Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day, or the feast of St. Patrick is a cultural and religious celebration held on the 17^th of march. The date of the 17^th was originally the death date of Saint Patrick who died in c. 461, who was the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official holiday in the early 17^th century and is usually observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church.

Celebrations include the wearing of the color green, usually accompanied by the Shamrock, drinking (especially a pint of Guinness,) and boiled meals. In fact, St. Patrick’s Day is the most internationally celebrated holiday of any national festival celebrated. Even though it is a widely celebrated event, there is many criticisms for the holiday becoming an over commercialized holiday and fostering celebrations that are negatively stereotypical to the Irish population.

In Ireland, they were already celebrating St. Patrick’s Day beginning in the 9^th and 10^th centuries. The day became a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics because it was placed on the universal liturgical calendar in the catholic church. In 1903 St. Patrick’s Day became an official public holiday in Ireland due to the Bank Holiday Act of 1903. This was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament introduced by an Irish member of Parliament named James O’Mara.

The First St. Patrick’s parade took place in 1903 in Waterford. The week of St. Patrick’s was soon then declared Irish Language Week by the Gaelic League in Waterford. The Parade began at the Gaelic League on George St. and ended in People’s Park where the public was addressed by the mayor and other dignitaries. All businesses in Waterford were closed for the Holiday, except for those marching in the parade.

The first official state sponsored St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin happened in 1931 and only three have been canceled due to health and safety reasons since then. As a consequence, to the pandemic, in both 2020 and 2021, all scheduled St. Patrick’s Day festivities created by the state were canceled. Instead, they have learned to celebrate by doing virtual events and will continue to do so till it is safe to convene again in the future.