The green London Eye
After St. Patrick’s Day yesterday the greening of the world seems complete as the 17th March seems to have morphed into a “Greenfest” not just for people of Irish extraction but those who want to join in and be Irish for a day. Indeed in a sign of the mark made by Irish Culture many people from places as extreme as Ulan Bator to Wolverhampton feel they have a little bit of the Irish in them. The attitude is best summed up by an Irish Bar in Toronto which had the slogan “Same Ireland, different country!”
The green fountains of Trafalgar Square, London
Paddy's Day in Trafalgar Square London
The St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for its national holiday - St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday 17th March 2009. St. Patrick and St. Bridgid are the patron saints of Ireland but the former is better known due to the world wide Paddy Whackery which takes place on his feast day and indeed over a number of days. In my hometown of Dublin the festival now lasts 4 days – a far cry from many years ago when I used to stand with my Scout Group as part of the “Guard of Honour” in front of the reviewing stand at the GPO in Dublin's main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, and watch a succession of commercial floats, Irish Dancing schools and over excitable American majorettes go by in a parade of dismal banality.
The Dublin Parade
The Dublin Parade has come on in leaps and bounds and is now an entertaining display of street theatre. In a tangible sign of the greening of the world several of the world's landmarks are turned green for St Patrick's Day, the annual celebration of all hues of Irishness. London's Eye and the Trafalgar Square fountains became green as did The Sydney Opera House, Toronto’s CN Tower and New York's Empire State building were lit up by green floodlights as part of a marketing push by Tourism Ireland. In Chicago the wonderfully titled Chicago River and Sanitary Canal is dyed green for a week.
The Chicago Parade
How green is my river? Chicago
Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá 'le Pádraig or Lá Fhéile Pádraig), colloquially is the feast day which annually celebrates Saint Patrick (386-493), the patron saint of Ireland, on March 17. It is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland (a bank holiday in Northern Ireland).
A green Sydney Opera House
Yesterday, Saint Patrick's Day was celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by many of non-Irish descent. Celebrations are generally themed around all things green and Irish; both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green, eating Irish food, imbibing Irish drink, and attending parades. The St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland is part of a five day festival, with over 500,000 people attending. The largest St. Patrick's Day parade is held in New York City and it is watched by 2 million spectators. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held in New York City on 17 March, 1756 when Irish soldiers marched through the city. Parades also take place in other Irish towns and villages. Other large parades include those in Belfast, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Coatbridge, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Savannah, Pittsburgh, Denver, Sacramento, Scranton and Toronto. Large parades also take place in other places throughout Europe and the Americas, as well as Australia and Asia.
Yer Man himself, St. Paddy
NYC - A green Empire State of mind
The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade is remarkably now in its 255th Year. It is the Daddy of them All and of course after American Independence it became a focus of displays of Irish national spirit which could not be expressed in an Ireland which was then under British rule. On sale now for St. Patrick’s Day is a one-of-a-kind book which chronicles the Irish-American pride that has fuelled the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade, the oldest parade in the country. This handsome book has been produced under the aegis of Quinnipiac University Press. Ninety minutes from New York City and two hours from Boston, Quinnipiac University is located next to picturesque Sleeping Giant Mountain in Hamden, Conn. The campus is home to 5,900 undergraduates and 2,000 graduate students, coming from 30 states and several countries.
The New York St. Patrick's Day Parade passing St. Patrick's Cathedral
Its President John L. Lahey was presented by President Bill Clinton with the Irish American of the Year Award by Irish America Magazine at a luncheon ceremony at the New York Yacht Club on March 15. "This is one of the greatest days of my life," said Lahey, who was honoured for his work in pioneering collegiate study of Ireland's Great Hunger and his remarkable commitment to promoting Irish-American heritage.
For more about the Irish Famine see;
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/07/gorta-mor-irelands-great-hunger.html
Lahey has been involved with the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade for more than 30 years and currently serves as vice chairman of the Parade Committee. He was grand marshal in 1997. "I am deeply honoured to be recognized with such a remarkable group of people," Lahey said. Lahey presented Clinton with a copy of the Quinnipiac University Press book, "Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade." Filled with a detailed account of the parade through the years, with stunning historic images and photographs, this book preserves the past and celebrates the present.
I love green New York
Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade.
www.250yearsparadebook.com
For more about St. Patrick see;
http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/st-paddys-day-blog.html
Green Angel of the North, Gateshead, England
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