St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland and has become one of the World’s largest celebrated holidays overtaking festivals such as the Fourth of July and Cinco de Mayo. There doesn’t seem to be a reason behind why the remembrance of the Emerald Isle saint has become such a global party.
An Irish historian, Michael Cronin, based in Boston MA has explained the modern version of the holiday is largely an American export, celebrations gaining popularity as Irish immigrants asserted their cultural and political presence in American society. Parades in the U.S. started cropping up in the 1800s, but in Dublin you wouldn’t have seen that kind of celebration until around the 1990s due to civil conflicts.
Parades have commenced today worldwide, from Dublin and London to as far out as New Zealand and even the Caribbean. Celebrations have even extended to out of this world with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield taking his green sweater and bow tie aboard ISS in 2013. Two years earlier, American astronaut and flautist Catherine Coleman performed an Irish flute song in space for the holiday.
“It’s amazing to me,” says Cronin. “There’s no other nation in the world that can convince all the other countries to celebrate their national day. Why is an American kid worried about the patron saint of Ireland?”
So, today when you dig for your green shirt or that shamrock tie you only wear once a year, know that you are most definitely not alone.
