The semi-legendary Saint whose feast day is the occasion of all of the hoopla. He wasn't Irish and did not drive the snakes out of the island--they never lived there to begin with. |
Note: For those
of you unaware, this is my natal anniversary.
Turn 66 today. Bet you wondered
how I got the name. Anyway, I am rerunning
a chestnut of a St. Patrick’s Day post. It gives me some breathing room, plus it
might be an eye opener for some of you.
Meanwhile to the Irish and wan-a-be Irish, enjoy the day. Have fun, but try not to live down to some
unfortunate stereotypes. And for
Christ’s sake don’t drink the damn green beer, an abomination and insult to the
soul! Have a dram of Jameson’s with a Guinness
back for me!
Acknowledging
the elephant in the room—today is the Feast
of St. Patrick, a low key religious celebration in the Auld Sod. In the U.S. it’s St. Patrick’s Day, which is, as they
say, a whole other kettle of fish. For
better or worse this quasi-holiday is an Irish
American phenomenon. Let’s trace the
metamorphosis from religiosity, to ethnic muscle flexing, to Irish
nationalism, to partisan political
display, to equal opportunity public
drinking festival.
It all
began on March 17, 1762 with the very first St. Patrick’s Day parade anywhere in the world. Irish soldiers in a British regiment headquartered in New York marched behind their musicians and drew cheers from the
small local Irish minority, both Catholic
and Protestant—mostly Protestant in
those days. It became if not an annual
event, one which was observed most years.
When the Redcoats left the
city at the end of the American
Revolution various local Irish mutual
aid societies like the Hibernians and
the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick
held often competing events which, if they happened to intersect, sometimes
devolved into brawls.
After the United Irishman uprising of 1798 was
crushed by the British unleashing a wave of harsh repression including the
banning of the wearing o’ the Green,
a new wave of Irish refugees flooded New York, Boston, and other eastern cities.
They inoculated the annual St. Patrick’s Day observances with a new political significance and wearing
green (instead of the traditional Irish colors of blue and gold) became a
protest against British rule in the homeland and a call to action to overthrow
that rule.
The Potato Famine unleashed yet another
wave of immigration bringing throngs of displaced peasants to the already growing slums of the city. Competing Irish
aid societies finally decided to unite behind a single, massive demonstration
in New York in 1848. The theme of
independence for Ireland was mixed with an act of aggressive defiance by the
now largely Catholic masses against
the nativists from Tammany Hall who controlled the city government, the Know Nothings, and street gangs who harassed and bullied them.
St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1860 thumbed its nose at the Protestant elite and Tammany politicians in a major display of muscle flexing. |
In 1858
the Fenian Brotherhood was organized
in the United States in support the
Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB),
a secret oath society agitating for the establishment of a “democratic Irish
republic.” The St. Patrick’s Day parades
in New York and other cities became powerful recruiting tools for the Fenians. Social events around the day annually
raised thousands of dollars, much of it to support fantastic plots and buy arms. On more than one
occasion Fenian plots to attack Canada brought the U.S. and Britain perilously
close to war, which, of course was the objective.
The
failure of the Easter Rebellion in
1916 in which labor leader James Connolly,
fresh from several years in America as an IWW
organizer, and an Irish-American
unit of Hibernian Rifles were both
involved, led to a fresh round of frenzied support for independence back
home. The campaign of the Irish Republican Army, which led to the
establishment of the Irish Free State in
1922 and the Irish Civil War between
the Free State government and republican rebels were both largely financed by
Irish Americans. Even after the
establishment of the Republic in
1937, Irish-Americans continued to fund rebel groups aimed at uniting Ulster to the rest of the island,
including support for Sein Fein and
the Provisional IRA in their armed
struggle through The Troubles. All of this was reflected in the parades and
other celebrations of the day which had become dominated by Rebel songs.
St.
Patrick’s Day celebrations also were important displays of Irish culture. Traditional
Irish music and dance was so suppressed at home that both nearly disappeared. Irish-Americans like Chicago’s Police Chief Francis O’Neill collected and preserved the songs and began
schools to teach it and traditional Irish
step dancing. Both were
re-introduced into Irish culture as a result of these efforts and put on
display in St. Patrick’s Day parades, banquets, and concerts.
Hiz Honor da Mayor, pals, and pols lead the 1968 Parade down State Street. in Chicago. |
The Irish
also excelled at political organization
in this country. Unlike other ethnic
groups with large concentrations like the Germans,
they were able to create viable political organizations with alliances with other ethnic groups that
allowed them to control many city governments for decades. In Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley brought the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, previously a South Side neighborhood
event, to the heart of the Loop and dyed the Chicago River green every year in a display of political
power. Politicians of all ethnicities
jockeyed to be as close as possible to Hizonor
in the front ranks of the parade.
By the
late 20th Century St. Patrick’s Day
had spread well beyond its ethnic roots.
Everyone is Irish on St. Paddy’s Day became a byword
pushed by breweries, bars, and distilleries making the day one of the biggest party days of the
year. Green beer and vomiting
teenagers have become new symbols of the holiday.
St. Patrick's Day has surpassed New Years Eve as Ameica's favorite festival of public drunkenness. |
And what
about St. Patrick? Well, what about him!
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