Archives]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=26 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126070731/https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/1024/1085411-new-european-passport/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="EUED">[https://books.google.com/books?id=NU07cD6NEJQC&dq=eec+resolution+passport+burgundy+january+1985&pg=PA63 The European Union Encyclopedia and Directory] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208032351/https://books.google.es/books?id=NU07cD6NEJQC&pg=PA63&dq=eec+resolution+passport+burgundy+january+1985&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG0Y3Iu_TpAhXiz4UKHSY_DNcQ6AEISDAD#v=onepage&q=eec%20resolution%20passport%20burgundy%20january%201985&f=false |date=8 February 2021 }}. (1999). 3rd Ed. p63 {{ISBN|9781857430561}}.</ref><ref |
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The St. Patrick's Day parade in [[Dublin, Ireland]] is part of a five-day festival; over 500,000 people attended the 2006 parade. The largest St. Patrick's Day parade is held in [[New York City]] and it is watched by 2 million spectators. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held in Boston in 1737, organized by the Charitable Irish Society. New York's celebration began on [[17 March]], [[1766]] when Irish soldiers marched through the city. Ireland's cities all hold their own parades and festivals. These cities include [[Dublin]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Belfast]], [[Derry]], [[Galway]], [[Kilkenny]], [[Limerick]], and [[Waterford]]. [[Parade]]s also take place in other Irish towns and villages. |
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name="EURes1981">[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:41981X0919&from=EN Resolution of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Communities, Meeting Within the Council of 23 June 1981] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715155510/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:41981X0919&from=EN |date=15 July 2020 }}. Official Journal of the European Communities. C 241. also [https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:41981X0919:EN:HTML EUR-Lex - 41981X0919 - EN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401132739/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:41981X0919:EN:HTML |date=1 April 2019 }}</ref> |
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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 cross|Celtic Christian cross]] made of paper that was "covered with silk or ribbon of different colours, and a bunch or rosette of green silk in the centre".{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=25–26|ps=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5TYHqrao2PwC&pg=PA25]}} |
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Other large parades include those in [[Savannah, Georgia]] ([http://www.savannahsaintpatricksday.com/ the second largest in the United States and largest per capita]), [[Dallas]], [[Cleveland]], [[Manchester]], [[Birmingham]], [[London]], [[Coatbridge]], [[Montreal]] (the longest continually running St. Patrick's Day parade, celebrating its 183rd consecutive parade in 2007), [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Houston]], [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]],[http://www.cincinnatisaintpatrickparade.netfirms.com/][[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Indianapolis]], [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]], [[Detroit]], [[Toronto]], [[Vancouver]], Syracuse, New York (the largest parade in the United States), Pearl River ([http://rockland-aoh-parade.com/ The second largest in New York State]), and throughout most of the world. The parade held in [[Sydney, Australia]] is recorded as being the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. |
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==Ireland== |
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As well as being a celebration of Irish culture, Saint Patrick's Day is a Christian festival celebrated in the Catholic Church, the [[Church of Ireland]], and some other denominations. The day always falls in the season of [[Lent]]. In church calendars (though rarely in secular ones) Saint Patrick's Day is moved to the following Monday when it falls on a Sunday. It is traditional for those observing a [[Lent#Fasting and abstinence|lenten fast]] to break it for the duration of Saint Patrick's Day whenever March 17 falls on a Friday.<ref name=hist>[http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/?page=history "The History of the Holiday." History Channel.] (URL accessed March 15, 2006)</ref> |
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=== History === |
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Saint Patrick's [[feast day]], as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries.<ref>Liam de Paor: ''St. Patrick's World, The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age.'' Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1993</ref> Saint 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]].<ref>{{cite web|title=''The Catholic Encyclopedia: Luke Wadding''|access-date=15 February 2007|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15521d.htm|archive-date=17 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717232455/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15521d.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Saint 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]]. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this requirement, when 17 March falls during [[Holy Week]]. This happened in 1940, when Saint Patrick's Day was officially observed on 3 April to avoid it coinciding with [[Palm Sunday]], and again in 2008, where it was officially observed on 15 March.<ref>[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/9917/irish-bishops-move-st-patricks-day-2008-over-conflict-with-holy-week "Irish bishops move St. Patrick's Day 2008 over conflict with Holy Week"], ''Catholic News''</ref> Saint Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160.<ref>{{Cite news|title=St. Patrick's Day, Catholic Church march to different drummers|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-03-05-stpatrick_N.htm|work=USA Today|access-date=11 March 2008|date=6 March 2008|first=G. Jeffrey|last=MacDonald|archive-date=10 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310032319/http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-03-05-stpatrick_N.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=194136 |title=No St. Pat's Day Mass allowed in Holy Week |access-date=13 March 2008 |author=Nevans-Pederson, Mary |date=13 March 2008 |work=Dubuque Telegraph Herald |publisher=Woodward Communications, Inc. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016055134/http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=194136 |archive-date=16 October 2008 }}</ref> However, the popular festivities may still be held on 17 March or on a weekend near to the feast day.<ref>{{cite web|title=St. Patrick's Day|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|date=17 March 2021|url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day}}</ref> |
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Saint Patrick's was perceived as the middle day of [[Spring (season)|spring]] in the [[Irish calendar]]. People expected that weather would be improved following the festival, and farmers would begin planting potato.<ref name="Danaher">Danaher, Kevin (1972) ''The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs'' Dublin, Mercier. {{ISBN|1-85635-093-2}} p. 58-66</ref> |
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In many parts of North America, Britain, and Australia [[expatriate]] Irish, those of Irish descent, and ever-growing crowds of people with no Irish connections but who may proclaim themselves "Irish for a day" also celebrate St. Patrick's Day, usually by drinking larger amounts of alcoholic beverages (lager dyed green, Irish [[beer]] and [[stout]], such as [[Murphys (beer)|Murphys]], [[Smithwicks]], [[Harp (lager)|Harp]] or [[Guinness]], or [[Irish whiskey]], Irish [[cider]], [[Irish coffee]], or [[Baileys Irish Cream]]) than they probably would normally, and by wearing at least one article of green-coloured clothing. |
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== Modern era == |
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2007 will mark the first annual St. Patrick's Day parade and festival in the [[Scotland|Scottish]] city of [[Glasgow]]. Despite [[Glasgow]] having a large [[Irish]] community a parade was never thought feasible due to potential sectarian issues, however hopes are that this will no longer be the case and the event will be celebrated without any trouble. |
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[[File:WILD FOLK BY BUI BOLG FROM WEXFORD -ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE IN DUBLIN - 17 MARCH 2019--150353 (47413724761).jpg|thumb|Buí Bolg at the [[St. Patrick’s Day]] parade in [[Dublin]]]] |
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[[File:ST. PATRICK'S SPIRE OF LIGHT ON O'CONNELL STREET IN DUBLIN REF-102056 (16650284488).jpg|thumb|Dublin's [[General Post Office, Dublin|General Post Office]] and the Spire on O'Connell Street on Saint Patrick's Day]] |
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In 1903, Saint 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]].<ref name="omara1">{{cite web |url=http://humphrysfamilytree.com/OMara/james.html |title=James O'Mara |publisher=HumphrysFamilyTree.com |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=26 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140326112636/http://humphrysfamilytree.com/OMara/james.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The first Saint 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 Saint 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 15 March. The procession comprised the Mayor and members of Waterford Corporation, the Trades Hall, the various trade unions and bands who included the 'Barrack St Band' and the '[[Thomas Francis Meagher]] Band'.<ref>Munster Express, 14 March 1903 {{full citation needed|date=March 2018}}</ref> The parade began at the premises of the Gaelic League in George's St and finished in the Peoples Park, where the public were addressed by the Mayor and other dignitaries.<ref name="munster express">Munster Express, 21 March 1903, p.3{{full citation needed|date=March 2018}}</ref><ref>Waterford Chronicle, 18 March 1903{{full citation needed|date=March 2018}}</ref> On Tuesday 17 March, most Waterford businesses—including public houses—were closed and marching bands paraded as they had two days previously.<ref>Waterford News, 20 March 1903{{full citation needed|date=March 2018}}</ref> |
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==Recent History== |
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In the recent past, Saint Patrick's Day was celebrated only as a religious holiday. It became a public holiday in [[1903]], by the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903, an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament introduced by the Irish MP [[James O'Mara]]<ref name="omara1">http://humphrysfamilytree.com/OMeara/james.html</ref>. O'Mara later introduced the law which required that pubs be closed on March 17<ref name="omara2">http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/eppi/ref13991.html</ref>, a provision which was repealed only in the 1970s. The first St. Patrick's Day parade held in the [[Irish Free State]] was held in [[Dublin]] in 1931 and was reviewed by the then Minister of Defence [[Desmond Fitzgerald]]. Although secular celebrations now exist, the holiday is still a religious observance in some areas. |
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On Saint Patrick's Day 1916, the [[Irish Volunteers]]—an Irish nationalist paramilitary organisation—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.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=105}} 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]] and [[Irish Civil War|Civil War]]. During this time, Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland were muted, although the day was sometimes chosen to hold large political rallies.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=108}} |
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It was only in the mid-1990s that the Irish government began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.<ref name=hist/> The government set up a group called St. Patrick's Festival, with the aim to: |
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:''—Offer a national festival that ranks amongst all of the greatest celebrations in the world and promote excitement throughout Ireland via innovation, creativity, grassroots involvement, and marketing activity.'' |
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:''—Provide the opportunity and motivation for people of Irish descent, (and those who sometimes wish they were Irish) to attend and join in the imaginative and expressive celebrations.'' |
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:''—Project, internationally, an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal, as we approach the new millennium.''<ref name=festival> [http://www.stpatricksday.ie/cms/history_stpatricksday.html "St. Patrick's Day." St. Patrick's Festival.] (URL accessed March 17, 2006)</ref> |
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The celebrations remained low-key after the creation of the [[Irish Free State]]; the only state-organized observance was a military procession and [[Trooping the colours|trooping of the colours]], and an Irish-language [[Mass (Catholic Church)|mass]] attended by government ministers.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=134}} In 1927, the Irish Free State government [[Prohibition|banned the selling of alcohol]] on St Patrick's Day, although it remained legal in Northern Ireland. The ban was not repealed until 1961.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=135–136}} |
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The first Saint Patrick's Festival was held on March 17, 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2000 was a four-day event. By 2006, the festival was five days long. |
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The first official, state-sponsored Saint Patrick's Day parade in [[Dublin]] took place in 1931.<ref>Armao, Frederic. "The Color Green in Ireland: Ecological Mythology and the Recycling of Identity". ''Environmental Issues in Political Discourse in Britain and Ireland''. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. p. 184</ref> Public St Patrick's Day festivities in Ireland have been cancelled three times, all for public health reasons.<ref>Kelly, Fiach, Wall, Martin, & Cullen, Paul (9 March 2020). [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/coronavirus-three-new-irish-cases-confirmed-as-st-patrick-s-day-parades-cancelled-1.4197325 Coronavirus: Three New Irish Cases Confirmed as St Patrick's Day Parades Cancelled] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309224934/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/coronavirus-three-new-irish-cases-confirmed-as-st-patrick-s-day-parades-cancelled-1.4197325 |date=9 March 2020 }}. [[The Irish Times]]. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>[[The New York Times]]. (9 March 2020). [https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/09/world/europe/09reuters-health-coronavirus-ireland.html Ireland Cancels St. Patrick's Day Parades, Sets Aside Coronavirus Funds]{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2020. [https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/ireland-cancels-st-patricks-day-parades-sets-aside-coronavirus-funds Alternate Link] Retrieved 17 March 2023.</ref> In 2001, celebrations were postponed to May due to the [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak|foot-and-mouth outbreak]],<ref>[[RTE News]]. (2016). [https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0418/782638-st-patricks-day-in-may/ St Patrick's Day In May] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218155751/https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0418/782638-st-patricks-day-in-may/ |date=18 December 2019 }}. [[RTÉ Libraries and Archives|RTE Archives]]. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>[[CNN]]. (18 May 2001). [https://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/18/saint.patrick/index.html Late St. Patrick's Day for Ireland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909210528/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/18/saint.patrick/index.html |date=9 September 2019 }}. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>Reid, Lorna. (2 March 2001) [https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/st-patricks-day-parade-postponed-26092049.html St Patrick's Day Parade 'Postponed'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420223404/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/st-patricks-day-parade-postponed-26092049.html |date=20 April 2020 }} [[Irish Independent]]. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref> while in 2020 and 2021 they were cancelled outright due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>BBC News. (9 March 2020). [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51806551 Coronavirus: Irish St Patrick's Day Parades Cancelled] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501174913/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51806551 |date=1 May 2020 }}. [[BBC News]]. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>Bain, Mark. (9 March 2020). [https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/coronavirus-dublin-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-as-belfast-council-considers-own-event-39028475.html Coronavirus: Dublin St Patrick's Day Parade Cancelled as Belfast Council Considers Own Event.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310231347/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/coronavirus-dublin-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-as-belfast-council-considers-own-event-39028475.html |date=10 March 2020 }} [[Belfast Telegraph]] Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>[[RTE News]]. (9 March 2020). [https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0309/1121215-patricks-day-parades/ What is cancelled and what is going ahead on St Patrick's Day?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310211048/https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2020/0309/1121215-patricks-day-parades/ |date=10 March 2020 }}. RTE News. Retrieved 9 March 2020.</ref><ref>O'Loughlin, Ciara. (20 January 2021). [https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/national-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-for-second-year-in-a-row-39989631.html National St Patrick's Day parade cancelled for second year in a row] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121102022/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/national-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-for-second-year-in-a-row-39989631.html |date=21 January 2021 }} [[Irish Independent]]. Retrieved 2 February 2021.</ref><ref>[[RTE News]]. (20 January 2021). [https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0120/1190884-st-patricks-festival/ St Patrick's Festival Dublin parade cancelled for second year] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210204215509/https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0120/1190884-st-patricks-festival/ |date=4 February 2021 }} RTE News. Retrieved 2 February 2021.</ref><ref>Bowers, Shauna. (20 January 2021). [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/st-patrick-s-day-parade-cancelled-for-second-year-in-a-row-due-to-covid-19-1.4463077 St Patrick's Day parade cancelled for second year in a row due to Covid-19] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123234455/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/st-patrick-s-day-parade-cancelled-for-second-year-in-a-row-due-to-covid-19-1.4463077 |date=23 January 2021 }} [[The Irish Times]]. Retrieved 2 February 2021.</ref><ref>[[BBC News]] (20 January 2021). [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55732899 Covid-19: St Patrick's Day Dublin parade cancelled for second year] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126124022/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55732899 |date=26 January 2021 }}. BBC News. Retrieved 2 February 2021.</ref> |
