America Did Not Give St Patrick’s Day to Ireland
In response to the rubbish I read every year about America supposedly giving Ireland its national day of celebration let me point to an old post about St Patrick’s Day being a big deal in Ireland.
It’s worth stressing that while the day was re-branded in 1995 as the multi-day St Patrick’s Festival, the day as a celebration didn’t start then - St Patrick’s Day was a major deal long long before the 1990s. Neither now nor before 1995 did it ape American celebrations.
Yes the very first ever St Patrick’s Day parade was in America, but it was by people from Ireland, it being entirely natural for Irish people abroad to display their nationality when abroad. It’s what we do.
The St Patrick’s Days I grew up with were - and still are - a national holiday, and possibly the main sporting day of the year; its parades were bigger and far more interesting than those I witnessed in KC (America’s 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th biggest Paddy’s Day parade). That compares more than favourably to green clothing and alcohol.
Anyway St Patrick’s Day in Ireland is a big deal now, and it was a big deal before.
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