St. Patrick's Day

When I was 15 I spent a year in Ireland. There I learned about the St. Patrick's Day, one of the country's national celebrations. But when we moved to the US I realized that St. Patrick's was actually much more celebrated over here than in the country of origin.

In Ireland, St. Patrick is the patron saint of the country. March 17 is the date of his death. It was considered a Christian feast day, as it represents the entrance of the Christianity to Ireland. In fact, pubs and bars were closed on this date for a while.

Saint Patrick is believed to be born in the Roman Britain. According to a declaration written by Patrick himself, he was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave. He then converted to Christianity and fled back home, but came back to convert pagan Irish to Christianity. After his death, many legends emerged around him and his acts, and eventually he became Ireland's foremost saint.

The shamrock and 'wearing green' are customs traditionally attached to this celebration. It is believed that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain to the pagans the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Starting there, the color green has been linked to Irish nationalism.

But it wasn't until the 1990's when Ireland separated the festivity away from its initial ethnic and religious aspect, and started to use this day as an advertisement of Ireland and its culture. This new approached inspired creativity shown in festivals and parades.

But how come in the United States this celebration is so big too? Here it is a symbol of the Irish American pride. On this day, the color green is a constant throughout the country, one example is the fountain located in front of the White House.

But St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the United States didn't start with religious character, but rather as a gathering of the Irish immigrants to honor the country. In New York City, the parades started in the 19th century, becoming not only the largest parade in the United States, but also one of the largest in the world.

Gathered below, some examples of the celebration in different cities in the States:

The video below shows a preparation for the St. Patrick's day celebration in Chicago, when the river is tinted green.

Irish dancers on the streets of Wilmington, NC

Bag-pipers in the NYC parade

We went to the Detroit parade, which despite not being very big, it gathered a great amount of people in the streets of Corktown. It is great to go downtown, because every time we go we see new places open, rebuilt houses, and many construction sites, which signalizes the reviving of a city that has been down for a long time. It will still take a while, but it is moving forth, and with these events you can notice that many people stand for a change in Detroit.

Thanks for reading,

Lita & Andres