[information from
History.com and
Wikipedia]
The Celebration
* About 41.5 billion pounds and 2.6 billion pounds of U.S. beef and cabbage, respectively, were sold in 2007. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick's Day dish. The corned beef celebrants eat on St. Patrick's Day may very well have originated in Texas, which produced 6.8 billion pounds worth of beef, while the cabbage most likely came from California, which produced 581 million pounds worth, or New York (580 million pounds).
* Irish Soda Bread gets its name and distinctive character from the use of baking soda instead of yeast as the leavening agent.
* Lime-green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick's Day parades and celebrations.
Wearing of green
According to legend, St. Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish.
St. Patrick's Blue, not green, was the colour long-associated with St. Patrick. Green, the colour most widely associated with Ireland, with Irish people, and with St. Patrick's Day in modern times, may have gained its prominence through the phrase "the wearing of the green" meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing. At many times in Irish history, to do so was seen as a sign of Irish nationalism or loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith. St. Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish. The wearing of and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the saint's holiday.[11] The change to Ireland's association with green rather than blue probably began around the 1750's.
Some Protestants have begun wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day as a mark of defiance . This relatively new tradition has its roots in William of Orange (William III), the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who defeated King James II, a Roman Catholic, in the Battle of the Boyne near Dublin. William's victory would ensure Protestant military dominance on the island and has been a source of tension ever since. Although the "Orange" in William's name actually referred to a province in southern France, the colour reference of orange for Protestants stuck. This is why orange now appears in the Irish flag - to symbolize the Protestant minority in Ireland . The first group to take part in the tradition of wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day appears to have been the Orange Institution, a Protestant fraternal organization more commonly known as the Orange Order. Some members of the order wore orange in various parades on St. Patrick's Day as a mark of defiance.
When is St. Patrick's Day?
* St. Patrick's Day takes place each year on March 17, the tradtional religious feast day of Saint Patrick.
* St. Patrick's Day 2009 is on Tuesday, March 17.
* St. Patrick's Day 2010 is on Wednedsay, March 17.
* St. Patrick's Day 2011 is on Thursday, March 17.
Outside Ireland:
The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day parade in Canada occurs each year in Montreal, Quebec. The parades have been held in continuity since 1824; however, St. Patrick's Day itself has been celebrated in Montreal as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France.
In Great Britain, the Queen Mother used to present bowls of shamrock flown over from Ireland to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army consisting primarily of soldiers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In 2002, London mayor Ken Livingstone organized an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade which takes place on weekends around the 17th, usually in Trafalgar Square. In 2008 the water in the Trafalgar Square fountains was dyed green.
The tiny island of Montserrat, known as "Emerald Island of the Caribbean" due to its foundation by Irish refugees from Saint Kitts and Nevis, is the only place in the world apart from Ireland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in which St Patrick's Day is a public holiday. The holiday commemorates a failed slave uprising that occurred on 17 March 1798.
As in Australia, Saint Patrick's Day is widely celebrated. It is tradition for people to wear green items of clothing, and the streets are often filled with revelers drinking and making merry from early afternoon until late at night.
In Uruguay, celebrated in Montevideo and Punta del Este. The weather in March is warm. People dance and drink beer throughout the night until seven or eight in the morning. The tradition of mocking those who do not does not exist. Most people wear something green. Irish music is played in Bartolome Mitre street and Sarandi street, downtown Montevideo, where there are several Irish pubs.
Irish Society of Boston organized what was the first Saint Patrick's Day Parade in the colonies on 17 March 1737. The first celebration of Saint Patrick's Day in New York City was held at the Crown and Thistle Tavern in 1756, and New York's first Saint Patrick's Day Parade was held on 17 March 1762 by Irish soldiers in the British Army.
Americans celebrate the holiday by wearing green clothing. Many people, regardless of ethnic background, wear green-coloured clothing and items. Traditionally, those who are caught not wearing green are pinchedSome cities paint the traffic stripe of their parade routes green. Chicago dyes its river green and has done so since 1961 when sewer workers used green dye to check for sewer discharges and got the idea to turn the river green for St. Patrick's Day. Indianapolis also dyes its main canal green. Savannah dyes its downtown city fountains green. Missouri University of Science and Technology - St Pat's Board Alumni paint 12 city blocks kelly green with mops before the annual parade.In Jamestown, New York, the Chadakoin River (a small tributary that connects Conewango Creek with its source at Chautauqua Lake) is dyed green each year.
Population Distribution of Irish Americans
* There are 36.5 million U.S. residents who claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (more than 4 million). Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only those of German ancestry.
* The nation as a whole claims 12% of residents as having Irish ancestry. In Massachusetts this number doubles to 24 percent!
* In Middlesex County, Mass., 348,978 residents are of Irish ancestry. Among the 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group, Middlesex had the highest population of Irish-Americans, with Norfolk County, Mass., second, with 203,285.
* There are three states in which Irish is the leading ancestry group: Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Irish is among the top five ancestries in every state but two (Hawaii and New Mexico).
* There are 54 counties where Irish is the largest observed ancestry group. Forty-four of these counties are in the Northeast, with 14 in New York, 11 in Massachusetts and five in New Jersey.
* A total of 4.8 million immigrants from Ireland have been admitted to the U.S. for lawful permanent residence since fiscal year 1820, the earliest year for which official immigration records exist. By fiscal year 1870, about half of these immigrants were admitted for lawful permanent residence. Only Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Mexico have had more immigrants admitted for permanent residence to the United States than Ireland.
Many parades are held to celebrate the holiday including the cities listed below:
Postcard mailed in the United States in 1912
The longest-running Saint Patrick's Day celebrations in the U.S. are:
* Boston, Massachusetts, since 1737
* New York City, since 1762 (247th Consecutive Parade in 2008)
* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1771
* Morristown, New Jersey, since 1780
* New Orleans, Louisiana, since 1809
* Buffalo, New York, since 1811
* Savannah, Georgia, since 1813
* Carbondale, Pennsylvania, since 1833
* Milwaukee, Wisconsin, since 1843
* Chicago, Illinois, since 1843
* New Haven, Connecticut, since 1845
* Saint Paul, Minnesota, since 1851
* San Francisco, California, since 1852
* Scranton, Pennsylvania, since 1862
* Cleveland, Ohio, since 1867
* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since 1869
* Kansas City, Missouri, since 1873
* Butte, Montana, since 1882
shit I over did it but yall get it
