Editorials

The Irish Times view on the St Patrick’s Day parade: an import worth cherishing

It is the diasporic origins that set St Patrick’s Day apart from other countries’ national days of celebration

The 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Parade passing through Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson / The Irish Times

Fri Mar 15 2024 - 20:00

Like the man after whom it is named, St Patrick’s Day as we know it was born outside Ireland. The first parades to mark the day took place in 18th century Boston and New York. Organised first by Protestant Irish immigrants, they were taken over and greatly expanded by the waves of Catholic Irish who swelled the populations of the great cities of the north-east from the 1840s onwards. That is why the world’s most famous parade takes place on Saturday on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the first parade was held in Ireland. In the early years of independence, the new State saw no need for a parade, restricting itself to a celebratory Mass and an Army march-past. After the second World War, the day featured an industrial pageant showcasing Irish industry and agriculture.

The Dublin Tourism parade which succeeded it had the explicit aim of attracting Irish-Americans and their much-needed dollars back “home”. Those old enough to have been there will recall an underwhelming procession of dingy floats and half-frozen school marching bands.

It was only in 1996 that the event was reinvented as a carnival spectacle, and grew to become the St Patrick’s Festival we know today. The transformation has been a qualified success, although there have been some disagreements over attempts to grow the festival even further.

READ MORE

n truth, though, it is these diasporic origins that set St Patrick’s Day apart from other countries’ national days of celebration. The diplomatic effort which sees government ministers travel around the planet to mark the occasion, along with the marketing drive to “green” various international landmarks, form part of a pragmatic exploitation of that by the modern Irish State. A notable feature of recent Irish parades is the large number of those among the crowds who were born outside the country and who wish to celebrate their Irishness. At a time when narrow nativism is on the rise, this image of an Ireland at ease with its newfound diversity and receptive to other cultures should be nurtured and cherished.

LATEST STORIES