Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 17 is St. Patrick's Day, which is a day most Americans celebrate with green beer and corned beef and cabbage. However, this holiday has not always been about pinching people not wearing green and leprechauns. A B Pest Control & Insulation has taken a closer look at this traditional Irish holiday.

St. Patrick's Death

Saint Patrick, who lived in the fifth century, is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland. While he was born in Roman Britain, at 16, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave. He later escaped, but returned to Ireland, and was credited with bringing Christianity to the nation. St. Patrick is believed to have died on March 17, 461, and for thousands of years, it has been observed as a religious holiday in Ireland. In addition, the mythology surrounding his life became incredibly entwined in the Irish culture.

The First St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Around the ninth and tenth century, people in Ireland have been observing the Roman Catholic feast is St. Patrick on March 17. However, the first parade in honor is St. Patrick's Day didn't occur in Ireland. Instead, it was held in the United States on March 17, 1762. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City with Celtic music to help the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots.

Over the next 35 years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, which prompted the rise of the "Irish Aid" societies, such as the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group held its own annual parades, which featured bagpipes and drums. In 1848, several of the New York Irish Aids societies united their parades to form one official New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. Today, that parade is one of the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line up along the 1.5-mile parade route to watch the 5-hour procession. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Savannah also celebrate St. Patrick's Day with huge parades involving anywhere between 10,000 - 20,00 participants each.

Celebrations Around the World

As Irish immigrants made their way throughout the United States, other cities developed their own traditions. In Chicago, the annual dying of the Chicago River green started in 1962, when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges. They soon realized that the green dye would be a unique way to celebrate the holiday. The first year, they released 100 pounds of green vegetable dye into the river, which was enough to keep it green for a week. However, today, only 40 pounds of dye are used to minimize environmental damage, and it only turns it green for several hours.

Although North America is known for large St. Patrick's Day Celebrations, the holiday is celebrated in many other locations that are far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore and Russia. In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day was traditionally a religious occasion, and up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. However, the government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day to drive tourism and showcase Ireland and Irish culture to the rest of the world. Today, approximately 1 million people take part in Ireland's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin each year. The festival is a multi-day celebration that features parades, concerts, outdoor theater production and fireworks show.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A B Pest Control & Insulation wants to wish you a happy and safe St. Patrick's Day! Although the Bagnell Dam St. Patrick's Day parade was last weekend, there are still fun ways to celebrate during St. Patrick's Day weekend. The St. Patrick's Water Parade at Captain Ron's Bar & Grill is on March 18, as well as the St. Patrick's Day Short Bus Shuffle on the west side of the Lake. If you are participating in any fun St. Patrick's Day celebration, have fun, but remember to be safe and always have a designated driver.

Lake of the Ozarks
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