How North America shaped St. Patrick’s Day

Each March 17, towns and cities are awash in Kelly green as pints of Guinness are lifted in the name of St. Patrick. Even though St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and credited with bringing Christianity to the Emerald Isle, many of the traditions associated with St. Patrick’s Day revelry actually originated on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The familiar traditions of St. Patrick’s Day, such as parades of pipers, drinking green milk shakes and dining on green bagels, did not originate in the Irish countryside. Many were the product of the prosperity of North America. In fact, the original St. Patrick’s Day celebrations of old in Ireland were much more modest and centered on religion rather than revelry. History. com indicates that, since 1631, St. Patrick’s Day had been a religious feast day commemorating the death of St. Patrick, a missionary who brought religious teachings to a then-pagan nation. Celebrations were solemn and focused on church and family.

Across the pond, as the numbers of Irish immigrants grew, so did the merrymaking. In cities throughout America and Canada, St. Patrick’s Day took on a more celebratory air.

Various cities claim to have hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day parades and celebrations, with Boston and New York long claiming to be the originators of these traditions. However, according to research discovered by historian Dr. J. Michael Francis in 2017, gunpowder expenditures logs in Spain’s Archivo General de Indias indicate artillery was fired for a feast day of San Patricio (St. Patrick) in 1600 in St. Augustine, Florida. In fact, St. Patrick would go on to become the official “protector” of the city’s maize fields in this Spanish garrison town. This seems to have been more of a festival than a parade, though it certainly predates celebrations and parades that took place in Boston and New York in 1737 and 1762, respectively, and oddly links St. Patrick with both Irish and Spanish immigrants.

Even still, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved to be celebrated in tiny towns and major metropolises all across North America. Boston, New York, Savannah,

Chicago, Vancouver, and Toronto all have notable celebrations. Even the famed “corned beef and cabbage” was an American invention. Ham and cabbage was eaten in Ireland, but corned beef proved a cheaper substitute for impoverished Irish immigrants in the United States. It was the cheapest meat to be found at the time, and was soon a staple of the holiday.

St. Patrick’s Day remained solemn in Ireland (laws prohibited pubs from opening on holy days until 1973) even as merry-making grew elsewhere. However, with the invention of television, the Irish could see the revelry taking place in America. Eventually, the country took note and started celebrating in a similar fashion.

St. Patrick may have been the patron saint of Ireland, but the fanfare of St. Patrick’s Day traces its roots to North America.

(Metro Creative)