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The topic of the 2004 St. Patrick's Symposium was "Talking Irish," during which the nature of Irish identity, economic success, and the future were discussed. Since 1996, there has been a greater emphasis on celebrating and projecting a fluid and inclusive notion of "Irishness" rather than an identity based around traditional religious or ethnic allegiance. The week around Saint Patrick's Day usually involves [[Irish language|Irish]] speakers using more Irish during ''seachtain na Gaeilge'' ("Irish Week"). |
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[[File:St Patricks Day Inter Church Procession, Downpatrick, March 2010 (03).JPG|thumb|A Saint Patrick's Day [[Christian procession]] in [[Downpatrick]], where Saint Patrick is said to be buried]] |
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[[Image:Irish clover.jpg|150px|thumb|right|[[Shamrock]] ("three-leaf clover")]] |
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In [[Northern Ireland]], the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day was affected by sectarian divisions.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=175–177}} A majority of the population were [[Ulster Protestants|Protestant]] [[Unionism in Ireland|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.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=175–177}} During the conflict known as [[the Troubles]] (late 1960s–late 1990s), public St Patrick's Day celebrations were rare and tended to be associated with the Catholic community.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=175–177}} In 1976, [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists]] [[Hillcrest Bar bombing|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 're-claim' the festival, and in 1985 the [[Orange Order]] held its own Saint Patrick's Day parade.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=175–177}} 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.{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |pp=175–177}} |
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Many Irish people still wear a bunch of [[shamrock]]s on their lapels or caps on this day or green, white, and orange badges (after the colours of the [[Flag of Ireland|Irish flag]]). Girls and boys wear green in their hair. Artists draw [[shamrock]] designs on people's [[cheek]]s as a cultural sign, including American tourists. |
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In the mid-1990s the government of the [[Republic of Ireland]] began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.<ref name=hist>{{cite web |url=http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/?page=history |title=The History of the Holiday |publisher=A&E Television Networks |website=The History Channel |access-date=17 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060807060038/http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/?page=history |archive-date=7 August 2006 }}</ref> 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".<ref name=festival>{{cite web |url=http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/index.php/about |title=St. Patrick's Festival was established by the Government of Ireland in November 1995 |access-date=20 March 2012 |work=St. Patrick's Festival |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312093104/http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/index.php/about |archive-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> The first Saint 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 theatre performances, and fireworks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day-facts/videos#history-of-st-patricks-day |title=St. Patrick's Day Facts Video |publisher=A&E Television Networks |website=History.com |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-date=8 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908105026/http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day-facts/videos#history-of-st-patricks-day |url-status=live }}</ref> From 2006 to 2012 the [[Skyfest]] formed the centrepiece of the Saint Patrick's Festival.<ref>Heffernan, Breda. (13 February 2008) [https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/st-patricks-skyfest-to-rock-at-cashel-26423012.html St Patrick's Skyfest to Rock at Cashel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108201046/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/st-patricks-skyfest-to-rock-at-cashel-26423012.html |date=8 January 2019 }}. [[Irish Independent]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref><ref>[https://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/disappointment-over-skyfest-31090873.html Disappointment over Skyfest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108201212/https://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/disappointment-over-skyfest-31090873.html |date=8 January 2019 }} (24 March 2015) [[Wexford People]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> |
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Although Saint Patrick's Day has the colour green as its theme, one little known fact is that blue was once the colour associated with this day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ottawaplus.ca/feature/st_patrick/103/history_lore.jsp |title=The History of St. Patrick's Day |accessdate=2007-03-16|publisher='Ottawa Plus'' }}</ref> |
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The week around Saint Patrick's Day is ''[[Seachtain na Gaeilge]]'' ("Irish Language Week"), when more [[Irish language]] events are held and there is more effort to use the language.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dublin.ie/whats-on/listings/seachtain-na-gaeilge/ |title="Seachtain na Gaeilge", Dublin City Council |access-date=6 August 2018 |archive-date=6 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806085346/https://dublin.ie/whats-on/listings/seachtain-na-gaeilge/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The biggest celebrations on the island of Ireland outside Dublin are in [[Downpatrick]], [[Northern Ireland]], where Saint Patrick was buried following his death on March 17, 493. In 2004, according to [[Down District Council]], the week-long St. Patrick's Festival had over 2000 participants and 82 floats, bands, and performers, and was watched by over 30,000 people.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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Christian leaders in Ireland have expressed concern about the secularisation of Saint Patrick's Day. In ''The Word'' magazine's March 2007 issue, Fr [[Vincent Twomey]] wrote, "It is time to reclaim St Patrick's Day as a church festival". He questioned the need for "mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry" and concluded that "it is time to bring the piety and the fun together".<ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Cooney |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-piety-fewer-pints-best-way-to-celebrate-26270094.html |title=More piety, fewer pints 'best way to celebrate' |work=The Irish Independent |date=12 March 2007 |access-date=17 March 2018 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601064951/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-piety-fewer-pints-best-way-to-celebrate-26270094.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The day is celebrated by the Church of Ireland as a Christian festival. Saint Patrick's Day as a celebration of Irish culture was rarely acknowledged by Northern Irish [[Ulster Loyalist|loyalists]], who consider it a festival of the [[Irish Republicans]]. The [[Belfast City Council]] recently agreed to give public funds to its parade for the first time; previously the parade was funded privately.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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The [[Belfast]] parade is based on equality and only the flag of St. Patrick is supposed to be used as a symbol of the day to prevent it being seen as a time which is exclusively for Republicans and Nationalists. |
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This allowed both Unionists and Nationalists to celebrate the day together. |
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One of the biggest celebrations outside the cities is in [[Downpatrick]], [[County Down]], where Saint Patrick is said to be buried. The shortest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the world formerly took place in [[Dripsey]], [[County Cork]]. The parade lasted just 23.4 metres and traveled between the village's two pubs. The tradition began in 1999, but ended after five years when one of the pubs closed.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Ireland of the Welcomes |url=http://www.dripsey.com/page16/page15/index.html |title=From Here to Here |first=Jo |last=Kerrigan |volume=53 |issue=2 |date=March–April 2004 |via=Dripsey |access-date=6 June 2010 |archive-date=21 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021074632/http://www.dripsey.com/page16/page15/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Since the 1990s, Irish [[Taoisigh]] have sometimes attended special functions either on Saint Patrick's Day or a day or two earlier, in the [[White House]], where they present shamrock to the [[President of the United States]]. A similar presentation is made to the [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]]. Originally only representatives of the Republic of Ireland attended, but since the mid-1990s all major Political parties in the Republic of Ireland and [[Northern Ireland]] are invited, with the attendance including the representatives of the Irish government, the [[Ulster Unionist Party]], the [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]], [[Sinn Féin]] and others. No Northern Irish parties were invited for these functions in 2005. In recent years, it is common for the entire Irish government to be abroad representing the country in various parts of the world. In 2003, the [[President of Ireland]] celebrated the holiday in [[Sydney]], the Taoiseach was in Washington, while other Irish government members attended ceremonies in New York City, Boston, [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], [[Chicago]], [[Detroit]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[New Zealand]], [[Hong Kong]], [[South Africa]], [[Korea]], [[Japan]], and [[Brazil]]. |
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==Celebrations elsewhere== |
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Saint Patrick's Day parades in Ireland date from the late 19th century, originating in the growing sense of [[Irish nationalism]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} (The ''first'' parade did not begin in Ireland but in the United States – see below.) |
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===Europe=== |
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[[File:388-0049-hinnerk-ruemenapf 01.jpg|thumb|Saint Patrick's Day 2016 in an [[Irish pub]] in [[Hamburg]], Germany]] |
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====England==== <!--Northern Ireland is covered in the "Ireland" section--> |
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[[File:St Patrick's Day - Trafalgar Square March 2006.jpg|thumb|Saint Patrick's Day celebration at [[Trafalgar Square]] in London, 2006]] |
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In England, the Royal Colonel or [[Colonel-in-chief]] traditionally present bowls of shamrock to members of the [[Irish Guards]], a regiment in the [[British Army]], following [[Alexandra of Denmark|Queen Alexandra]] introducing the tradition in 1901.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31927196 Duchess of Cambridge Presents St Patrick's Day Shamrocks to Irish Guards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414052435/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31927196 |date=14 April 2019 }}. (17 March 2015) [[BBC News]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> Since 2012, the [[Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge|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 [[George VI|King George VI]] in 1950 to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Irish Guards, and in 2016 the [[Prince William, Duke of Cambridge|Duke of Cambridge]] in place of his wife.<ref>[https://www.royal.uk/duke-cambridge-joins-irish-guards-st-patricks-day-parade?page=14 The Duke of Cambridge Joins the Irish Guards at the St Patrick's Day Parade] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108201230/https://www.royal.uk/duke-cambridge-joins-irish-guards-st-patricks-day-parade?page=14 |date=8 January 2019 }}. (17 March 2016) Royal.uk. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref><ref>Palmer, Richard. (17 March 2016). [https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/487741/William-St-Patricks-Day-Parade-Shamrock Prince William Handed Out Shamrocks at the St Patrick's Day Parade as Kate Broke with Tradition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414044122/https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/487741/William-St-Patricks-Day-Parade-Shamrock |date=14 April 2019 }}. ''[[Sunday Express]]'' Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> Fresh Shamrocks are presented to the Irish Guards, regardless of where they are stationed, and are flown in from Ireland.<ref>Rayner, Gordon ,(17 March 2015) Duchess of Cambridge hands out St Patrick's Day shamrocks to Irish Guards. ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> |
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While some Saint 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 [[Great Britain|mainland Britain]] and as a consequence this resulted in a suspicion of all things Irish and those who supported them which led to people of Irish descent wearing a sprig of shamrock on Saint Patrick's day in private or attending specific events.<ref name="Pages 180–183">Cronin, Mike; Adair, Daryl (2002). ''The Wearing of the Green: A History of St. Patrick's Day''. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-18004-7}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eAuAAgAAQBAJ&dq=irish+in+uk+1960s+wearing+shamrocks+st+patricks+day&pg=PA180 pp. 180–183] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112025027/https://books.google.es/books?id=eAuAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA180&dq=irish+in+uk+1960s+wearing+shamrocks+st+patricks+day&hl=es&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjR0MCz0tvfAhUj8-AKHcs1D48Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=irish%20in%20uk%201960s%20wearing%20shamrocks%20st%20patricks%20day&f=false |date=12 January 2020 }}</ref> Today after many years following [[Good Friday Agreement|the Good Friday Agreement]], people of Irish descent openly wear a sprig of shamrock to celebrate their Irishness.<ref name="Pages 180–183"/> |
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Christian leaders in Ireland have expressed concern about the secularisation of St Patrick's Day. Writing in the Word magazine (March 2007), Fr. Vincent Twomey stated that, "it is time to reclaim St Patrick's Day as a church festival". He questioned the need for "mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry" and concluded that, "it is time to bring the piety and the fun together". The widespread use of [[alcoholic beverage]]s on St. Patrick's Day may be rooted in the fact that the [[Roman festivals|Roman festival]] of the [[Bacchanalia]], a celebration of the [[deity]] [[Bacchus]] (to whom [[wine]] was sacred), was on [[March 17]]. |
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Christian denominations in Great Britain observing his [[feast day]] include [[The Church of England]] and the Roman Catholic Church.<ref name="Irish and non-Irish celebrants">{{Cite book|title=Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa|publisher=[[HarperOne]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IuOlQJPbycwC&pg=PA135|quote=The most famous church in the United States is dedicated to him, St. Patrick's in New York City. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all ethnic backgrounds by the wearing of green and parades. His feast, which is on the General Roman Calendar, has been given as March 17 in liturgical calendars and martyrologies. The Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the USA, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America observe his feast on this day, and he is also commemorated on the Russian Orthodox calendar.|first=Richard P.|last=Mcbrien|date= 2009|isbn=9780061763656|access-date=13 November 2010|archive-date=3 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003163247/https://books.google.com/books?id=IuOlQJPbycwC&pg=PA135|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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==Outside Ireland== |
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===In Canada=== |
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The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parade in [[Canada]] occurs each year in [[Montreal]], [[Québec]]. The parades have been held in continuity since 1824; however, St. Patrick's Day itself has been celebrated in Montreal as far back as 1759 by the Irish soldiers of the Montreal Garrison, following the British conquest of New France. |
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[[Birmingham]] holds the largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in Britain with a city centre parade<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?txtKeywords=parade&lstContext=&lstResourceType=&lstExhibitionType=&chkPurchaseVisible=&txtDateFrom=&txtDateTo=&originator=%2Fengine%2Fsearch%2Fdefault%5Fhndlr%2Easp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=24&text=0&resource=503 |title=Brigitte Winsor: Photographs of the St Patrick's Day Parade |work=Connecting Histories |date=12 March 2006 |access-date=17 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722084529/http://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/engine/resource/exhibition/standard/default.asp?txtKeywords=parade&lstContext=&lstResourceType=&lstExhibitionType=&chkPurchaseVisible=&txtDateFrom=&txtDateTo=&originator=%2Fengine%2Fsearch%2Fdefault_hndlr.asp&page=&records=&direction=&pointer=24&text=0&resource=503 |archive-date=22 July 2011 }}</ref> over a two-mile (3 km) route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2009/02/17/st_patricks_2009_feature.shtml |title=St. Patrick's Parade 2009 |work=BBC Birmingham |date=18 March 2009 |access-date=15 March 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924152850/http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2009/02/17/st_patricks_2009_feature.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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In Canada, Saint Patrick's Day is an official holiday only in the province of [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]. Some groups, notably [[Guinness]], have lobbied to make Saint Patrick's Day a federal (national) holiday. |
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London, since 2002, has had an annual Saint 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]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} |
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In Manitoba, the Irish Association of Manitoba runs an annual three day festival of music and culture based around St Patrick's Day. |
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[[Liverpool]] has the highest proportion of residents with Irish ancestry of any English city.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.merseyreporter.com/history/historic/irish-immigration.shtml | work=Mersey Reporter | title=Irish Immigration to and from Liverpool (UK) | access-date=17 March 2013 | archive-date=8 February 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208140727/http://www.merseyreporter.com/history/historic/irish-immigration.shtml | url-status=live }}</ref> This has led to a long-standing celebration on Saint Patrick's Day in terms of music, cultural events and the parade.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} |
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===In Great Britain=== |
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[[Image:St Patrick's Day - Trafalgar Square March 2006.jpg|thumb|right|250px|2006 St Patrick's Day celebrations in Trafalgar Sq, London]] |
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In [[Great Britain]], the late [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]] (the Queen Mother) used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the [[Irish Guards]], a regiment in the [[British Army]] consisting primarily of Irishmen from both [[Northern Ireland]] and the [[Republic of Ireland]]. In 2002, [[Mayor of London|London mayor]] [[Ken Livingstone]] organized an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade which takes place on weekends around the 17th, usually in Trafalgar Square. |
