Leprechaun motifs! Hats with Buckles! Shamrocks everywhere! Some hallmarks of St. Patrick’s Day festivities are present no matter where in the world you celebrate this green-laden day of celebration and Gaelic pride. So how did this day of drink and dancing begin? To find out, we have to travel all the way back to the 5th Century A.D., when a Christian bishop and missionary remembered as St. Patrick allegedly wrote a text called “The Declaration”.
In this text, St. Patrick chronicles his birth in Roman Britain during the fourth century, his kidnapping by Irish raiders at the age of sixteen, and his transportation as a slave to Gaelic Ireland. During the six years which followed, St. Patrick worked as a shepherd, grew in faith, and received a divine message to run to the coast. Sure enough, when he finally arrived at the coast, a ship was waiting to take him home. After many months making his way back, Patrick reunited with his family and decided the priesthood was his chosen vocation.
St. Patrick’s time spent as a slave had left him slightly embittered towards pagans, so he dedicated the remainder of his life to evangelising in Northern Ireland. And in case you were wondering whether the old myth is true, no, snakes are not endemic to Ireland. Patrick’s theological battles with the druids of the area are what inspired the tale in which he “drove out the snakes”. Passing away on the 17th of March and being laid to rest in Downpatrick, Patrick would live on in the hearts of the island’s populace to become Ireland’s foremost saint.
St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated in most European countries, but its reach actually extends much farther across the globe than many people realize. In Lithuania, although not a national holiday, St. Patrick’s Day is an excuse to throw a series of parties that rival Mardi Gras. In the capital of Vilnius, the Vilnia River is even dyed green in its entirety, a show of solidarity for Lithuania’s Irish communities.
Malaysia has been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since 1925, when the St. Patrick’s Society of Selangor was founded. A yearly St. Patrick’s Ball unfolds which has come to be known as the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Asia. Not to be outdone by the Lithuanians, Malay officials organise 36 parties which take place in the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru, Ipoh, and Malacca.
It may surprise you to learn that some of the earliest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations outside of Ireland actually took place in New Zealand! The celebration of the holy man holding the shamrock was observed as a public holiday in Auckland from 1878 to 1955, spurred on by the great influx of Irish migrants who arrived in the 1850s and 1860s. In the early days, these celebrations were mere community picnics, but after 1860 the good times grew to include pipe band parades, green-clad marches, concerts, and social dances. At all of these events, Irishness was worn with pride.
Even space-bound astronauts can’t resist contributing to the festivities of St. Patrick’s Day. Astronauts who live and work aboard the International Space Station find different ways to celebrate each year. In 2011, the Irish-American astronaut Catherine Coleman filmed herself playing a hundred-year-old flute which originally belonged to legendary flautist Matt Molloy. Her sequel to this performance saw her playing a tin whistle that had once been played by Paddy Moloney. In an interesting twist, both of these famous musicians performed as members of the Irish music group The Chieftains. They later opted to include Coleman’s performances in a track called “The Chieftains in Orbit” on the group’s “Voice of Ages” album. In 2013, Chris Hadfield treated his online followers to a recording of himself singing “Danny Boy” in space alongside an orbital photograph of Ireland.
No matter where you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this, we hope you have a safe and fun-filled day of merriment-making. May the luck of the Irish be with you all, and thank you for supporting your Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra!