A Day To Be Irish

Another St. Patrick's Day is here and this American holiday is a fun holiday. Uh, I did not make a mistake when I wrote that St. Patrick's Day is an American holiday.  That's because, though there was a kind of national Irish celebration day in Ireland first, that was so sedate that it was hardly noticed in any Irish city, town or village. When the Irish mass emigration to the U.S. happened in the late 19th century, those Irish immigrants made St. Patrick's Day a real celebration, a kind of  shouting that "we are from Ireland and proud of it", as a way to be noticed in a more welcoming way.

Over the years cities from coast to coast in the U.S. have cultivated their own St. Paddy's Day traditions throughout the centuries. Some cities dye their rivers green. Others put on carnivals, pageants, concerts, block parties, pub crawls and even long processions of marching bagpipers (The first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in Boston, not in Ireland). People also make it a day to wear green, drink at an Irish pub and follow a leprechaun to its pot of gold. With an Irish heritage of 33.1 million Americans, far more than the population of Ireland itself, it makes sense that St. Patrick's Day rules in the United States.

Anyway, celebrating being Irish on March 17 each year isn't evenly distributed across America. If you're looking for a smashing time on March 17, you might have to stray from home. A site called WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 17 key metrics to find out which among them are worthy of the Irish's approval when it comes to celebrating their ancestry. The data set ranges from “number of Irish pubs and restaurants per capita” to “lowest price for a three star hotel on St. Patrick's Day” to “weather forecast” for the holiday.

And the winner is! Well, Boston, as most people would expect is the winner. it has a huge Irish population, culture and tradition. Here in Portland, a city with hardly an Irish ancestry, the holiday is almost ignored, apart from the usual pub or bar that dresses itself in green, green beer and that sort of thing on March 17th. Portland didn't even make a top hundred list. I suspect it is near the bottom of most lists. But my former home New Orleans, which has a big Irish population, the city is number 17 on the list.  I do miss the numerous St. Patty parades in New Orleans. Only there do the (often intoxicated on green beer) float riders toss potatoes, cabbages, onions, carrots and other stew ingredients to the parade watchers so they can go home and make their own St. Patrick's Day Irish stew.

I hope your March 17th will be filled with a little luck and allot of fun. As the Irish say..............
'May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.'