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[[Manchester]] hosts a two-week Irish festival in the weeks prior to Saint 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.manchesteririshfestival.co.uk/ |title=Manchester Irish Festival |access-date=17 March 2010 |archive-date=21 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221081149/http://www.manchesteririshfestival.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Another tradition is the consumption of large amounts of [[Guinness]] in the hope of getting a "Guinness day Hat,"{{Fact|date=February 2007}} a hat that [[pub]]s give away after a certain amount of the beverage has been consumed. The 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 Saint Patrick's Day. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/stpatrick/64867.stm] |
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====Malta==== |
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The largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the UK is held in [[Birmingham]]{{Fact|date=March 2007}} over a two mile route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York. [http://www.stpatricksfestival.com] Other Saint Patrick's Day parades take place around the country including in London where the largest minority community is Irish. The Lanarkshire town of [[Coatbridge]] where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent also has a day of celebration and parades in the town centre. |
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[[File:Porte des Bombes on St Patrick's Night.jpg|thumb|[[Porte des Bombes]] illuminated in green on Saint Patrick's Day of 2014]] |
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The first Saint 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 Balzunetta 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.<ref name="maltaindependent2018-03-18">{{cite news |last1=Micallef |first1=Roberta |title=St Patrick's Day in Malta – how it started, and where it's going |url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-18/local-news/St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Malta-how-it-started-and-where-it-s-going-6736186439 |work=[[The Malta Independent]]|date=18 March 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318121643/http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-18/local-news/St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Malta-how-it-started-and-where-it-s-going-6736186439|archive-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> |
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Manchester hosts a two week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St Patricks Day, not suprising giving that the city claims the largest Irish population in Great Britain outside of London. The festival includes an Irish Market based at the city's townhall which flys the Irish tricolour opposite the union-jack, a large parade (claiming to be the biggest outside of Dublin and New York based on entrant and float numbers) as well as a large number of cultural and learning events throughout the two week period. The festival boasts itself as the largest in the UK. [http://www.manchesteririshfestival.co.uk/] |
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Today, Saint Patrick's Day is mainly celebrated in Spinola Bay and [[Paceville]] areas of [[St Julian's]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Azzopardi|first1=Karl|title=Thousands take to the street of St Julian's for St Patrick's Day celebrations |url=https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/85371/thousands_take_to_the_street_of_st_julians_for_st_patricks_day_celebrations_ |work=[[Malta Today]]|date=17 March 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317221548/https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/85371/thousands_take_to_the_street_of_st_julians_for_st_patricks_day_celebrations_ |archive-date=17 March 2018}}</ref> although other celebrations still occur at Floriana<ref name="maltaindependent2018-03-18"/> and other locations.<ref>{{cite news|title=Malta celebrates St Patrick's Day|url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150315/local/malta-celebrates-st-patricks-day.560045|work=[[Times of Malta]]|date=15 March 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421042447/http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150315/local/malta-celebrates-st-patricks-day.560045|archive-date=21 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Grech Urpani|first1=David|title=Finally: A Fresh Take On St. Patrick's Day Celebrations Is Coming To Malta|url=https://lovinmalta.com/sponsored/sponsored-announcement/finally-a-fresh-take-on-st-patricks-day-celebrations-is-coming-to-malta|work=Lovin Malta|date=8 March 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316004114/https://lovinmalta.com/sponsored/sponsored-announcement/finally-a-fresh-take-on-st-patricks-day-celebrations-is-coming-to-malta|archive-date=16 March 2018}}</ref> Thousands of Maltese attend the celebrations, "which are more associated with drinking beer than traditional Irish culture."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Micallef|first1=Roberta|title=More than 20,000 people expected to celebrate St Patrick's Day in St Julian's|url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-17/local-news/More-than-20-000-people-expected-to-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Paceville-6736186410|work=[[The Malta Independent]]|date=17 March 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317113614/http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-17/local-news/More-than-20-000-people-expected-to-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-Day-in-Paceville-6736186410|archive-date=17 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Thousands flock to St Julian's to celebrate St Patrick's feast |url=http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-17/local-news/Thousands-flock-to-St-Julian-s-to-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-feast-6736186436|work=[[The Malta Independent]]|date=17 March 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317210613/http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-03-17/local-news/Thousands-flock-to-St-Julian-s-to-celebrate-St-Patrick-s-feast-6736186436|archive-date=17 March 2018}}</ref> |
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===In Germany=== |
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[[Munich]] is the only German city holding a St. Patrick's Day parade owing to the considerably large Irish community. The parade is organized by the German-Irish Society of [[Bavaria]] and has been held every year since 1996. Meanwhile it has evolved into the largest in continental Europe and features not only Irish/Scots/English, but also German clubs and societies. Following the 2 km-parade, which usually takes place the Sunday preceding March 17th, is an open air party with live music and dance performances. |
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====Norway==== |
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Norway has had a Saint 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oslo Parade History |url=https://www.irishsociety.no/st-patricks-day/ |date=18 March 2020 |access-date=17 March 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126151159/http://www.irishsociety.no/st-patricks-day/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[http://www.paddysday.dk The St.Patricks Day 3 Legged Charity Race] started in Copenhagen in 2001. The race is organized by the Irish expat community and is sponsored by the Carlsberg brewery and the Irish pub owners of Copenhagen. All proceeds from the 2007 event are donated to a Danish charity for children with cancer. |
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====Russia==== |
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[[File:St Patrick's Day 2012 in Moscow.jpg|thumb|[[Moscow]] hosts an annual Saint Patrick's Day festival]] |
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On 15th March 1992, thousands of Muscovites lined the Novy Arbat to witness the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in the Russian capital's history. Yuri Luzhkov — the then and current — Mayor of Moscow - and Aer Rianta Chief Executive Derek Keogh were on the reviewing stand as a police escort led the way for — rather bizarrely — Russian marching bands, Cossack horsemen, and fifteen floats representing many Russian companies. The parade, which was the brainchild of Derek Keogh, was a big success, and ensured a repeat performance the following year. |
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The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in Russia took place in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stpatrick.ru/russian/index.htm |script-title=ru:Москва. День Св. Патрика |date=1999–2007 |publisher=Русское Кельтское Общество [Russian Celtic Society] |language=ru |trans-title=Moscow. St. Patrick's Day |access-date=29 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417183918/http://www.stpatrick.ru/russian/index.htm |archive-date=17 April 2012 }}</ref> Since 1999, there has been a yearly "Saint Patrick's Day" festival in Moscow and other Russian cities.<ref>{{cite web|first=Erin |last=Andersen |title=St. Patty's Day: Not just green beer – but some of that, too |url=http://journalstar.com/entertainment/misc/st-patty-s-day-not-just-green-beer-but-some/article_1a91449b-3666-5363-a249-7d5378ddd713.html |work=[[Lincoln Journal Star]] |date=17 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518183700/http://journalstar.com/entertainment/misc/st-patty-s-day-not-just-green-beer-but-some/article_1a91449b-3666-5363-a249-7d5378ddd713.html |archive-date=18 May 2013 }}</ref> 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 12 to 23 March, which includes Saint Patrick's Day on 17 March. Over 70 events celebrating Irish culture in Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, and Volgograd were sponsored by the Irish Embassy, the Moscow City Government, and other organisations.<ref>{{cite web |first=Grace |last=Cuddihy |title=Muscovites Turn Green For Irish Week |url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/muscovites-turn-green-for-irish-week/496349.html |work=[[The Moscow Times]] |date=18 March 2014 |access-date=18 March 2014 |archive-date=18 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318214431/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/muscovites-turn-green-for-irish-week/496349.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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In 2017, the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] added the feast day of Saint Patrick to [[Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar|its liturgical calendar]], to be celebrated on {{OldStyleDate|30 March||17 March}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=В месяцеслов Русской Православной Церкви включены имена древних святых, подвизавшихся в западных странах |url=http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4829992.html |website=Patriarchia.ru |access-date=12 March 2017 |language=ru |date=9 March 2017 |trans-title=Ancient saints who worked in Western countries have been added to the menologium of the Russian Orthodox Church |archive-date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310173023/http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/4829992.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Each year the floats have become more numerous and sophisticated and the range of international and Russian participants and sponsors more wide-ranging such as Pepsi and Guinness. The local Irish bars of Moscow contribute their own floats and Muscovites reveal their own homegrown Irish Wolfhounds, which are nearly as big as the floats themselves. |
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====Bosnia and Herzegovina==== |
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The Moscow parade continued to be an annual event until 1998. After a three year lapse The St Patrick's Society of Russia managed to re-establish the St Patrick's Day parade with the co-operation of the Moscow City Government, The Moscow police, various government bodies, The Irish Embassy and the Irish Community in Moscow. |
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[[Sarajevo]], the capital city of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] has a large Irish expatriate community.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sarajevo.travel/en/things-to-do/sarajevo-irish-festival/795|title=Sarajevo Irish Festival|publisher=Sarajevo Travel|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405153005/https://sarajevo.travel/en/things-to-do/sarajevo-irish-festival/795|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/events/int-event/sarajevo_irish_festival_20171|title=Sarajevo Irish Festival|publisher=stpatricksfestival.ie|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405153029/http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/events/int-event/sarajevo_irish_festival_20171|url-status=live}}</ref> The community established the [[Sarajevo Irish Festival]] in 2015, which is held for three days around and including Saint Patrick's Day. The festival organizes an annual a 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 Ni Riain, [[Dermot Dunne]], [[Mick Moloney]], [[Chloë Agnew]] and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.klix.ba/magazin/pripremljen-bogat-program-za-ovogodisnji-sarajevo-irish-festival/170307062|title=Pripremljen bogat program za ovogodišnji Sarajevo Irish Festival|publisher=klix.ba|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-date=25 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325020037/https://www.klix.ba/magazin/pripremljen-bogat-program-za-ovogodisnji-sarajevo-irish-festival/170307062|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://lgbti.ba/intervju-conor-horgan-film-o-panti-bliss-je-o-tome-kako-licno-jeste-politicko/|title=Conor Horgan: Film o Panti Bliss je o tome kako lično jeste političko|date=15 March 2017|publisher=lgbti.ba|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405092057/http://lgbti.ba/intervju-conor-horgan-film-o-panti-bliss-je-o-tome-kako-licno-jeste-politicko/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://avaz.ba/lifestyle/kultura/225274/veceras-otvaranje-sarajevo-irish-festivala|title=Večeras otvaranje Sarajevo Irish Festivala|date=16 March 2016|publisher=avaz.ba|access-date=18 April 2018|archive-date=5 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405092155/http://avaz.ba/lifestyle/kultura/225274/veceras-otvaranje-sarajevo-irish-festivala|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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====Scotland==== |
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===In the United States of America=== |
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[[File:Stpatricksdayfestivalcbridge.JPG|thumb|2009 [[St. Patrick's Day festival Coatbridge|Saint Patrick's Day festival]] celebration in [[Coatbridge]], Scotland]] |
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[[Irish]] colonists brought Saint Patrick's Day to what is now the United States of America. The first civic and public celebration of Saint Patrick's Day in the [[Thirteen Colonies|13 colonies]] took place in Boston, Massachusetts in 1737.<ref name=Koch>Johnson, Bridget (March 17, 2006). March 17, 2007[http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/johnson200603170812.asp "Lucky for the Irish"]. ''National Review Online''.</ref> The first celebration of Saint Patrick's Day in New York City was held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1756.<ref name=tavern> [http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1756/march_17_1756_41850.html "March 17, 1756 in History." Brainy History.] (URL accessed March 17, 2006)</ref> In 1780, General [[George Washington]], who commanded soldiers of Irish descent in the [[Continental Army]], allowed his troops a holiday on March 17. This event became known as The St. Patrick's Day Encampment of 1780. <ref name=Washington>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_681500369/Saint_Patrick%E2%80%99s_Day.html "Saint Patrick’s Day". Encarta] (URL accessed March 17, 2006)</ref> Today, Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated in America by Irish and non-Irish alike. |
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The Scottish town of [[Coatbridge]], where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent,<ref name=ScotGov-Immigration>{{cite web |title=Irish emigration to Scotland in the 19th and 20th centuries – Settlement of the Irish |url=http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/higherscottishhistory/migrationandempire/experienceofimmigrants/irish.asp |website=Education Scotland |publisher=Government of Scotland |access-date=17 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320212938/http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/higherscottishhistory/migrationandempire/experienceofimmigrants/irish.asp |archive-date=20 March 2015}}</ref><ref name=CoatbridgeFestival>{{cite web |title=The Coatbridge Irish|url=http://www.stpatricksdayfestivalcoatbridge.org/History/Main/History.htm |website=St Patrick's Day Festival Coatbridge |access-date=17 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708051820/http://www.stpatricksdayfestivalcoatbridge.org/History/Main/History.htm |archive-date=8 July 2007}}</ref> also has [[St. Patrick's Day festival Coatbridge|a Saint Patrick's Day Festival]] which includes celebrations and parades in the town centre.<ref name=CoatbridgeFestival/><ref>{{cite web |title=St Patrick's Day in Coatbridge, Scotland |url=https://comingtoscotland.wordpress.com/ |date=14 March 2015 |website=Coming to Scotland |access-date=17 March 2015 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110744/https://comingtoscotland.wordpress.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[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.<ref>{{cite web |first=Michael |last=Moss |work=The Glasgow Story |url=http://www.theglasgowstory.com/storyc.php |title=Industrial Revolution: 1770s to 1830s |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-date=22 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322022044/http://www.theglasgowstory.com/storyc.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Due to this large Irish population, there are many Irish-themed pubs and Irish interest groups who hold yearly celebrations on Saint Patrick's day in Glasgow. Glasgow has held a yearly Saint Patrick's Day parade and festival since 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to the Glasgow St. Patrick's Festival 2018 Website |url=http://www.glasgowstpatricksfestival.co.uk/ |website=Glasgow's St. Patrick's Festival |publisher=St. Patrick's Festival Committee |access-date=20 March 2018 |archive-date=16 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316133417/http://www.glasgowstpatricksfestival.co.uk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Americans celebrate the holiday by wearing green. Many people, regardless of ethnic background, wear green-coloured clothing and items. Traditionally, those who are caught not wearing green are pinched.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} |
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====Spain==== |
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Many parades are held to celebrate the holiday. Details vary. [[Savannah, Georgia]] is a prime location for revelers. In [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], the parades include the influence of [[New Orleans Mardi Gras]], with float riders throwing spectators strings of beads, cabbages, and potatoes. Perhaps the smallest notable parade [http://www.hotsprings.org/festivals_events/stpat_parade.asp World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade], is said to take place in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]] in the United States annually held on historic Bridge Street which became famous in the 1940s when Ripley’s Believe It or Not designated it “The Shortest Street in the World.” [[Boulder, Colorado]] claims to have the shortest parade, which is also less than a single city block{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. The city of Maryville, MO may have the shortest parade. Starting off as a joke for the downtown watering hole, The Palms, it is an ever diminishing tradition of having the world's shortest Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Originally going a block on Buchanan from Fourth Street to Fifth Street, the parade has gotten shorter and shorter each year to maintain the record. It was 86 feet in 2006. |
