Also this year and also the United States got ready for the usual celebration of Saint Patrick’s Day. A festivity that can be seen as the symbol of the Irish community which lives in the US. March has been even recognized as the Irish-American Heritage Month in the 90′s by the US Congress because of the celebration of this feast.

In fact the origin of this feast goes back to Ireland where St. Patrick’s Day is being celebrated as a religious holiday to honour one of the patron saints of Ireland. The first official celebrations occurred in the 17th century and since then have never stopped.

The reason why it is being celebrated in numerous countries around the world,has to be found in the exodus of Irish emigrants to many countries as United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and others in various continents,which is also called “Irish diaspora”.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebration is fixed on the 17th of March, not only in Ireland where is an official public holiday, but also in other countries as well as US. The cities where the largest Irish communities live are the ones where the celebrations of this feast started earlier and where are currently the greatest. Boston was the first in the world to have a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the 18th century,due to the presence of a large number of Irish immigrants which wanted to make by this way social and political statements about their difficulty of receiving an equal treatment in the work places as well as in society.

Nowadays parades are held in many cities with a high rate of Irish-American population including Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Seattle, New Orleans, Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco and more. Following the Irish tradition which associate the green colour to St. Patrick’s Day – the legend tells that the saint used the shamrock for explaining the doctrine of Holy Trinity to the Irish people who weren’t Christian – to celebrate the people in US, either Irish and not Irish, use this colour dressing in green clothing and consuming food and drinks that are naturally or just dyed green.

In many cities the green colour is used also to dye the waters of rivers, canals, fountains, traffic stripes and so on. Even if in the US St. Patrick’s Day is not a public holiday it is largely celebrated. Although regardless of the Irish heritage and the cultural and historical background in this day many people go to clubs and restaurants where Irish theme parties are organized using as predominant colour the traditional green. Alcohol is strongly tied to this feast’s celebrations, it can’t be a good St. Patrick’s Day party if you don’t drink a lot.

The sense of heritage among the Irish immigrants and the people who have Irish ancestry in United States has been always very strong. The bonds with the Irish culture and tradition are represented also by this feast,which could be seen as the symbol of the Irish community in US. The annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day is a good occasion for celebrating also the “Irishness” in all its forms.

If you go to a party in this day while wearing something green and, above all, before to get drunk remember that it’s the symbol of the Irish community and a reminder of the Irish immigration to the United States.

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About the author

Francesca Biggio
I'm an Italian "Islander" from Sardinia.I love languages and I'm very interested in all concerning communication strategies,journalism,politics,history and social issues. I love travelling and coming into contact with different cultures and universes.