Analysis: Whether it's Ballina, Boston or Birmingham, the parade showcases the different groups making up Irishness in different ways
Long before any 'global greening', the very first known St Patrick’s Day parade was held, not in Ireland, but, more than 400 years ago in a Spanish colony in modern day Florida. It was the Irish diaspora across the Atlantic who first marched in honour of the 5th century bishop credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland.
As one of our patron saints, March 17th is an important date in the Irish folklore calendar. We’ve marked Lá Fhéile Pádraig with special customs and rituals throughout the centuries and the saint's body is believed to be buried in Downpatrick. His carefully crafted image is deeply intertwined with the story of Ireland and we have ‘spin doctor’ Muirchú, a cleric who lived 200 years after his death, to thank for the ‘cult’ of St Patrick.
But it's Irish-Americans we’ve got to thank for the St Patrick’s Day parade as we know it. It was previously believed that the first St Patrick's Day parade was held in Boston in 1737. But then in 2017, historian Michael Francis discovered some records in Spain's Archivo General de Indias that changed the established history. The 17th century documents revealed details of expenditures in the St Augustine colony and made reference to a procession in 1601 in honour of 'San Patricio’, who was recorded as protector of the maize fields.
Francis, a professor at the University of South Florida, went looking for answers as to why an Irish saint was being celebrated centuries before the Irish emigrated in droves to America. He found what he was looking for when he read records of a local priest, Padre Ricardo Artur, or father Richard Arthur, a former soldier who was likely born in Limerick. Arthur had travelled as a soldier before becoming a priest and arriving in the colony in 1597.
Fast forward another century and the Charitable Irish Society is founded in Boston in 1737 by Irish Protestants, who hold the city’s first parade. Then, 25 years later in 1762, a ‘band of homesick, Irish ex-patriots and Irish military members' serving with the British Army in New York colonies, come together to march in the city for the first time.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Archives, Taoiseach Éamon de Valera's St Patrick's Day broadcast in 1938
In a British context, celebrations and parades marking the day have a long history stretching back as far as the early 18th century. Jonathan Swift wrote in a letter to his friend Esther Johnson (AKA Stella) in 1713 that the Mall in London was 'so full of crosses, that I thought all the world was Irish'.
Press reports show St Patrick's Day processions in Liverpool during the famine years (1845-1852) were criticised as a waste of financial resources in the face of 'poverty, famine, and fever' in Ireland. By the end of the 19th century, events to mark the day were more muted, centred around dinners, dances and concerts rather than parades. Large community parades returned in the post-war years of the 1950s and 1960s, which saw an influx of Irish emigrants.
This is the context in which Dr Marc Scully, lecturer in Psychology at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, looked at the performance of Irish identity and the St Patrick's Day parades. A parade gives people an opportunity "to articulate their sense of Irish identity" and the very nature of it is "a performance of collective Irishness," he says.
"It's interesting to me particularly in English cities, as a way of exploring those tensions between belonging and not belonging, or deliberately not associating oneself with it. It's both performance and celebration, but also contestation. I’d go so far as to argue it's actually more interesting to look at in Britain than in America, but I think a lot of the focus on Saint Patrick's Day is inevitably on Irish-America."
From RTÉ News in 2021, Nationwide takes a nostalgic look back at St Patrick's Day parades of the past from around Ireland
The dynamics in Britain were particularly noteworthy back in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, says Scully. This is when the parades resumed following The Troubles. The parades were never banned, but often those organising them took a decision not to go ahead so it was a "huge deal" when the parades restarted with the cooperation of civic authorities, particularly for those who lived through what was known as the "suspect community period".
"The Irish community in Britain were very heavily policed and viewed with suspicion by the police, by the authorities, by their neighbours", explains Scully. To then have the streets of all major cities in England "given over to a celebration of Irishness" once again was seen as "really significant and psychologically important" by elderly migrants who had lived through this period and people of Irish descent who had felt they had to hide their Irish roots.
By the 1990s Irishness was having a moment in Britain and second generation Irish were forging their own culture. "A very specific second generation Irish identity was emerging", says Scully. "You start to see that in the 80s, around bands like The Pogues, and in 90s you have Oasis and the Gallagher brothers being second generation Irish. Then you have things like Riverdance, and Boyzone were huge, B*witched were huge, Father Ted was on TV. It was seen as being cool to celebrate your Irish roots.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Archives, Gay Byrne asks English people what they know of Ireland ahead of a St Patrick's Day Late Late Show special broadcast from London in 1980
"Then, you had the peace process and the cessation of IRA bombing campaigns in English cities. Within a British political sphere, you had policies of urban multiculturalism coming in with New Labour. The nature of these in many ways was quite shallow, but it did specifically highlight the celebratory aspects of multiculturalism.
"If you had an aspect of your culture that could be part of a wider celebration that everybody could join in on, then that would be promoted. So you have things like Notting Hill Carnival for the Afro-Caribbean community, Diwali for the South Asian community, and St Patrick's Day just slotted right in there. It ticked all the boxes at the right moment in time."
What struck Scully about the English parades was the elements of locality in them. "Most people are wearing their county jerseys or in some way indicating where in Ireland they're from. You can kind of see a divide between people who are just being Irish for the day, who might be wearing the wigs and the big Shamrock glasses and the hats. You see people who are wanting to mark themselves out as, 'I'm properly Irish, my identity is authentic’. The county jerseys are a way to indicate "I know what I’m talking about, I’m not just getting dressed up in green and singing Danny Boy. I’m getting dressed up in my Tipperary jersey and singing Slievenamon. It’s interesting the way that people draw on the local as a way of performing authenticity."
It wasn't until 1903 that the first St Patrick’s Day parade took place in Ireland, held by Conradh na Gaeilge in Waterford. The Bank Holiday Act (Ireland) also declared the day a public holiday for the first time, sponsored by a number of 'home rulers’ and driven by the League. Conradh na Gaeilge declared the first Seachtain na Gaeilge that year as well.
At the end of World War I and months away from the Irish War of Independence, the 1918 parade was heavily influenced by politics, observed with ‘religious fervour’ and marked by demonstrations, ceremonies and a military presence. Nine years after achieving independence, the first official, state-sponsored parade took place in Dublin in 1931.
For more than three decades, between 1927 and 1961, the sale of alcohol was banned on Paddy’s Day under the Intoxicating Liquor Act, in great contrast to today’s celebrations. St Patrick’s Day finally became a full blown festival in 1996 and a huge driver of tourism. The festival is now a ‘lucky charm’ worth millions to the Irish economy.
Read more: Why do so many US presidents like to say 'I'm Irish'?
"It’s worth noting that the parade makes more sense in the diaspora than it does in Ireland," says Scully. "Because it’s specifically about carving out space to exist and laying claim to space. Laying claim to space to be Irish in Ireland is perhaps less urgent."
But the parade does hold value in a modern Ireland. "The value it has now, is to indicate the diversity and the multiculturalism of modern Irishness. It’s fulfilling that function. It’s a way of showcasing the different groups that can make up Irishness in different ways. You can argue that that’s kind of a surface level version of multicultural, that you’re just focusing on the celebratory bits. It doesn’t in itself do the work of community integration and anti-racism, but it’s a useful thing to have alongside the actual harder work that needs to get done."
Follow the RTÉ Brainstorm WhatsApp channel for more stories and updates
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