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[[Madrid]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metromadrid.es/en/press-release/2024-03-12/the-community-of-madrid-celebrates-st-patricks-day-with-a-host-of-activities-at-different-points-in-the-metro-network | title= The Community of Madrid celebrates St. Patrick's Day with a host of activities at different points in the Metro network | Metro de Madrid| date= 12 March 2024}}</ref> [[Barcelona]],<ref>https://www.barcelona-life.com/st-patricks-day {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> [[La Coruña]] and [[Benidorm]] are the biggest cities where great celebrations take place in Spain, but some other smaller cities have started to host Saint Patrick's Day in recent years, such as [[El Espinar]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lavozdeelespinar.es/el-espinar-celebra-san-patricio-del-15-al-17-de-marzo/ | title=El Espinar celebra San Patricio del 15 al 17 de marzo | date=12 March 2024 }}</ref> [[Caldas de Reyes]], [[Pontevedra]], [[Salamanca]], [[Elda]], [[Valladolid]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.docenotas.com/172425/el-centro-cultural-miguel-delibes-celebra-san-patricio-con-el-espectaculo-de-irish-treble-viaje-celta/ | title=El Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes celebra San Patricio con el espectáculo de Irish Treble, 'Viaje Celta' | date=14 March 2024 }}</ref> and [[Maspalomas]]. |
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====Switzerland==== |
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The New York parade has become the largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the world, outside Ireland.<ref name=Washington/> In 2006 more than 150,000 marchers participated in it, including bands, firefighters, military and police groups, county associations, emigrant societies, and social and cultural clubs and was watched by close to 2 million spectators lining the streets. The parade marches up [[5th Avenue]] in [[Manhattan]] and is always led by the [[U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment]]. New York politicians - or those running for office - are always found prominently marching in the parade.<ref>[http://www.jimsdeli.com/events/st-patricks-day/ St. Patrick's Day Parade - 2006 New York City Event Guide]</ref> |
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While Saint Patrick's Day in Switzerland is commonly celebrated on 17 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 Saint Patrick's Eve. Most popular are usually those in Zurich's [[Aussersihl|Kreis 4]]. Traditionally, guests also contribute with beverages and dress in green.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amiv.ethz.ch/content/st-patricks-eve-celebrations-2012-zürich |title=St. Patrick's Eve Celebrations 2012 in Zürich |language=de |publisher=Zurich Student Association |access-date=20 February 2012 |archive-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315174049/https://www.amiv.ethz.ch/content/st-patricks-eve-celebrations-2012-z%C3%BCrich |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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Former [[Mayor of New York City|New York City Mayor]] [[Ed Koch]] once proclaimed himself "Ed O'Koch" for the day, <ref name=Koch/> and he continues to don an Irish sweater and march every year, even though he is no longer in office. |
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====Lithuania==== |
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The New York parade has been dogged with controversy in recent years as its organizers have banned Irish [[gay]]s and [[lesbian]]s from marching as a group. The parade is organized by an Irish-Catholic group, and the [[Catholic Church]] is opposed to homosexual practices. American [[Gay rights]] groups have fought in court to obtain the right to march alongside other organizations. The gay groups and their sympathizers protested loudly in numerous ways. <ref name=controversy> [http://web.archive.org/web/20020616145554/www.impactmedia.com/stories/irish.html Irish Banned from NY Gay Halloween Parade!] (URL accessed from Internet Archive)</ref> Many years protesters would lie down in the middle of the street at the start of the parade route and were arrested when they refused to move. In the late 1980s such arrests averaged several hundred per year, but had dwindled to a dozen or less annually by the early 2000s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} A tradition has begun in [[Queens]] of organizing a parade the week before the official Saint Patrick's Day parade. The Queens parade is open to all organizations wishing to march. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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Although it is not a national holiday in [[Lithuania]], the [[Vilnia River]] is dyed green every year on the Saint Patrick's Day in the capital [[Vilnius]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Švento Patriko dieną Vilnelė vėl nusidažys žaliai |url=https://madeinvilnius.lt/pramogos/renginiai/svento-patriko-diena-vilnele-vel-nusidazys-zaliai/ |website=madeinvilnius.lt |access-date=14 October 2019 |language=lt-LT |date=13 March 2019 |archive-date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014205920/https://madeinvilnius.lt/pramogos/renginiai/svento-patriko-diena-vilnele-vel-nusidazys-zaliai/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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===Americas=== |
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The parade is organized and run by the [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}} For many years, the St. Patrick's Day Parade was the primary public function of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. On occasion the order has appointed controversial Irish republican figures (some of whom were barred from the U.S.) to be its Grand Marshal.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} |
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====Canada==== |
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[[File:St. Patrick's Day Montreal 2007.jpg|thumb|Montreal hosts one of the longest-running and largest Saint Patrick's Day parades in North America]] |
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One of the longest-running and largest Saint Patrick's Day ({{langx|fr|le jour de la Saint-Patrick}}) parades in North America occurs each year in [[Montreal]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-celebrates-191st-st-patrick-s-day-parade-sunday-1.2568446 |title=Montreal celebrates 191st St. Patrick's Day parade Sunday |website=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=11 March 2014 |access-date=17 March 2014 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601065311/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-celebrates-191st-st-patrick-s-day-parade-sunday-1.2568446 |url-status=live }}</ref> whose [[Flag of Montreal|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. Saint Patrick's Day itself, however, has been celebrated in Montreal since as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France. |
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In [[Saint John, New Brunswick]] Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated as a week-long celebration. Shortly after the JP Collins Celtic Festival is an Irish festival celebrating Saint John's Irish heritage. The festival is named for a young Irish doctor James Patrick Collins who worked on [[Partridge Island (Saint John County)]] quarantine station tending to sick Irish immigrants before he died there himself. |
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While it is a popular misconception that the St. Patrick's Day Parade bans 'lesbians and gays', the fact is that all politically motivated groups, including pro-life groups, are banned from the Parade in an effort to keep politics out of a festive community celebration. Gays and lesbians are welcome to be in the Parade as members of any of the groups allowed. |
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In [[Manitoba]], the Irish Association of Manitoba runs a yearly three-day festival of music and culture based around Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irishassociation.ca/ |title=Coming Events |website=Irish Association of Manitoba |access-date=19 March 2018 |archive-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313224941/http://www.irishassociation.ca/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The New York parade is moved to the previous Saturday ([[March 16]]) in years where March 17 is a Sunday. The event is also moved on the rare occasions when, due to [[Easter]] falling on a very early date, March 17 would land in [[Holy Week]]. This last occurred in 1913. That year the parade was held on Saturday, [[March 15]], because Easter was on [[March 23]] (making March 17 the Monday of Holy Week). This same scenario is scheduled to arise again in 2008, when Easter will also fall on [[March 23]]. In many other American cities (such as San Francisco), the parade is always held on the Sunday before March 17, regardless of the [[liturgical calendar]]. |
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In 2004, the CelticFest 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 Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.celticfestvancouver.com |title=CelticFest Vancouver |publisher=Celticfest Vancouver |access-date=19 March 2018 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601065305/https://www.celticfestvancouver.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Some cities paint the traffic stripe of their parade routes green. Chicago even dyes its river green. Savannah dyes its downtown city fountains green. Indianapolis dyes its Central Canal green. |
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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 City Police Department|New York Police Department]] Pipes and Drums were present as special guests. |
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The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in the U.S. are: |
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*[[Boston, Massachusetts]], since 1737 |
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*[[New York City]], since 1756 |
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*[[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], since 1771 |
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*[[Morristown, New Jersey]], since 1780 |
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*[[Savannah, Georgia]], since 1813 |
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*[[Carbondale, Pennsylvania]], since 1833 |
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*[[Chicago, Illinois]], since 1843 |
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*[[New Haven, Connecticut]], since 1845 |
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*[[San Francisco, California]], since 1852 |
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*[[Scranton, Pennsylvania]], since 1862 |
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*[[Cleveland, Ohio]], since 1867 |
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*[[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], since 1869<ref name=pgh> [http://www.pittsburghirish.org/parade/History/History.htm "History of Pittsburgh's St. Patrick's Day Parade."] (URL accessed October 5, 2006)</ref> |
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*[[Kansas City, Missouri]], since 1873 |
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*[[Butte, Montana]], since 1882 |
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There has been a parade held in [[Toronto]] since at least 1863.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cottrell |first=Michael |url=http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/hssh/article/viewFile/16699/15557 |title=St. Patrick's Day Parades in Nineteenth-Century Toronto: A Study of Immigrant Adjustment and Elite Control |journal=Histoire Sociale – Social History |volume=XXV |issue=49 |date=May 1992 |pages=57–73 |access-date=17 March 2015 |archive-date=22 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822171343/http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/hssh/article/viewFile/16699/15557 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Although the baseball season is still in the spring training phase when St. Patrick's Day rolls around, some teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and the Boston Red Sox, wear green uniforms for the occasion.<ref> See [http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/L_IMAGE.fac4e2432c.93.88.fa.80.994b3e06.jpg].</ref> |
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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 Saint Patrick's Day, they wore green St Patrick's retro uniforms.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} |
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===Montserrat=== |
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Some groups, notably [[Guinness]], have lobbied to make Saint Patrick's Day a national holiday.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.proposition317.com/Gateway.aspx |title=Guinness |publisher=Proposition 3–17 |access-date=17 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323192927/http://www.proposition317.com/Gateway.aspx |archive-date=23 March 2010 }}</ref> |
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The tiny island of [[Montserrat]], known as "Emerald Island of the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]]" due to its foundation by Irish refugees from [[Saint Kitts and Nevis]], is the only place in the world apart from the Republic of Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in which St Patrick's Day is a [[public holiday]]. |
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In March 2009, the [[Calgary Tower]] changed its top exterior lights to new green CFL bulbs just in time for Saint 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 Saint 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bevan |first=Alexis |url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/Calgary+Tower+gets+full+green+bulb+treatment/1378992/story.html |title=Calgary Tower gets full green bulb treatment |work=Calgary Herald |date=11 March 2009 |access-date=17 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330025307/http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Calgary%2BTower%2Bgets%2Bfull%2Bgreen%2Bbulb%2Btreatment/1378992/story.html |archive-date=30 March 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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==Artistic celebration of St. Patrick's day== |
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Some [[artist]]ically inclined people disconnect the celebration from the [[Irish people|Irish]] altogether and simply view the holiday as a celebration of the color [[green]]. These people, besides wearing green on that day, may also stage [[dinner]] parties featuring all green [[food]]s. An example of such a menu would be [[chicken]] ''(not naturally green)'' with [[rice]] and [[lima beans]] with sliced green [[maraschino cherry|maraschino cherries]] in [[coconut]] sauce colored with green food coloring, a green [[salad]] including greens, [[avocados]] and sliced green [[apple]]s, [[split pea]] [[soup]], green tinted [[bread]] spiced with [[sage]], Lime [[Jell-O]], iced [[limeade]] and/or a green-[[beer]], and [[lime (fruit)|lime]] pudding, [[keylime pie]], or lime [[sherbet (U.S.)|sherbet]] for dessert. |
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Since 2019, the City of [[Waterloo, Ontario]] has had to contend with an ever-growing massive street party that has coincided with the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. In 2023, police could be seen putting fences up on Ezra Avenue to discourage partiers to participate in the unauthorized event that has cost the city as much as $750,000 a year for police, paramedics, and municipal services.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickel|first=Jeff|url=https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/will-fences-stop-ezra-ave-partiers-on-st-patrick-s-day-1.6314878|title=Will fences stop Ezra Ave. partiers on St. Patrick's Day?|work=CTV News Kitchener|date=15 March 2023 }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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{{portalpar|Holidays|500px-Xmas tree animated.gif}} |
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{{commonscat|Saint Patrick's Day}} |
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*[[Saint Patrick]] |
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*[[Saint Patrick's Battalion]] (''Batallón de San Patricio'') |
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*[[Irish calendar]] |
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*[[Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland]] |
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*[[UK national holidays]] |
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*[[Plastic Paddy]] |
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*[[Shamrock]] |
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*[[Leprechaun]] |
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*[[Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)]] |
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*[[Irish Marching Society]] |
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*[[It's A Great Day for the Irish]] |
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*[[List of Irish-Americans]] |
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*[[Saint Patrick's Day Four]] |
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====United States==== |
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==Notes== |
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[[File:ChicagoStPatricksDay2015.jpg|thumb|The [[Chicago River]] [[dye]]d green<ref>{{cite news |url=http://abc7chicago.com/news/crowds-gather-for-st-patricks-day-celebrations-downtown/1242900/ |title=Crowds gather for St. Patrick's Day celebrations downtown |last=Holmes |first=Evelyn |newspaper=Abc7 Chicago |date=12 March 2016 |publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company]] |access-date=13 March 2016 |quote=Large crowds gathered for Saturday's St. Patrick's Day festivities downtown. Although St. Patrick's Day is actually on a Thursday this year, Chicago will be marking the day all weekend long. Some started the day at Mass at Old St. Patrick's Church in the city's West Loop neighborhood. Spectators gathered along the riverfront in the Loop for the annual dyeing of the Chicago River, which began at 9 am |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313110314/http://abc7chicago.com/news/crowds-gather-for-st-patricks-day-celebrations-downtown/1242900/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]] |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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{{Main|Saint Patrick's Day in the United States}} |
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<references/> |
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Saint 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.<ref name="Irish Culture 3" /> The holiday has been celebrated in what is now the U.S. since 1600, with the first parade occurring in 1601.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://totallystaugustine.com/first-u-s-st-patricks-celebration-held-in-st-augustine-florida-in-1600/|title=First U.S. St. Patrick's celebration held in St. Augustine, Florida in 1600|newspaper=Totally St. Augustine |access-date=2 March 2020|archive-date=9 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109211401/http://totallystaugustine.com/first-u-s-st-patricks-celebration-held-in-st-augustine-florida-in-1600/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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</div> |
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It is customary for the Irish [[Taoiseach]] (Irish Prime Minister) to meet with the [[President of the United States]] on or around Saint Patrick's Day.<ref name="irishtimes.com">Collins, Stephen. (11 March 2017). [https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/a-short-history-of-taoisigh-visiting-the-white-house-on-st-patrick-s-day-1.3005736 A Short History of Taoisigh Visiting the White House on St Patrick's Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411085934/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/a-short-history-of-taoisigh-visiting-the-white-house-on-st-patrick-s-day-1.3005736 |date=11 April 2019 }}. ''Irish Times''. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref><ref>[https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/articles/st-patricks-day-irish-heritage-american-history/ St. Patrick's Day and Irish Heritage in American History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302235353/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/articles/st-patricks-day-irish-heritage-american-history/ |date=2 March 2021 }} (14 March 2018). [[whitehouse.gov]] Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> Traditionally the Taoiseach presents the US president a [[Waterford Crystal]] bowl filled with shamrocks.<ref name="irishexaminer.com">Dwyer, Ryle. (2 January 2017). [https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/president-reagans-bowl-of-shamrock-and-the-1500-year-wake-437296.html President Reagan's Bowl of Shamrock and the 1,500-Year Wake] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110014343/https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/president-reagans-bowl-of-shamrock-and-the-1500-year-wake-437296.html |date=10 January 2019 }}. [[Irish Examiner]]. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> This tradition began in 1952 when the Irish Ambassador to the US, [[John Hearne (lawyer)|John Hearne]], sent a box of shamrocks to President [[Harry S. Truman]]. From then it became a yearly custom for the Irish ambassador to send Saint Patrick's Day shamrocks to an official in the US President's administration, although on some occasions the shamrocks were given personally by the Irish Taoiseach or Irish President to the US president in Washington.<ref name="irishtimes.com"/><ref name="irishexaminer.com"/> After the meeting between Taoiseach [[Albert Reynolds]] and President [[Bill Clinton]] in 1994, the presenting of the shamrocks became a yearly custom.<ref name="irishtimes.com"/><ref>Dwyer, Ryle. (2 January 2017). [https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/president-reagans-bowl-of-shamrock-and-the-1500-year-wake-437296.html President Reagan's Bowl of Shamrock and the 1,500-Year Wake] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110014343/https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/president-reagans-bowl-of-shamrock-and-the-1500-year-wake-437296.html |date=10 January 2019 }}. ''[[Irish Examiner]]''. Retrieved 8 January 2019</ref> |
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==External links== |
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====Mexico==== |
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*[http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie Official St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, Ireland |
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The [[Saint Patrick's Battalion]] is honored in Mexico on Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>{{cite web |last=Talley |first=Patricia Ann |url=http://imagine-mexico.com/mexico-honors-irish-immigrants/ |title=Mexico Honors Irish Soldiers On St. Patrick's Day-The "San Patricios" |work=Imagine Mexico |date=28 February 2019 |access-date=21 March 2019 |archive-date=3 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603103659/http://imagine-mexico.com/mexico-honors-irish-immigrants/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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*[http://wilstar.com/holidays/patrick.htm Saint Patrick History] |
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*[http://www.irishabroad.com/stpatrick/ St. Patrick's Day worldwide] - events, news, history. |
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*[http://www.st-patricks-day.com Saint Patrick's Parade information] |
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*[http://www.thedubliner.ie/template.php?ID=118 An article detailing the role St. Patrick's Day had in phasing out ancient religions in Europe] |
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====Argentina==== |
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[[File:Día de San Patricio Buenos Aires 2.jpg|thumb|Celebrations in [[Buenos Aires]] centre on Reconquista street]] |
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In Buenos Aires, a party is held in the downtown street of Reconquista, where there are several Irish pubs;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sanpatricio2009.com.ar/index.htm |title=Saint Patrick's Day in Argentina |publisher=Sanpatricio2009.com.ar |date=17 March 2009 |access-date=17 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727025139/http://sanpatricio2009.com.ar/index.htm |archive-date=27 July 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{youTube|Df8ATMkkqWE|Saint Patrick's Day in Argentina}}. {{Retrieved|access-date=17 March 2009}}</ref> in 2006, there were 50,000 people in this street and the pubs nearby.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/03/18/laciudad/h-06401.htm |title=San Patricio convocó a una multitud |publisher=Clarin.com |date=18 March 2006 |access-date=17 March 2012 |archive-date=25 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025034202/http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/03/18/laciudad/h-06401.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Neither the Catholic Church nor the [[Irish settlement in Argentina|Irish community]], the fifth largest in the world outside Ireland,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Los Irlandeses en la Argentina |journal=Familia, Journal of the Ulster Historical Foundation |volume=2 |number=8 |year=1992 |first=Pat |last=Nally |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/articles/uhf_argentina1.htm |access-date=6 November 2010 |archive-date=14 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514232404/http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/articles/uhf_argentina1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> take part in the organisation of the parties. |
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====Montserrat==== |
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[[Category:Christian festivals]] |
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The island of [[Montserrat]] is known as the "Emerald Island of the [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]]" because of its founding by [[Irish immigration to Saint Kitts and Nevis|Irish refugees from Saint Kitts and Nevis]]. Montserrat is one of three places where Saint 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.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gallery Montserrat: some prominent people in our history |last=Fergus |first=Howard A. |year=1996 |publisher=Canoe Press University of West Indies |isbn=976-8125-25-X |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DD81ZHWhxgC&pg=PA83 |access-date=24 December 2010 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006150410/https://books.google.com/books?id=2DD81ZHWhxgC&pg=PA83 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[Category:Holidays]] |
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[[Category:Holidays in the United States]] |
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=== Oceania === |
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[[Category:Irish culture]] |
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====Australia==== |
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[[File:St Patrick's Parade Brisbane-13 (8562155117).jpg|thumb|Saint Patrick's Parade in Brisbane]] |
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Saint Patrick's Day is not a public holiday in Australia, although it is celebrated each year across the country's states and territories.<ref>[[National Museum of Australia]] (2020). [https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/not-just-ned/about/about/st-patricks-day St Patrick's Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207094309/https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/not-just-ned/about/about/st-patricks-day |date=7 February 2021 }}. Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref><ref>Irish Echo (Australia) (2019) [https://www.irishecho.com.au/news/tag/St+Patrick%27s+Day+in+Australia St Patrick's Day in Australia: Latest News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321113813/https://www.irishecho.com.au/news/tag/St+Patrick%27s+Day+in+Australia |date=21 March 2021 }}. Irish Echo (Australia). Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref><ref>Modern Australian. (29 January 2019). [https://modernaustralian.com/4400-the-best-st-patrick-s-day-events-in-australia-2019 The best Saint Patrick's day events in Australia 2019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208050408/https://modernaustralian.com/4400-the-best-st-patrick-s-day-events-in-australia-2019 |date=8 February 2021 }}. Modern Australian. Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref> Festivals and parades are often held on weekends around 17 March in cities such as [[Sydney]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Georgina |date=17 March 2018 |title=St Patrick's day celebrations to turn Moore Park into the 'green quarter' |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/st-patrick-s-day-celebrations-to-turn-moore-park-into-the-green-quarter-20180317-p4z4ui.html |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=7 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207091307/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/st-patrick-s-day-celebrations-to-turn-moore-park-into-the-green-quarter-20180317-p4z4ui.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Brisbane]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Garcia|first=Jocelyn|date=16 March 2019|title=St Patrick's Day parade patron honoured at Brisbane festivities|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/st-patrick-s-day-parade-patron-honoured-at-brisbane-festivities-20190316-p514rq.html|work=[[Brisbane Times]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207091513/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/st-patrick-s-day-parade-patron-honoured-at-brisbane-festivities-20190316-p514rq.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Adelaide]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Iannella|first=Antimo|date=16 March 2017|title=St Patrick's Day takes to Adelaide Oval for the first time since 1967, with celebrations at southern end of stadium|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/st-patricks-day-takes-to-adelaide-oval-for-the-first-time-since-1967-with-celebrations-at-southern-end-of-stadium/news-story/1882121362c680f649067884e7141dfe|work=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=10 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910202046/http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/st-patricks-day-takes-to-adelaide-oval-for-the-first-time-since-1967-with-celebrations-at-southern-end-of-stadium/news-story/1882121362c680f649067884e7141dfe|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Melbourne]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Kozina|first=Teigan|date=16 March 2018|title=2019 Saint Patrick's Day 2018: Where to celebrate in Melbourne|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/saint-patricks-day-2018-where-to-celebrate-in-melbourne/news-story/26d3bf2bacfd0ddd3ae48023b0db9263|work=[[Herald Sun]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=26 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426111709/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/saint-patricks-day-2018-where-to-celebrate-in-melbourne/news-story/26d3bf2bacfd0ddd3ae48023b0db9263|url-status=live}}</ref> On occasion, festivals and parades are cancelled. For instance, Melbourne's 2006 and 2007 Saint Patrick's Day festivals and parades were cancelled due to sporting events ([[Commonwealth Games]] and [[Australian Grand Prix]]) being booked on and around the planned Saint Patrick's Day festivals and parades in the city.<ref>{{cite news|last=Holroyd|first=Jane|date=17 March 2006|title=Irish see green over Grand Prix|url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/irish-see-green-over-grand-prix-20070317-ge4fyk.html|work=[[The Age]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=6 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206161335/https://www.theage.com.au/national/irish-see-green-over-grand-prix-20070317-ge4fyk.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In Sydney the parade and family day was cancelled in 2016 due to financial problems.<ref>{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Damien |date=6 February 2016 |title=Why there will be no St Patrick's Day Rising: Burden of debt on the centenary of the Easter Rising forces cancellation of St Patrick's Day parade. |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-there-will-be-no-st-patricks-day-rising-20160204-gmlydi.html |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=12 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212004753/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/why-there-will-be-no-st-patricks-day-rising-20160204-gmlydi.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Damien |date=16 March 2016 |title=Irish eyes not smiling: St Patrick's Day parade cancelled in Sydney |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/irish-eyes-not-smiling-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-in-sydney-20160316-gnk86u.html |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209051232/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/irish-eyes-not-smiling-st-patricks-day-parade-cancelled-in-sydney-20160316-gnk86u.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Brisbane's Saint Patrick's Day parade, which was cancelled at the outbreak of [[World War II]] and wasn't revived until 1990,<ref>{{cite news|last=Crockford|first=Toby|date=17 March 2018|title=Grand parade to be sure, when St Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/grand-parade-to-be-sure-when-st-patrick-s-day-falls-on-a-saturday-20180317-p4z4v0.html|work=[[Brisbane Times]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=9 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109031629/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/grand-parade-to-be-sure-when-st-patrick-s-day-falls-on-a-saturday-20180317-p4z4v0.html|url-status=live}}</ref> was not called off in 2020 as precaution for the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], in contrast to many other Saint Patrick's Day parades around the world.<ref>{{cite news|last=Layt|first=Stuart|date=10 March 2020|title=Coronavirus fears won't rain on Brisbane St Patrick's Day parade|url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/coronavirus-fears-won-t-rain-on-brisbane-st-patrick-s-day-parade-20200310-p548qo.html|work=[[Brisbane Times]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=11 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311155325/https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/coronavirus-fears-won-t-rain-on-brisbane-st-patrick-s-day-parade-20200310-p548qo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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The first mention of Saint Patrick's Day being celebrated in Australia was in 1795, when Irish convicts and administrators, Catholic and Protestant, in the [[penal colony]] came together to celebrate the day as a national holiday, despite a ban against assemblies being in place at the time.<ref name="O'Farrell">[[Patrick O'Farrell|O'Farrell, Patrick]]. (1995). St Patrick's Day in Australia: The John Alexander Ferguson Lecture 1994. Journal of Royal Historical Society 81(1) 1-16.</ref> This unified day of Irish nationalist observance would soon dissipate over time, with celebrations on Saint Patrick's Day becoming divisive between religions and social classes, representative more of Australianness than of Irishness and held intermittingly throughout the years.<ref name="O'Farrell"/><ref>''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (18 March 1887). [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28355652 St Patrick's Day Celebrations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519150719/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28355652 |date=19 May 2021 }}. ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]''. [[New South Wales]]. p5. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref><ref>The Adelaide Chronicle (25 Mar 1916). [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87241295/8616594 St. Patrick's Day in Adelaide] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519150800/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/87241295/8616594 |date=19 May 2021 }}. [[The Adelaide Chronicle]] [[Adelaide]] [[South Australia]]. p25. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref> Historian [[Patrick O'Farrell]] credits the [[Easter Rising|1916 Easter Rising]] in [[Dublin]] and [[Archbishop Daniel Mannix]] of [[Melbourne]] for re-igniting St Patrick's Day celebrations in Australia and reviving the sense of Irishness amongst those with Irish heritage.<ref name="O'Farrell"/> The organisers of the Saint Patrick's festivities in the past were, more often than not, the Catholic clergy<ref>The Southern Cross. (20 February 1931). St. Patrick's Day: The Adelaide Celebration: Meeting of the Committee. [[The Southern Cross (South Australia)|The Southern Cross]]. [[Adelaide]] [[South Australia]]. p7. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref> which often courted controversy.<ref>{{cite news|last=Daley|first=Paul|date=2 April 2016|title=Divided Melbourne: When Archbishop turned St Patrick's Day into Propaganda|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2016/apr/22/divided-melbourne-when-the-archbishop-turned-st-patricks-day-into-propaganda|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=6 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206213653/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2016/apr/22/divided-melbourne-when-the-archbishop-turned-st-patricks-day-into-propaganda|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Sullivan, Tim. (2020). [https://www.htav.asn.au/documents/item/3390 An Illusion of Unity: Irish Australia, the Great War and the 1920 St Patrick's Day Parade] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206020126/https://www.htav.asn.au/documents/item/3390 |date=6 February 2021 }} Agora 55(1). 24–31</ref> [[Patrick Phelan (Bishop of Sale)|Bishop Patrick Phelan]] of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale|Sale]] described in 1921 how the authorities in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] had ordered that a [[Union Jack]] be flown at the front of the Saint 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.<ref>Fitzgerald, Ellen (21 March 2019). [https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/in-the-herald-march-21-1921-20190313-p513tl.html In the Herald : 21 March 1921: Union Jack forced on St Patrick's Day] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210001805/https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/in-the-herald-march-21-1921-20190313-p513tl.html |date=10 February 2021 }}. [[The Sydney Morning Herald]]</ref><ref>Warwick Daily News (21 March 1921). [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177270639?searchTerm=Patrick%20Phelan%20Union%20Jack%20forced%20on%20St%20Patrick%E2%80%99s%20Day St Patrick's Day: Scenes in Melbourne: Union Jack Hooted: Speech by Bishop Phelan]. [[Warwick Daily News]] [[Queensland]]. p5. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref> This individual was later assaulted by two men who were later fined in court.<ref>The Argus. (22 March 1921). [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1741365?searchTerm=Union%20Jack%20forced%20on%20St%20Patrick%E2%80%99s%20Day Attack on Union Jack: St Patrick's Day Incident: Two Men Before the Court.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207181041/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1741365?searchTerm=Union%20Jack%20forced%20on%20St%20Patrick%E2%80%99s%20Day |date=7 February 2021 }} [[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]. [[Melbourne]] [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. p7. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref><ref>The Argus (31 March 1921). [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1743242?searchTerm=Union%20Jack%20forced%20on%20St%20Patrick%E2%80%99s%20Day Attack on Union Jack: St Patrick's Day Incident: Two Young Men Fined]. ''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]''. [[Melbourne]] [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]. p7. Retrieved 2 February 2021 via National Library of Australia</ref> |
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====New Zealand==== |
