Yesterday was March 17 which means to people all over the world that it’s time to party hard, get merry, dance, sing and generally behave badly. Yes it was Paddy’s Day or to give it its proper title St Patrick’s Day. It is the day when St Patrick the patron saint of Ireland died in 461 AD. It is celebrated not just in Ireland but all around the world, anywhere that you find an Irishman. St Patrick’s Day ball has for many years been the biggest night out for the Western expat population in Bahrain with regular attendances of over 700.
So why is this saints day a major party when others such as St Andrew, St David and St George pass with barely a ripple. Oh sure, some expat societies hold functions but they are nothing compared with Paddy’s night. The reason is mainly due to when it is. March 17 is right bang in the middle of Lent which is a period of abstinence observed by Christians in the run-up to Easter. It can be a very stark and sober time particularly in a fiercely Catholic country like Ireland. So in order to allow the proper celebration of St Patrick, Lent is cancelled for the day. This unleashes a tsunami of pent up partying and the good folk of Ireland set out to get as much celebrating done to make up for lost time and keep them going for the rest of Lent. You can picture the scene at one minute to midnight on March 16. The beverage halfway to the mouth and the fiddler’s bow poised at the ready for the day to begin.
The biggest festivals and parades are those in American cities, particularly Boston and New York. Irish soldiers serving with the British Army in colonial America were allowed a day off to celebrate their saint and the first parade was held in New York in 1762 some 14 years before independence. Over the years millions of Irish have emigrated to the US and so the parades get bigger and bigger which attracts the media, which shows green parties all around the world. Before you can say Begorah a phenomenon is born.
St Patrick’s Day celebrations are second only to Halloween which is just a party for the sake of having a party, at least the Irish have a reasonable excuse but the evening before All Saints Day why?
You can’t have a party without spending money and this is where the rampant commercialisation comes in with pop-up shops opening in the run-up selling shamrocks and other green things. Hotels and restaurants get in on the act by running themed events and just how many descendents have the Irish produced? It is estimated that 139 million Americans will declare themselves Irish this weekend in order to celebrate and at an average spend of $40 per person that’s a staggering $5.5 billion on a party.
Presumably some of that money is spent on paracetamol. I am not Irish but I might well be this weekend, Hic!