The day of, I went to the parade with some friends and spent the afternoon in a cozy pub out of the way of the main events. I am lucky to live quite close to St. Patrick's Cathedral, a 13th-century cathedral believed to have been built upon a well St. Patrick used, one of the notable stops on the parade route.
It was originally celebrated as a typical feast day. As it fell during Lent, it was a particularly welcome celebration. This meant that it was sometimes associated with heavy drinking. During the temperance movement in the early to mid-1800s, parades were introduced as an alcohol-free celebration of the holiday. This tradition has continued, not only in Dublin, but throughout towns and cities in Ireland. It was taken up as well by cities with high proportions of Irish emigrants in the U.S. and Canada. One of my friends from Cork noted that the celebrations in Boston and Chicago were likely more exciting than what was happening here. While it is a chance to throw parties, it does speak to a sense of pride in Irish culture abroad.
There is a legend around St. Patrick's use of the shamrock to teach people about the Holy Trinity in Christianity. It is unclear how much evidence there is for this story, but the association between him, the shamrock, and larger Irish culture has certainly remained.