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From 1878 to 1955, Saint Patrick's Day was recognised as a public holiday in New Zealand, together with [[St George's Day]] (England) and [[St Andrew's Day]] (Scotland).<ref>Swarbrick, Nancy. (2016). [https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-holidays/page-3 Public holidays - Celebrating communities] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207085104/https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-holidays/page-3 |date=7 February 2021 }}, [[Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]], Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref><ref>Swarbrick, Nancy. (2016) [https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-holidays/print Public holidays] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206081203/https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-holidays/print |date=6 February 2021 }}, [[Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]], Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Daly|first=Michael|date=20 May 2020|title=How do we get public holidays? Government considering an extra long weekend|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121569002/how-do-we-get-public-holidays-government-considering-an-extra-long-weekend|work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=6 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206123935/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121569002/how-do-we-get-public-holidays-government-considering-an-extra-long-weekend|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Auckland]] attracted many Irish migrants in the 1850s and 1860s, and it was here where some of the earliest Saint Patrick's Day celebrations took place, which often entailed the hosting of community picnics.<ref name="Bueltmann">Bueltmann, Tanja. (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=opjuVKk-HEoC&dq=The+New+Zealand+Herald+st+patrick%27s+day+public+holiday&pg=PA105 Remembering the Homeland: St Patrick's Day Celebrations in New Zealand to 1910] in Oona Frawley (ed.) (2012). ''Memory Ireland: Diaspora and Memory Practices'' Vol.2 Syracuse University Press. {{ISBN|9780815651710}} pp101-113. Retrieved 2 February 2021</ref> 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.<ref name="Bueltmann"/> While Saint Patrick's Day is no longer recognised as a public holiday, it continues to be celebrated across New Zealand with festivals and parades at weekends on or around 17 March.<ref>{{cite news|last=NZ Herald|date=17 March 2018|title=St Patrick's Day celebrations underway in Auckland|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/st-patricks-day-celebrations-underway-in-auckland/ZASJXHLEBLWJT2YAQOAXZNK2UA/|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207051529/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/st-patricks-day-celebrations-underway-in-auckland/ZASJXHLEBLWJT2YAQOAXZNK2UA/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=O'Sullivan|first=Aisling|date=16 March 2017|title=Best places to celebrate St Patrick's Day in New Zealand and around the world|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/90440256/best-places-to-celebrate-st-patricks-day-in-new-zealand-and-around-the-world|work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]]|access-date=2 February 2021|archive-date=8 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508044805/https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/nz/90440256/best-places-to-celebrate-st-patricks-day-in-new-zealand-and-around-the-world|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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===Asia=== |
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[[File:Saint Patricks Day in Motomachi Yokohama.jpg|thumb|Saint Patrick's Day in [[Motomachi, Yokohama]]]] |
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Saint Patrick's parades are now held in many locations across Japan.<ref name="url2013 St Patricks Day Parades in Japan">{{cite web |url=http://st-patricks-day.com/st_patricks_day_parades_asia_japan.html |title=Saint Patrick's Day Parades & Events in Japan |access-date=24 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508140202/http://st-patricks-day.com/st_patricks_day_parades_asia_japan.html |archive-date=8 May 2013 }}</ref> The first parade, in Tokyo, was organised by The Irish Network Japan (INJ) in 1992. |
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The Irish Association of Korea has celebrated Saint 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 [[Daehangno]] to [[Cheonggyecheon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iak.co.kr/event/event.php |title=Saint Patrick's Day in Korea Event Page |publisher=Irish Association of Korea |access-date=17 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314060945/http://www.iak.co.kr/event/event.php |archive-date=14 March 2010 }}</ref> |
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In [[Malaysia]], the St Patrick's Society of Selangor, founded in 1925, organises a yearly St Patrick's Ball, described as the biggest Saint Patrick's Day celebration in Asia. [[Guinness Anchor Berhad]] also organises 36 parties across the country in places like the [[Klang Valley]], [[Penang]], [[Johor Bahru]], Malacca, [[Ipoh]], [[Kuantan]], [[Kota Kinabalu]], [[Miri, Malaysia|Miri]] and [[Kuching]]. |
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===UN Peacekeeping Missions=== |
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Irish [[United Nations]] (UN) peacekeepers also celebrating Saint Patrick's Day outside Ireland during their participation in UN peacekeeping missions in conflict-raged countries.<ref>{{cite web|title=ST PATRICK'S DAY 2021 IN UNDOF|url=https://undof.unmissions.org/st-patrick%E2%80%99s-day-2021-undof|publisher=[[United Nations]]|website=undof.unmissions.org|date=22 March 2021|access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref> |
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===International Space Station=== |
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[[File:Chris Hadfield in the Space Station on Saint Patrick's Day.jpg|thumb|Astronaut [[Chris Hadfield]] wearing green in the [[International Space Station]] on Saint Patrick's Day, 2013]] |
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Astronauts on board the [[International Space Station]] have celebrated the festival in different ways. Irish-American [[Catherine Coleman]] played a hundred-year-old flute belonging to [[Matt Molloy]] and a [[tin whistle]] belonging to [[Paddy Moloney]], both members of the Irish music group [[The Chieftains]], while floating weightless in the space station on Saint Patrick's Day in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |first=Tariq |last=Malik |url=http://www.space.com/11159-irish-astronaut-stpatricks-day-flute-music.html |title=Irish Astronaut in Space Gives St. Patrick's Day Musical Flair |work=Space.com |date=17 March 2011 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601065208/https://www.space.com/11159-irish-astronaut-stpatricks-day-flute-music.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX-5n_YcxgQ |title=St. Patrick's Day Greeting From Space |publisher=NASA TV video |date=17 March 2011 |access-date=1 December 2016 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601065219/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX-5n_YcxgQ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Diarmaid |last=Fleming |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/molloy-s-flute-to-help-irish-music-breach-the-final-frontier-1.687275 |title=Molloy's flute to help Irish music breach the final frontier |work=Irish Times |date=15 December 2010 |access-date=19 March 2018 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601065247/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/molloy-s-flute-to-help-irish-music-breach-the-final-frontier-1.687275 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her performance was later included in a track called "The Chieftains in Orbit" on the group's 2012 album, ''[[Voice of Ages]]''.<ref>{{cite web |first=Brian |last=Boyd |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2.659/chieftains-call-up-to-an-army-of-indie-admirers-1.479104 |title=Chieftains' call-up to an army of indie admirers |work=Irish Times |date=10 March 2012 |access-date=19 March 2018 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601071548/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2.659/chieftains-call-up-to-an-army-of-indie-admirers-1.479104 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[Chris Hadfield]] took photographs of Ireland from Earth orbit, and a picture of himself wearing green clothing in the space station, and posted them online on Saint Patrick's Day in 2013. He also posted online a recording of himself singing "[[Danny Boy]]" in space.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ronan |last=McGreevy |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/out-of-this-world-rendition-of-danny-boy-marks-st-patrick-s-day-in-space-1.1328923 |title=Out of this world rendition of Danny Boy marks St Patrick's Day in space |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=17 March 2013 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-date=17 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317213530/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/out-of-this-world-rendition-of-danny-boy-marks-st-patrick-s-day-in-space-1.1328923 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F83635601 |title=Astronaut Chris Hadfield singing "Danny Boy" on the International Space Station |work=Soundcloud |date=17 March 2013 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-date=18 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318233806/https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F83635601 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Criticism== |
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Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have been criticised, particularly for their association with [[public drunkenness]] and [[disorderly conduct]]. Some argue that the festivities have become too [[Commercialism|commercialised]] and tacky,{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=240}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/fionola-meredith/time-to-banish-perpetually-offended-elements-in-society-29142031.html |title=Time to banish perpetually offended elements in society |first=Fionola |last=Meredith |work=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |date=21 March 2013 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312072118/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/fionola-meredith/time-to-banish-perpetually-offended-elements-in-society-29142031.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and have strayed from their original purpose of honouring Saint Patrick and Irish heritage.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/st-patrick-s-day-celebrates-the-role-of-all-us-migrants-1.483637 |title=St Patrick's Day celebrates the role of all US migrants |first=James |last=Flannery |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=17 March 2012 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312062023/http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/st-patrick-s-day-celebrates-the-role-of-all-us-migrants-1.483637 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/12003/irish-american-catholics-negotiate-st-patricks-day-and-holy-week-conflict |title=Irish-American Catholics negotiate St. Patrick's Day and Holy Week conflict |work=[[Catholic News Agency]] |date=7 March 2008 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312065341/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/irishamerican_catholics_negotiate_st._patricks_day_and_holy_week_conflict |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=240}} Irish American journalist [[Niall O'Dowd]] has criticised attempts to recast Saint Patrick's Day as a celebration of [[multiculturalism]] rather than a celebration of Irishness.<ref>{{cite web |title=Please, let's keep political correctness out of Saint Patrick's Day |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/please-lets-keep-political-correctness-out-of-saint-patricks-day--pressure-mounts-to-make-it-about-more-than-just-the-irish-in-america-143292966-238125081.html |first=Niall |last=O'Dowd |work=IrishCentral |date=18 March 2012 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312064109/http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/please-lets-keep-political-correctness-out-of-saint-patricks-day--pressure-mounts-to-make-it-about-more-than-just-the-irish-in-america-143292966-238125081.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[File:Man in Leprechaun Outfit on St Patrick's Day.jpg|thumb|Man in a [[leprechaun]] outfit on Saint Patrick's Day]] |
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Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have also been criticised for fostering demeaning stereotypes of Ireland and [[Irish people]].{{sfnp|Cronin|Adair|2002 |p=240}} An example is the wearing of '[[leprechaun]] outfits',<ref>{{cite web |first=Ian |last=O'Doherty |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/st-patricks-day-when-everyones-proud-to-be-a-stereotype-31072014.html |title=St Patrick's Day – when everyone's proud to be a stereotype |work=[[Irish Independent]] |date=17 March 2015 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312065728/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/ian-odoherty/st-patricks-day-when-everyones-proud-to-be-a-stereotype-31072014.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which are based on derogatory 19th century caricatures of the Irish.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia |last=Venable |first=Shannon |year=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |pages=196–197}}</ref> In the run up to Saint Patrick's Day 2014, the [[Ancient Order of Hibernians]] successfully campaigned to stop major American retailers from selling novelty merchandise that promoted negative Irish stereotypes.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jennifer |last=Harper |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/16/weary-drunk-leprechauns-irish-americans-protest-th |title=O'Done with It: Irish Americans protest 'negative stereotyping' as bawdy drunks |work=[[The Washington Times]] |date=16 March 2014 |access-date=23 March 2018 |archive-date=14 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614025603/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/16/weary-drunk-leprechauns-irish-americans-protest-th/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Saint Patrick's Day celebrations outside Ireland have been described by critics as displays of "[[Plastic Paddy]]ness"; where foreigners [[Cultural appropriation|appropriate]] and misrepresent [[Irish culture]], claim Irish identity, and enact Irish stereotypes.<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Alex Massie (journalist) |author=Massie, Alex |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/217081/erin-go-argh-alex-massie |title=Erin Go Argh! |work=[[National Review Online]] |date=17 March 2006 |access-date=11 March 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312064448/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/217081/erin-go-argh-alex-massie |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[LGBT rights in the United States|LGBT groups in the US]] were long banned from marching in Saint Patrick's Day parades in [[New York City]] and [[Boston]], resulting in the landmark [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decision of ''[[Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston]]''. In New York City, the ban was lifted in 2014,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/nyregion/new-york-st-patricks-day-parade-organizers-lift-ban-on-gay-groups.html?_r=0 |last=Santora |first=Mark |title=Gay Groups to March in St. Patrick's Day Parade as Ban Falls |work=The New York Times |date=3 September 2014 |access-date=17 March 2016 |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722105445/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/04/nyregion/new-york-st-patricks-day-parade-organizers-lift-ban-on-gay-groups.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> but LGBT groups still find that barriers to participation exist.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140903/us--nyc-st-patrick-s-day-parade-gays/ |last=Fitzgerald |first=Jim |title=Gays Scoff at NY St. Patrick's Day Parade Decision |work=Huffington Post |date=3 September 2014 |access-date=17 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324104033/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20140903/us--nyc-st-patrick-s-day-parade-gays/ |archive-date=24 March 2016}}</ref> In Boston, the ban on LGBT group participation was lifted in 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://time.com/3745215/gay-groups-boston-st-patricks-parade/ |last=Worland |first=Justin |title=Boston Sees Historic St. Patrick's Day Parade |magazine=Time |date=15 March 2015 |access-date=17 March 2016 |archive-date=10 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910193051/https://time.com/3745215/gay-groups-boston-st-patricks-parade/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Sports events== |
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* Traditionally the finals of the [[All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship]] and [[All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship]] were held on Saint Patrick's Day in [[Croke Park]], Dublin, but since 2020 these now take place in January. The [[Interprovincial Championship]] was previously held on 17 March but this was switched to games being played in Autumn. |
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*The [[Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup]], [[Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup]] and [[Ulster Schools Senior Cup]] finals are held on Saint Patrick's Day. The [[Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup]] final is held on the weekend before Saint Patrick's Day. |
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* 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 Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/stpatrick/64867.stm |title=The day the world turns green |work=BBC News |date=17 March 1998 |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-date=5 July 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040705083914/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/03/98/stpatrick/64867.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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* The [[Six Nations Championship]] is an annual international rugby Union tournament competed by [[England national rugby union team|England]], [[France national rugby union team|France]], [[Ireland national rugby union team|Ireland]], [[Italy national rugby union team|Italy]], [[Scotland national rugby union team|Scotland]], and [[Wales national rugby union team|Wales]] and reaches its climax on or around Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>Carey, Tom. (10 March 2018). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2018/03/10/ireland-vs-scotland-six-nations-2018-live-score-updates/ Ireland will chase a Grand Slam at Twickenham on St Patrick's Day after claiming Six Nations title in Dublin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108200912/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2018/03/10/ireland-vs-scotland-six-nations-2018-live-score-updates/ |date=8 January 2019 }}. ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''. Retrieved on 8 January 2018</ref><ref>Tevlin, Rory (17 March 2018)[https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/on-st-patricks-day-and-after-cheltenham-this-is-the-icing-on-the-cake-ireland-rugby-fans-paint-london-green-36714831.html 'On St Patrick's Day and After Cheltenham – This is the Icing on the Cake' – Ireland Rugby Fans Paint London Green] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109011747/https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/on-st-patricks-day-and-after-cheltenham-this-is-the-icing-on-the-cake-ireland-rugby-fans-paint-london-green-36714831.html |date=9 January 2019 }}. [[Independent.ie]]. Retrieved 8 January 2018</ref> On [[2018 Six Nations Championship|St Patrick's Day 2018]], Ireland defeated England 24–15 at [[Twickenham Stadium|Twickenham]], [[London]] to claim the third [[Grand Slam (rugby union)|Grand Slam]] in their history.<ref>Fordyce, Tom. (17 March 2018). [https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/43414537 Six Nations: Ireland beat England 24–15 to win Grand Slam.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417034411/https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/43414537 |date=17 April 2019 }} [[BBC Sport]]. Retrieved 8 January 2018</ref><ref>Godwin, Hugh. (17 March 2018). [https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/six-nations-2018-ireland-beat-england-grand-slam-2415-match-report-video-a8261221.html Six Nations: Ireland Complete the Third Grand Slam in Their History with 24–15 Victory Over England] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330083426/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/six-nations-2018-ireland-beat-england-grand-slam-2415-match-report-video-a8261221.html |date=30 March 2020 }} ''[[The Independent]]''. Retrieved 8 January 2018</ref> |
