Party On: An Irishman's Take on America's St. Paddy's Day Celebrations

Gaudy green necklaces, hats, shamrock earrings and “Kiss Me - I’m Irish” T-shirts proclaim it’s time to celebrate another St. Patrick’s Day in America.

According to the History Channel,  36.9 million U.S. residents claim to have Irish roots -- more than eight times the population of The Emerald Isle. It is estimated that 4.8 million immigrants from Ireland have been admitted to the United States for lawful permanent residence since 1820 -- the earliest year for which official records exist.

My husband, Tomás, is one of them.

Tomás moved to Pittsburgh in May 2003 for work and new adventures. Since he seemed to not fully understand the popularity of the Irish here in the states, I took him to the party in Market Square, Downtown, the year after he moved here. There we enjoyed green beer and Irish festivities with about 200,000 of our closest friends.

The usually chatty and charismatic Irishman was, for once, without words at the enormity of this American St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

Now that we’re responsible adults with two dual-citizen boys, we’ve settled down. My husband has since taught me more about his country’s true holiday, and it’s quite a bit different than the American-Irish one that I had grown to love.

A Wee Bit of Irish history

According to Irish Now, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, remains somewhat of a mystery, though it is known that he was born in the 4th century to a wealthy family in Wales. When he was 16, raiders  kidnapped him and took him to Ireland as a slave. It is believed that God told St. Patrick in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast and return to Wales. Upon returning, he joined the Catholic Church and studied to be a priest.

In 432, St. Patrick was “called” back to Ireland to lead the Irish to Christianity. Irish history tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the 5th century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for more than 1,000 years.

On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. The people would dance, drink and feast on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

Until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. In 1995, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and to showcase Ireland to the rest of the world.

My husband and other Irish immigrants will be the first to tell you that they enjoy celebrating their history and culture here in America on what they jokingly call “Plastic Paddy’s Day.”

“I think it’s amazing that a country as small as Ireland has millions of people around the world celebrating it,” he said.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!