St. Patrick's Day 2008

When I was a child we were required to wear something green to school on St. Patrick's Day or run the risk of getting pinched each time another student realised that we had not complied. St. Patrick's day is celebrated all over the world by both Irish and non-Irish people alike. It is an official holiday in only three places - Republic of Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland/Labrador. Although the first St. Patrick's Day parade in North America was held in Boston in 1761, the record for the longest continuously running parade is held by Montreal Quebec with a parade every year since 1824. Montreal's City Flag even has a Shamrock in one corner. St. Patrick used the Shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish.

The largest parade is held in Chicago, with 2.5 million spectators. They also have been dying the Chicago River green for the day for the past 20 years. They use an eco-friendly vegetable dye, it takes about five minutes to color it and it disappears by evening.

Other traditions include the wearing of something green, pubs and bars serving green drinks including green beer, stories of leprechauns and their pot of gold and eating corned beef and cabbage.

There are those who are Irish and those who wish they were.
old Irish proverb