Saint Patrick’s Day is a holiday commonly celebrated with parades, dressing in green, and spending all day and night at bars. St. Patrick’s Day, or also known as the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a religious and cultural holiday held on March 17. But the question is, how do other cultures celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
In the early 17th century St. Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast day and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Church of Ireland, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church. This day honors Saint Patrick and the arrival Christianity in Ireland, and by extension celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish.
Besides Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day represents the first big public holiday of the new year in Ireland. The Irish celebrate in many ways, including many parades, the biggest parade being the Dublin parade. Dubliners have a 5 day mega celebration for the country’s patron saint. Between the 15th and the 19th of March, Dublin goes green, has a huge parade, and hosts a 5k road race. As for the rest of Ireland, the finals of the All Ireland Club Championships for hurling, camogie (a stick-and-ball sport), and gaelic football (football and soccer combined). These sports take place in Dublin where thousands of people watch.
In the United States St. Patrick’s Day is not considered a legal holiday, but is still widely observed throughout the country. Celebrations in the U.S. can include displays of the color green, religious observances, parades, and the vast consumption of alcohol. It is tradition for the Irish Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) to meet with the president of the United States on or around St. Patrick’s Day; the Taoiseach presents the president with a Waterford Crystal bowl filled with shamrocks. This tradition first began when the Irish Ambassador John Hearne sent shamrocks to President Harry S. Truman.
Astronauts in the International Space Station celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as well. Irish-American Catherine Coleman played a hundred year old flute while floating in the space station in 2011. Chris Hadfield took photographs of Ireland from Earth’s orbit in 2013, as well as himself wearing green clothing.
The Royal Colonel in England traditionally presents bowls of shamrocks to members of the Irish Guards. However, since 2012, the Duchess of Cambridge has presented bowls of shamrocks. Christian observations in Great Britain happen in The Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Birmingham holds the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the Trafalgar Square. In 2008, the water in the Trafalgar Square was dyed green, however in 2020 the parade was cancelled due to Covid-19. Manchester hosts a 2 week Irish festival in the weeks prior to St. Patrick’s Day. The festival includes an Irish market at the city’s town hall, a large parade, and cultural learning events.
St. Patrick’s Day is not a public holiday in Australia although it is celebrated across the country. Festivals and parades are held on weekends around March 17th, and are celebrated in cities such as Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Melbourne. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Australia in 1975 by Irish convicts.
The first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Russia in 1992, and since 1999 there has been a yearly St. Patrick’s Day festival in Moscow and other Russian cities. There is an official part of the Moscow parade, that being the parade is a military-style parade held in collaboration with the Moscow government and the Irish embassy. Over 70 events celebrating Irish culture were sponsored by the Irish embassy, the Moscow City Government, and other organizations. In 2017, the Russian Orthodox Church added the feast of St. Patrick to its liturgical (Eastern Orthodox) calendar, to be celebrated on March 30th.
In the Scottish town of Coatbridge, where the majority of the population is of Irish descent, has a St. Patrick’s Day festival, held in the town centre. Glasgow also has a large Irish population, vastly due to Irish immigration during the 19th century. Due to this immigration, there are many Irish themed pubs and interest groups who hold yearly celebrations on Saint Patrick’s Day, including a yearly parade and festival since 2007.
The island of Montserrat is known as the Emerald Island of the Caribbean, due to its founding Irish refugees. Montserrat is one of the three places where St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday. The holiday also commemorates a failed slave uprising that occurred on March 17, 1768.
Whether it be Ireland, the United States, England, Australia, Russia, Scotland, Montserrat, or up in space at the International Space Station, it seems to be we all celebrate with alcohol, parades and festivals, and the common tradition of green.
