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SKYTALK
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MARCH
2012
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www.skytalkonline.com
Shamrocks, leprechauns and a pint or two One of the most favourite celebrations around the globe is St. Patrick’s Day, which is observed on March 17 each year. This date is synonymous with all things Irish: shamrocks, anything green or gold, leprechauns, good luck and enjoying a pint or two of Guinness. So why is it celebrated on March 17? One theory is that this is the date at St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died. However did you know that St. Patrick was not even Irish? Or that blue and not green was actually the colour most often associated with St. Patrick? And that outside of Ireland, Montserrat and Newfoundland, Canada are the only other two places around the world where St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday? Here are some other fun tidbits about St. Patrick’s Day. • St. Patrick was not Irish; he was from Wales. He used the three-leaved shamrock as a teaching tool to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to the pagan Irish. • Irish immigrants arrived in Canada in 1825. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group (after the French) and comprised 24 per cent of Canada’s population. • Montreal is home to one of the longestrunning parades in North America. It goes back to 1824. The flag of Montreal has a shamrock, representing the Irish, in the bottom right corner. Along with
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the English, French and Scottish, the Irish were one of the founding groups in the 19th century. Despite the profusion of everything green on St. Patrick’s Day, the colour most often associated with the saint was blue. St. Patrick’s blue was considered symbolic of Ireland for many centuries and the Irish Presidential Standard is still blue. While small splashes of green were worn as far back as 1681, it was only when political factions started adopting the colour green that it became synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day. In Seattle, Washington, a green stripe is laid along the centre of 4th Avenue to mark the route of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The ceremony is carried out each year on March 16, the night before the parade (Friday, March 16, this year). The shamrock that is traditionally given to the U.S. president is grown in County Kerry. The Taoiseach (president of Ireland) and the president wear their green ties, pose for the media with the crystal bowl that overflows with the lush, green shamrock, exchange friendly words about Ireland-U.S. relations and then the Secret Service take it away and destroy the plant. St. Patrick’s Day is one of the mostloved public holidays in Ireland, breaking up the long stretch between New
Aer Lingus, the national carrier of Ireland, with a shamrock on its tail fin. Year’s and Easter. Although it was made an official holiday in 1903, it was only in the 1960s that one could drown the shamrock in a pub—pull the shamrock off your lapel and throw it into the last drink of the night. • Montserrat, a welcoming home to Irish slaves in the 17th century, is one of the few places outside Ireland where St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday. Its festival runs for one week (March 10-19) with a Freedom Run, calypso
competition, nature hike and a reconstructed Slave Village teeming with stalls selling delicious African-Irish delicacies. • Newfoundland, Canada has a provincial holiday on March 17, which marks its historic associations with Ireland. Generations of Irish immigrants have made their mark with place names such as St. Patrick’s, Patrick’s Cove, Ireland’s Eye and Kilbride. • The green-dyed Shamrock Shake is
McDonald’s restaurants contribution to the feast of St. Patrick. The creation is 540 calories of minty-flavoured nectar topped off with whipped cream and a red cherry. Vancouver’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, part of Celtic Fest 2012, is the festival’s largest and most popular free event. This year’s parade takes to the streets of downtown Vancouver on Sunday March 18, at 11am. Happy St. Paddy’s Day!