“For the whole world is Irish on the seventeenth o’ March!”
—Thomas Augustine Daly
“Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels.”
—Nora Roberts
“May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need the most.”
—Irish Blessing
“There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”
—Oscar Wilde
Since around the ninth or tenth century, the people of Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast day of St.
Patrick. The first St. Patrick’s Day parade actually took place on March 17, 1601 in a Spanish
colony in what is now known as my namesake city, St. Augustine, Florida. Legend has it that St. Patrick was not Irish at all. He was born in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family, kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. After escaping, he returned to Ireland and is largely credited with bringing Christianity to its people. He taught that the three leaves of the native Irish clover (the shamrock) represented the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit).
St. Patrick’s Day wasn’t widely celebrated in America until Irish-American immigrants made it popular in the 1700s. Though St. Patrick’s Day originated in Ireland, the parades, parties, and the practice of dyeing rivers green (i.e., the Chicago River), is purely an American tradition to demonstrate Irish-American pride. In a surprise tweet, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the Chicago River was dyed green in honor of St. Patrick's Day. The surprise dyeing of the river was done to avoid large crowds gathering at the waterfront. This is the second year in a row that the traditional St. Patrick’s Day parade are cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Postscript: While a young adult living in Hoboken, NJ, my friends and I used to take the Path train to McSorley's Old Ale House in NYC to celebrate. The iconic Irish pub was established in 1854. The bartenders were Irish and there was sawdust on the floors (See photo).
