I'm sure everybody knows the story of St. Patrick, and how he allegedly drove all the snakes out of Ireland. There's an Irish toast that goes something like:

Here's to St. Patrick,
Who drove all the snakes out of Ireland.
Let's drink to his health.
But let us not drink too much,
Lest we forget about St. Patrick,
And see those snakes again.

The Irish have celebrated St. Patrick's feast day for hundreds of years. Since it falls during Lent, it was often a day when the Irish could set aside the Lenten fasting and feast for that one day.

But it was the Irish in America who turned the day into a big deal.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place in what was to become America, in 1762, in New York City. Irish soldiers serving in the British militia marched through the town on March 17th, to show their solidarity with their countrymen back home.

Throughout the last third of the 18th century, Irish immigrants to America formed many “Irish Aid” societies, such as the Hibernian Society and The Sons of Ireland. On St. Patrick's Day, each of these societies would have their own parades with bagpipes and drums.

When the great potato famine occurred in Ireland in the 1840's, thousands of poor, uneducated Irish immigrants poored into America. They were not welcomed with open arms. Stores and factories put up signs: “NO IRISH NEED APPLY,” “NO IRISH SERVED HERE.” When they took to the streets on St. Patrick's Day, the newspapers railed against them and cruelly caricatured them as rowdy, drunken monkeys, according to the History Channel.

But then the Irish began to organize, and suddenly they became a great political power due to their large numbers. Now, the St. Patrick's Day Parades became popular not only with the Irish but with the politicians who wanted their vote. The day became a symbol of Irish pride and solidarity, as it still is today. Of course, now St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of many cultures, particularly in America, probably because of the prodigious amounts of green beer, Irish whiskey, music, and food that accompany the celebration. Who wouldn't want to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day?

Ironically, until recently, St. Patrick's Day was mainly a religious festival still in Ireland, and until the 1970's, the pubs were closed on that day. It was in the 1990's that the Irish government began using St. Patrick's Day as a lure for tourists and a source for publicity for Ireland. Now, millions of people flock to Ireland from all over the world to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in St. Patrick' Day in St. Patrick's land.

Which, by the way, was his adopted land. St. Patrick was born in Britain and was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland, where he spent six years as a prisoner. He escaped, finally, back to Britain, where he became a priest and returned to Ireland as a missionary, spending, as far as we know, the rest of his life there.

To satisfy your own Irish soul on St. Patrick's Day (and if you are reading this, you have one, on matter what your ancestry says), make sure you have your own copy of Marc's Not Every Day is St. Patrick's Day, and a selection of the other CDs listed on Marc's page.

And don't forget to listen to the St. Patrick's Day edition of The Irish and Celtic Music podcast, which offers nearly an hour's worth of great Celtic music!