A Wee Bit '0 History

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th, the anniversary of his death in the fifth century.  The Irish have celebrated this day as a religious holiday for centuries.  On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the season of Lent, Irish families attend church service in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon into the evening hours.  Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink, and feast on the traditional meal of Irish bacon (now corned beef) and cabbage.

The first parade wasn't held in Ireland, but in the United States.  Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City, on March 17, 1762.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class.  During the Great Potato Famine in Ireland in 1845, close to a million poor, uneducated, Catholic Irish began to pour into America to escape starvation.  Due to their religious beliefs, the immigrants had trouble finding even the most menial of jobs.  When Irish Americans took to the streets to celebrate their heritage, they were portrayed in cartoons as drunk and violent.  Unknown to many, the poem "The Night Before Christmas" was initially written to detail how Christmas should be celebrated by the Irish immigrants in New York City.

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated all over the world including such places as Japan, Singapore, Russia and Australia.

Animation courtesy of Animation Factory.

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B. Malheiro