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* The [[Saint Patrick's Day Test]] is an international [[rugby league]] tournament that is played between the [[United States national rugby league team|US]] and [[Ireland national rugby league team|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 US winning the remaining 5. The game is usually held on or around 17 March to coincide with Saint Patrick's Day.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lowe |first=Brian |url=http://www.wearerugby.com/news/articles/tomahawks-host-ireland |title=Tomahawks To Host Ireland |website=We Are Rugby |date=9 December 2010 |access-date=31 March 2011 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110718010215/http://www.wearerugby.com/news/articles/tomahawks-host-ireland |archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> |
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* The [[major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada]] that play during March often wear special [[third jersey]]s to acknowledge the holiday. Examples include the [[Buffalo Sabres]] (who have worn special Irish-themed practice jerseys), [[Toronto Maple Leafs]] (who wear [[Toronto St. Patricks]] throwbacks), [[New York Knicks]], [[Toronto Raptors]], and most [[Major League Baseball]] teams. The [[New Jersey Devils]] have worn their green-and-red throwback jerseys on or around Saint Patrick's Day in recent years.<ref>{{cite news |
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|url = http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2015/03/how_do_the_devils_feel_about_wearing_the_green_and.html |
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|title = How do the Devils feel about wearing the green and red retro jerseys? |
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|work = NJ.com |
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|author = Chere, Rich |
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|date = 16 March 2015 |
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|access-date = 21 February 2017 |
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|archive-date = 3 August 2017 |
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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170803223803/http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2015/03/how_do_the_devils_feel_about_wearing_the_green_and.html |
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|url-status = live |
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}}</ref> |
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==See also== |
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{{Portal|Holidays|Ireland|Christianity}} |
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* [[Gaelic calendar]], also known as Irish calendar |
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* "[[It's a Great Day for the Irish]]" |
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* [[Order of St. Patrick]] |
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* [[Saint Patrick's Breastplate]] |
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* [[St. Patrick's Day Snowstorm]] of 1892 |
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* [[Saint Brigid of Ireland]] |
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* [[Saint Urho]] |
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* [[Unofficial Saint Patrick's Day]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|refs= |
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<ref name=Koch2005>{{cite book |last=Koch |first=John T. |year=2005 |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |volume=1 A-Celti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=Goídel+Glas&pg=PA830 |location=Oxford |publisher=ABC-Clio |isbn=978-1-851-09440-0 |access-date=14 March 2018 |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519150936/https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=Go%C3%ADdel+Glas&pg=PA830 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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<ref name=Macalister1939>{{cite book |last=Macalister |first=Robert Alexander Stewart |year=1939 |title=Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland |volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/LeborGablarennTheBookOfTheTakingOfIreland-Volume21939 |location=Dublin |publisher=Irish Texts Society by the Educational Co. of Ireland |access-date=14 March 2018}}</ref> |
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<ref name=MacKillop2005>{{cite book |last=Mackillop |first=James |year=2005 |title=Myths and Legends of the Celts |pages=145–146 |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-141-01794-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI5yXNhbebYC&pg=PT215 |access-date=14 March 2018 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819114705/https://books.google.com/books?id=HI5yXNhbebYC&pg=PT215 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=The Wearing of the Green: A History of St. Patrick's Day |last1=Cronin |first1=Mike |last2=Adair |first2=Daryl |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-18004-7 }} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/st-patricks-day-history-m_n_502386.html Saint Patrick's Day History] – slideshow by ''[[The Huffington Post]]'' |
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Latest revision as of 20:09, 24 December 2024
Saint Patrick's Day | |
---|---|
Official name | Saint Patrick's Day |
Also called | |
Observed by |
|
Type | Ethnic, national, Christian |
Significance | Feast day of Saint Patrick, commemoration of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland[5][6] |
Celebrations |
|
Observances | Christian processions; attending Mass or service |
Date | 17 March |
Next time | 17 March 2025 |
Frequency | Annual |
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit. 'the Day of the Festival of Patrick'), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.
Saint 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),[7] the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and, by extension, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.[5][8] Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, céilithe, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.[9] Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend church services[8][10]. Historically, the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday's tradition of mass alcohol consumption.[8][9][11][12]
Saint Patrick's Day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland,[13] Northern Ireland,[14] 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,[15] Canada, United States, Argentina, Australia, South Africa,[16] and New Zealand, especially amongst Irish diaspora. Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated in more countries than any other national festival.[17] 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 Saint Patrick's Day celebrations for having become too commercialised and for fostering negative stereotypes of the Irish people.[18]
Saint Patrick
[edit]Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in Roman Britain in the fourth 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 sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland.[19] 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 on to become a priest.[20]
According to tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelising 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.[21]
Tradition holds that he died on 17 March and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries, many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.
Celebration and traditions
[edit]Present day Saint 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, Saint Patrick's Day was often a bigger celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland.[17]
Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions (céilithe), and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.[9] There are also formal gatherings such as banquets and dances, although these were more common in the past. Saint Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century but did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century.[22] The participants generally include marching bands, the military, fire brigades, cultural organisations, charitable organisations, 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 1 March to St Patrick's Day on 17 March is Seachtain na Gaeilge ("Irish language week").[23]
Since 2010, famous landmarks have been lit up in green on Saint Patrick's Day as part of Tourism Ireland's "Global Greening Initiative" or "Going Green for St Patrick's Day".[24][25] The Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland were the first landmarks to participate and since then over 300 landmarks in fifty countries across the globe have gone green for Saint Patrick's Day.[26][27]
Christians may also attend church services,[8][10] 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.[8][9][11][12] 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.[28] The Saint 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 Saint Patrick, Ireland, or those present. The shamrock would either be swallowed with the drink or taken out and tossed over the shoulder for good luck. [29][30][31]
Irish Government ministers travel abroad on official visits to various countries around Saint Patrick's Day to promote Ireland.[32][33]
Wearing green and shamrocks
[edit]On Saint Patrick's Day, it is customary to wear shamrocks, green clothing or green accessories. Saint Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.[34][35] This 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 evangelisation efforts.[36][37] Roger Homan writes, "We can perhaps see St Patrick drawing upon the visual concept of the triskele when he uses the shamrock to explain the Trinity".[38] Patricia Monaghan says there is no evidence the shamrock was sacred to the pagan Irish.[36] Jack Santino speculates that it may have represented the regenerative powers of nature, and was recast in a Christian context—icons of Saint Patrick often depict the saint "with a cross in one hand and a sprig of shamrocks in the other".[39]
The first association of the colour green with Ireland is from a legend in the 11th century Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). It tells of Goídel Glas (Goídel the green), the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels and creator of the Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx).[40][41] Goídel is bitten by a venomous snake but saved from death by Moses placing his staff on the snakebite, leaving him with a green mark. His descendants settle in Ireland, a land free of snakes.[42] One of the first, Íth, visits Ireland after climbing the Tower of Hercules and being captivated by the sight of a beautiful green island in the distance.[40][41][42]
The colour 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".[43] Green ribbons and shamrocks have been worn on Saint Patrick's Day since at least the 1680s.[44] Since then, the colour green and its association with St Patrick's Day have grown.[45] The Friendly Brothers of St Patrick, an Irish fraternity founded in about 1750,[46] adopted green as its colour.[47] The Order of St Patrick, an Anglo-Irish chivalric order founded in 1783, instead adopted blue as its colour, which led to blue being associated with Saint Patrick. In the 1790s, the colour green was adopted by the United Irishmen. This was a republican organisation—founded mostly by Protestants but with many Catholic members—who launched a rebellion in 1798 against British rule. Ireland was first called "the Emerald Isle" in "When Erin 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.[48][49][50][51] 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";[52][53] in 1924, the government introduced a green Irish passport.[54][55][56]
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 colours, and a bunch or rosette of green silk in the centre".[57]
Ireland
[edit]History
[edit]Saint Patrick's feast day, as a kind of national day, was already being celebrated by the Irish in Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries.[58] Saint 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.[59] Saint 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. The church calendar avoids the observance of saints' feasts during certain solemnities, moving the saint's day to a time outside those periods. Saint Patrick's Day is occasionally affected by this requirement, when 17 March falls during Holy Week. This happened in 1940, when Saint Patrick's Day was officially observed on 3 April to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and again in 2008, where it was officially observed on 15 March.[60] Saint Patrick's Day will not fall within Holy Week again until 2160.[61][62] However, the popular festivities may still be held on 17 March or on a weekend near to the feast day.[63]
Saint 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.[64]
Modern era
[edit]In 1903, Saint 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.[65]
The first Saint 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 Saint 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 15 March. The procession comprised the Mayor and members of Waterford Corporation, the Trades Hall, the various trade unions and bands who included the 'Barrack St Band' and the 'Thomas Francis Meagher Band'.[66] The parade began at the premises of the Gaelic League in George's St and finished in the Peoples Park, where the public were addressed by the Mayor and other dignitaries.[67][68] On Tuesday 17 March, most Waterford businesses—including public houses—were closed and marching bands paraded as they had two days previously.[69]
On Saint Patrick's Day 1916, the Irish Volunteers—an Irish nationalist paramilitary organisation—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.[70] 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 and Civil War. During this time, Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in Ireland were muted, although the day was sometimes chosen to hold large political rallies.[71]
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.[72] 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.[73]
The first official, state-sponsored Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin took place in 1931.[74] Public St Patrick's Day festivities in Ireland have been cancelled three times, all for public health reasons.[75][76] In 2001, celebrations were postponed to May due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak,[77][78][79] while in 2020 and 2021 they were cancelled outright due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[80][81][82][83][84][85][86]
In Northern Ireland, the celebration of Saint Patrick's Day was affected by sectarian divisions.[87] 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.[87] During the conflict known as the Troubles (late 1960s–late 1990s), public St Patrick's Day celebrations were rare and tended to be associated with the Catholic community.[87] 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 're-claim' the festival, and in 1985 the Orange Order held its own Saint Patrick's Day parade.[87] 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.[87]
In the mid-1990s the government of the Republic of Ireland began a campaign to use Saint Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and its culture.[88] 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".[89] The first Saint 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 theatre performances, and fireworks.[90] From 2006 to 2012 the Skyfest formed the centrepiece of the Saint Patrick's Festival.[91][92]
The week around Saint Patrick's Day is Seachtain na Gaeilge ("Irish Language Week"), when more Irish language events are held and there is more effort to use the language.[93]
Christian leaders in Ireland have expressed concern about the secularisation of Saint Patrick's Day. In The Word magazine's March 2007 issue, Fr Vincent Twomey wrote, "It is time to reclaim St Patrick's Day as a church festival". He questioned the need for "mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry" and concluded that "it is time to bring the piety and the fun together".[94]
One of the biggest celebrations outside the cities is in Downpatrick, County Down, where Saint Patrick is said to be buried. The shortest Saint Patrick's Day parade in the world formerly took place in Dripsey, County Cork. The parade lasted just 23.4 metres and traveled between the village's two pubs. The tradition began in 1999, but ended after five years when one of the pubs closed.[95]
Celebrations elsewhere
[edit]Europe
[edit]England
[edit]In England, the Royal Colonel or Colonel-in-chief 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.[96] 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.[97][98] Fresh Shamrocks are presented to the Irish Guards, regardless of where they are stationed, and are flown in from Ireland.[99]
While some Saint 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 to people of Irish descent wearing a sprig of shamrock on Saint Patrick's day in private or attending specific events.[100] Today after many years following the Good Friday Agreement, people of Irish descent openly wear a sprig of shamrock to celebrate their Irishness.[100]
Christian denominations in Great Britain observing his feast day include The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.[101]
Birmingham holds the largest Saint Patrick's Day parade in Britain with a city centre parade[102] over a two-mile (3 km) route through the city centre. The organisers describe it as the third biggest parade in the world after Dublin and New York.[103]
London, since 2002, has had an annual Saint 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.[citation needed]
Liverpool has the highest proportion of residents with Irish ancestry of any English city.[104] This has led to a long-standing celebration on Saint Patrick's Day in terms of music, cultural events and the parade.[citation needed]
Manchester hosts a two-week Irish festival in the weeks prior to Saint 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.[105]
Malta
[edit]The first Saint 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 Balzunetta 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.[106]
Today, Saint Patrick's Day is mainly celebrated in Spinola Bay and Paceville areas of St Julian's,[107] although other celebrations still occur at Floriana[106] and other locations.[108][109] Thousands of Maltese attend the celebrations, "which are more associated with drinking beer than traditional Irish culture."[110][111]
Norway
[edit]Norway has had a Saint 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.[112]
Russia
[edit]The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in Russia took place in 1992.[113] Since 1999, there has been a yearly "Saint Patrick's Day" festival in Moscow and other Russian cities.[114] 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 12 to 23 March, which includes Saint Patrick's Day on 17 March. Over 70 events celebrating Irish culture in Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Voronezh, and Volgograd were sponsored by the Irish Embassy, the Moscow City Government, and other organisations.[115]
In 2017, the Russian Orthodox Church added the feast day of Saint Patrick to its liturgical calendar, to be celebrated on 30 March [O.S. 17 March].[116]
Bosnia and Herzegovina
[edit]Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina has a large Irish expatriate community.[117][118] The community established the Sarajevo Irish Festival in 2015, which is held for three days around and including Saint Patrick's Day. The festival organizes an annual a 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 Ni Riain, Dermot Dunne, Mick Moloney, Chloë Agnew and others.[119][120][121]
Scotland
[edit]The Scottish town of Coatbridge, where the majority of the town's population are of Irish descent,[122][123] also has a Saint Patrick's Day Festival which includes celebrations and parades in the town centre.[123][124]
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.[125] Due to this large Irish population, there are many Irish-themed pubs and Irish interest groups who hold yearly celebrations on Saint Patrick's day in Glasgow. Glasgow has held a yearly Saint Patrick's Day parade and festival since 2007.[126]
Spain
[edit]Madrid,[127] Barcelona,[128] La Coruña and Benidorm are the biggest cities where great celebrations take place in Spain, but some other smaller cities have started to host Saint Patrick's Day in recent years, such as El Espinar,[129] Caldas de Reyes, Pontevedra, Salamanca, Elda, Valladolid[130] and Maspalomas.
Switzerland
[edit]While Saint Patrick's Day in Switzerland is commonly celebrated on 17 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 Saint Patrick's Eve. Most popular are usually those in Zurich's Kreis 4. Traditionally, guests also contribute with beverages and dress in green.[131]
Lithuania
[edit]Although it is not a national holiday in Lithuania, the Vilnia River is dyed green every year on the Saint Patrick's Day in the capital Vilnius.[132]
Americas
[edit]Canada
[edit]One of the longest-running and largest Saint Patrick's Day (French: le jour de la Saint-Patrick) parades in North America occurs each year in Montreal,[133] 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. Saint Patrick's Day itself, however, has been celebrated in Montreal since as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France.
In Saint John, New Brunswick Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated as a week-long celebration. Shortly after the JP Collins Celtic Festival is an Irish festival celebrating Saint John's Irish heritage. The festival is named for a young Irish doctor James Patrick Collins who worked on Partridge Island (Saint 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 Saint Patrick's Day.[134]
In 2004, the CelticFest 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 Saint Patrick's Day.[135]
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.[136]
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 Saint Patrick's Day, they wore green St Patrick's retro uniforms.[citation needed]
Some groups, notably Guinness, have lobbied to make Saint Patrick's Day a national holiday.[137]
In March 2009, the Calgary Tower changed its top exterior lights to new green CFL bulbs just in time for Saint 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 Saint 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.[138]
Since 2019, the City of Waterloo, Ontario has had to contend with an ever-growing massive street party that has coincided with the Saint Patrick's Day celebrations. In 2023, police could be seen putting fences up on Ezra Avenue to discourage partiers to participate in the unauthorized event that has cost the city as much as $750,000 a year for police, paramedics, and municipal services.[139]
United States
[edit]Saint 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.[11] The holiday has been celebrated in what is now the U.S. since 1600, with the first parade occurring in 1601.[141]
It is customary for the Irish Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) to meet with the President of the United States on or around Saint Patrick's Day.[142][143] Traditionally the Taoiseach presents the US president a Waterford Crystal bowl filled with shamrocks.[144] This tradition began in 1952 when the Irish Ambassador to the US, John Hearne, sent a box of shamrocks to President Harry S. Truman. From then it became a yearly custom for the Irish ambassador to send Saint Patrick's Day shamrocks to an official in the US President's administration, although on some occasions the shamrocks were given personally by the Irish Taoiseach or Irish President to the US president in Washington.[142][144] After the meeting between Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and President Bill Clinton in 1994, the presenting of the shamrocks became a yearly custom.[142][145]
Mexico
[edit]The Saint Patrick's Battalion is honored in Mexico on Saint Patrick's Day.[146]
Argentina
[edit]In Buenos Aires, a party is held in the downtown street of Reconquista, where there are several Irish pubs;[147][148] in 2006, there were 50,000 people in this street and the pubs nearby.[149] Neither the Catholic Church nor the Irish community, the fifth largest in the world outside Ireland,[150] take part in the organisation of the parties.
Montserrat
[edit]The island of Montserrat is known as the "Emerald Island of the Caribbean" because of its founding by Irish refugees from Saint Kitts and Nevis. Montserrat is one of three places where Saint 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.[151]
Oceania
[edit]Australia
[edit]Saint Patrick's Day is not a public holiday in Australia, although it is celebrated each year across the country's states and territories.[152][153][154] Festivals and parades are often held on weekends around 17 March in cities such as Sydney,[155] Brisbane,[156] Adelaide,[157] and Melbourne.[158] On occasion, festivals and parades are cancelled. For instance, Melbourne's 2006 and 2007 Saint Patrick's Day festivals and parades were cancelled due to sporting events (Commonwealth Games and Australian Grand Prix) being booked on and around the planned Saint Patrick's Day festivals and parades in the city.[159] In Sydney the parade and family day was cancelled in 2016 due to financial problems.[160][161] However, Brisbane's Saint Patrick's Day parade, which was cancelled at the outbreak of World War II and wasn't revived until 1990,[162] was not called off in 2020 as precaution for the COVID-19 pandemic, in contrast to many other Saint Patrick's Day parades around the world.[163]
The first mention of Saint Patrick's Day being celebrated in Australia was in 1795, when Irish convicts and administrators, Catholic and Protestant, in the penal colony came together to celebrate the day as a national holiday, despite a ban against assemblies being in place at the time.[164] This unified day of Irish nationalist observance would soon dissipate over time, with celebrations on Saint Patrick's Day becoming divisive between religions and social classes, representative more of Australianness than of Irishness and held intermittingly throughout the years.[164][165][166] Historian Patrick O'Farrell credits the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin and Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Melbourne for re-igniting St Patrick's Day celebrations in Australia and reviving the sense of Irishness amongst those with Irish heritage.[164] The organisers of the Saint Patrick's festivities in the past were, more often than not, the Catholic clergy[167] which often courted controversy.[168][169] 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 Saint 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.[170][171] This individual was later assaulted by two men who were later fined in court.[172][173]
New Zealand
[edit]From 1878 to 1955, Saint Patrick's Day was recognised as a public holiday in New Zealand, together with St George's Day (England) and St Andrew's Day (Scotland).[174][175][176] Auckland attracted many Irish migrants in the 1850s and 1860s, and it was here where some of the earliest Saint Patrick's Day celebrations took place, which often entailed the hosting of community picnics.[177] 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.[177] While Saint Patrick's Day is no longer recognised as a public holiday, it continues to be celebrated across New Zealand with festivals and parades at weekends on or around 17 March.[178][179]
Asia
[edit]Saint Patrick's parades are now held in many locations across Japan.[180] The first parade, in Tokyo, was organised by The Irish Network Japan (INJ) in 1992.
The Irish Association of Korea has celebrated Saint 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 Daehangno to Cheonggyecheon.[181]
In Malaysia, the St Patrick's Society of Selangor, founded in 1925, organises a yearly St Patrick's Ball, described as the biggest Saint Patrick's Day celebration in Asia. Guinness Anchor Berhad also organises 36 parties across the country in places like the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru, Malacca, Ipoh, Kuantan, Kota Kinabalu, Miri and Kuching.
UN Peacekeeping Missions
[edit]Irish United Nations (UN) peacekeepers also celebrating Saint Patrick's Day outside Ireland during their participation in UN peacekeeping missions in conflict-raged countries.[182]
International Space Station
[edit]Astronauts on board the International Space Station have celebrated the festival in different ways. Irish-American Catherine Coleman played a hundred-year-old flute belonging to Matt Molloy and a tin whistle belonging to Paddy Moloney, both members of the Irish music group The Chieftains, while floating weightless in the space station on Saint Patrick's Day in 2011.[183][184][185] Her performance was later included in a track called "The Chieftains in Orbit" on the group's 2012 album, Voice of Ages.[186]
Chris Hadfield took photographs of Ireland from Earth orbit, and a picture of himself wearing green clothing in the space station, and posted them online on Saint Patrick's Day in 2013. He also posted online a recording of himself singing "Danny Boy" in space.[187][188]
Criticism
[edit]Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have been criticised, particularly for their association with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Some argue that the festivities have become too commercialised and tacky,[189][190] and have strayed from their original purpose of honouring Saint Patrick and Irish heritage.[191][192][189] Irish American journalist Niall O'Dowd has criticised attempts to recast Saint Patrick's Day as a celebration of multiculturalism rather than a celebration of Irishness.[193]
Saint Patrick's Day celebrations have also been criticised for fostering demeaning stereotypes of Ireland and Irish people.[189] An example is the wearing of 'leprechaun outfits',[194] which are based on derogatory 19th century caricatures of the Irish.[195] In the run up to Saint Patrick's Day 2014, the Ancient Order of Hibernians successfully campaigned to stop major American retailers from selling novelty merchandise that promoted negative Irish stereotypes.[196]
Saint Patrick's Day celebrations outside Ireland have been described by critics as displays of "Plastic Paddyness"; where foreigners appropriate and misrepresent Irish culture, claim Irish identity, and enact Irish stereotypes.[197]
LGBT groups in the US were long banned from marching in Saint Patrick's Day parades in New York City and Boston, resulting in the landmark Supreme Court decision of Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston. In New York City, the ban was lifted in 2014,[198] but LGBT groups still find that barriers to participation exist.[199] In Boston, the ban on LGBT group participation was lifted in 2015.[200]
Sports events
[edit]- Traditionally the finals of the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship were held on Saint Patrick's Day in Croke Park, Dublin, but since 2020 these now take place in January. The Interprovincial Championship was previously held on 17 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 finals are held on Saint Patrick's Day. The Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup final is held on the weekend before Saint 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 Saint Patrick's Day.[201]
- 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 Saint Patrick's Day.[202][203] On St Patrick's Day 2018, Ireland defeated England 24–15 at Twickenham, London to claim the third Grand Slam in their history.[204][205]
- The Saint Patrick's Day Test is an international rugby league tournament that is played between the US 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 US winning the remaining 5. The game is usually held on or around 17 March to coincide with Saint Patrick's Day.[206]
- 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 worn special Irish-themed practice jerseys), Toronto Maple Leafs (who wear Toronto St. Patricks throwbacks), New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, and most Major League Baseball teams. The New Jersey Devils have worn their green-and-red throwback jerseys on or around Saint Patrick's Day in recent years.[207]
See also
[edit]- Gaelic calendar, also known as Irish calendar
- "It's a Great Day for the Irish"
- Order of St. Patrick
- Saint Patrick's Breastplate
- St. Patrick's Day Snowstorm of 1892
- Saint Brigid of Ireland
- Saint Urho
- Unofficial Saint Patrick's Day
References
[edit]- ^ Bolton, Doug (16 March 2016). "One Irish creative agency is leading the charge against 'St. Patty's Day'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
That's the thinking behind the No More Patty Google Chrome extension, created by Dublin-based creative agency in the Company of Huskies. The extension can be installed in a few clicks, and automatically replaces every online mention of the "very wrong" 'Patty' with the "absolutely right" 'Paddy'.
- ^ Jenkins, Aric (15 March 2017). "Why Some Irish People Don't Want You to Call It St. Patty's Day". Time. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
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- ^ Jordan Valinsky. (8 January 2015). "Dublin Airport would like to remind you it's St. Paddy's Day, not St. Patty's Day". The Week. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ a b Ritschel, Chelsea; Michallon, Clémence (17 March 2022). "What is the meaning behind St Patrick's Day?". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
The day of celebration, which marks the day of St Patrick's death, is a religious holiday meant to celebrate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and made official by the Catholic Church in the early 17th century. Observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church, the day was typically observed with services, feasts and alcohol.
- ^ Ariel, Shlomo (2018). Multi-Dimensional Therapy with Families, Children and Adults: The Diamond Model. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-58794-5.
In many culture, identity perception is supported by constitutive myths, traditions and rituals (e.g. the Jewish Passover, the myth of the foundation of Rome [the tale of Romulus and Remus] and St. Patrick's Day, which commemorates the arrival of Christianity to Ireland and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general).
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In nineteenth-century America it became a celebration of Irishness, more than a religious occasion, though attending Mass continues as an essential part of the day.
- ^ a b c d Willard Burgess Moore (1989). Circles of Tradition: Folk Arts in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 52. ISBN 9780873512398. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
The religious occasion did involve the wearing of shamrocks, an Irish symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on drinking.
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For most Irish-Americans, this holiday (from holy day) is partially religious but overwhelmingly festive. For most Irish people in Ireland the day has little to do with religion at all and St. Patrick's Day church services are followed by parades and parties, the latter being the best attended. The festivities are marked by Irish music, songs, and dances.
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Like many other forms of carnival, St. Patrick's Day is a feast day, a break from Lent in which adherents are allowed to temporarily abandon rigorous fasting by indulging the forbidden. Since alcohol is often proscribed during Lent the copious consumption of alcohol is seen as an integral part of St. Patrick's day.
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The 40-day period (not counting Sundays) prior to Easter is known as Lent, a time of prayer and fasting. Pastors of Irish-American parishes often supplied "dispensations" for St. Patrick s Day, enabling parishioners to forego Lenten sacrifices in order to celebrate the feast of their patron saint.
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There is only one place outside of Ireland that celebrates St. Patrick's Day as a national public holiday: the island of Montserrat. The small pear-shaped island is about 40 square miles and is located just south of Antigua. It's known as the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.
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There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts in any way. However, the Celts had a philosophical and cosmological vision of triplicity, with many of their divinities appearing in three. Thus when St Patrick, attempting to convert the Druids on Beltane, held up a shamrock and discoursed on the Christian Trinity, the three-in-one god, he was doing more than finding a homely symbol for a complex religious concept. He was indicating knowledge of the significance of three in the Celtic realm, a knowledge that probably made his mission far easier and more successful than if he had been unaware of that number's meaning.
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In some ways, though, the Christian mission resonated: pre-Christian devotion was characterized by, for example, the worship of gods in groups of three, by sayings collected in threes (triads), and so on – from all of which the concept of the Holy Trinity was not so very far removed. Against this backdrop the myth of Patrick and his three-leafed shamrock fits quite neatly.
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{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Chere, Rich (16 March 2015). "How do the Devils feel about wearing the green and red retro jerseys?". NJ.com. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
- Cronin, Mike; Adair, Daryl (2002). The Wearing of the Green: A History of St. Patrick's Day. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-18004-7.
External links
[edit]- Saint Patrick's Day History – slideshow by The Huffington Post
- Saint Patrick's Day
- Saint Patrick
- 1783 establishments in Ireland
- 1903 establishments in Ireland
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