In keeping with Travis Erwin’s My Town Monday series, I bid you
Cead Mile Failte (A Hundred Thousand Welcomes) to New York City on Saint Patrick’s Day, Monday, March 17.
Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland as well as the Patron Saint of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland as well as the Patron Saint of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
I am the direct descendent of ancestors, all having surnames the likes of Farley and Dwyer and Duggan and McGuinness and O’Brien and Kealey and Keating and McMullan, who were born on one of two islands, Ireland or Manhattan.
Is it any wonder that the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is a constant in my past, present and future? I’ve marched or stood as a spectator in snow and rain and on gorgeous sunny days for more than fifty years. When my children were young, I pulled them out of school every Paddy’s Day so they could participate in this yearly shout-out to their heritage. It’s important to know from whence ye came.
As is true of so many things in America, the history of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade has its roots in European politics. During hundreds of years of British rule, Irish music, Irish language and the “Wearing of the Green” was forbidden in Ireland as was land ownership by Irish Catholics and any sign or practice of the Roman Catholic religion. Not so in the American colonies, perhaps because no one thought to do so.
The first march of what was to become the oldest Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in the world was held in 1762, when a group of Irish immigrants and some Irish soldiers serving in the British military here in New York, decided to march along lower Broadway on Saint Patrick’s Day. Many wore sprigs of green in their hat bands as they sang Irish songs and played Irish music. They marched each year, their numbers steadily increasing.
Over time the parade was formalized by the Irish fraternal organizations. New York City grew, exploding with new immigrants landing every day, first at Castle Garden and after 1892, coming in through Ellis Island. Still more immigrants arrived by routes unknown and, perhaps, not quite legal. No matter how they came, millions of immigrants came from Ireland.
As the Irish-American population grew, so did the parade. Today approximately one quarter of a million marchers will assemble to strut along the fine green line painted down the center of Fifth Avenue. Upwards of two million spectators will surge into Manhattan, early of a morning, to find their spot for the best view. There are no fancy floats. The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is a parade filled with marching people and marching bands. And bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. And clusters of Irish Step Dancers twirling along with stiff arms and knees up, keeping time to a jig or a hornpipe.
The famous Fighting 69th Regiment of the New York National Guard, with Irish roots going back to the American Civil War, has led the parade for as long as I can remember. And the line of march goes on forever. The FDNY, the NYPD, and is that the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh going by? Here’s Cardinal Hayes High School and is that Fordham University coming up now? Ah, and let’s not forget the Irish Northern Aid and the Irish American Labor Coalition. Each of Ireland’s thirty-two counties has a contingent, including Cavan, Derry and Tipperary, the counties of my ancestors.
To give you an idea of the sheer size of the parade, the Parade Committee has put together a link of pictures from the 2007 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
As is true of so many things in America, the history of the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade has its roots in European politics. During hundreds of years of British rule, Irish music, Irish language and the “Wearing of the Green” was forbidden in Ireland as was land ownership by Irish Catholics and any sign or practice of the Roman Catholic religion. Not so in the American colonies, perhaps because no one thought to do so.
The first march of what was to become the oldest Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in the world was held in 1762, when a group of Irish immigrants and some Irish soldiers serving in the British military here in New York, decided to march along lower Broadway on Saint Patrick’s Day. Many wore sprigs of green in their hat bands as they sang Irish songs and played Irish music. They marched each year, their numbers steadily increasing.
Over time the parade was formalized by the Irish fraternal organizations. New York City grew, exploding with new immigrants landing every day, first at Castle Garden and after 1892, coming in through Ellis Island. Still more immigrants arrived by routes unknown and, perhaps, not quite legal. No matter how they came, millions of immigrants came from Ireland.
As the Irish-American population grew, so did the parade. Today approximately one quarter of a million marchers will assemble to strut along the fine green line painted down the center of Fifth Avenue. Upwards of two million spectators will surge into Manhattan, early of a morning, to find their spot for the best view. There are no fancy floats. The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade is a parade filled with marching people and marching bands. And bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. And clusters of Irish Step Dancers twirling along with stiff arms and knees up, keeping time to a jig or a hornpipe.
The famous Fighting 69th Regiment of the New York National Guard, with Irish roots going back to the American Civil War, has led the parade for as long as I can remember. And the line of march goes on forever. The FDNY, the NYPD, and is that the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh going by? Here’s Cardinal Hayes High School and is that Fordham University coming up now? Ah, and let’s not forget the Irish Northern Aid and the Irish American Labor Coalition. Each of Ireland’s thirty-two counties has a contingent, including Cavan, Derry and Tipperary, the counties of my ancestors.
To give you an idea of the sheer size of the parade, the Parade Committee has put together a link of pictures from the 2007 Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
If you happen to visit us between 11 am to 3pm Eastern Standard Time on Monday, March 17th, you may find a live stream of the parade at this site. If not, try here.
I hope you enjoy this blog and its links and I hope you’ll share a comment or two. As for me, decked out in my finest green, including my granny hat splattered with shamrocks and teddy bears, I’ll on the Central Park side of Fifth Avenue, some where north of Fifty-ninth Street. I’ll be in the grand company of, among others, my youngest grandchild, who at the ripe old age of eighteen months, will be attending her first, but far from her last, Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City.
Slainte. (Good health.)
Terrie
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14 comments:
I didn't know where to put the caption for the picture so here it is:
Company A, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment parade past Cardinal Edward Egan at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan during the St. Patrick's Day Parade March 17, 2007.
Have a grand and glorious day.
Terrie
Thanks for the history of the parade, Terrie. Even though I grew up 30 miles from the Empire State Building, much of this was new to me.
Happy St. Patty's Day!
dfTerrie - Thanks for the interesting and informative post. I had no idea about any of this.
Every so often I run across an Irish word and wonder how to pronounce it properly. I think I just might ask you next time.
Meanwhile I have a bit of the Emerald Isle in me courtesy my mother's side so I quite enjoy this day. Her dad always bragged about how Irish he was despite bearing a fine Scots surname.
Happy St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy the parade. Erin Go Bragh!
Slainte, Terrie! My dear 15/16 Irish husband is traveling until midnight for business, so I, in my diminished (his folks might say) Scots-Irish capacity will fly the flag today.
Great description and history! Got me right in the spirit.
And it's No, Nay, Never...No, Nay, Never No More...(do sing and sway along)
When I used to live 28 stories above 2nd avenue, just 3 blocks from the parade's terminus, we could hear the pipes bouncing all the way up the buildings into our balcony. The canyons of cement and glass articulate the echoes so you can even make out loud sidewalk conversations. "Eh! Timmy, you bastard! Come have a drink!" "Timmy, you bastard, I'll kick your ass!"
Extremely festive fire fighters and cops fill up all the locals in Yorktown for post-parade re-fortification until the very wee hours. All those cute knees in their fancy dress kilts!
Great info, I also have Irsih heritage and my dad and Great grandparents come from Ireland.
I love New york as well!!!
Terrie, that was a very interesting post. I had no idea the parade was that old, or had grown to be so big.
Late as usual and so missed your life feed. We celebrate St Patrick's Day out here in NZ too although it doesn't consist of much more than wearing green, and drinking a lot and telling silly Irish jokes!
"Shall I Play the Wild Rover, No Never, No More"
Just finishing the line from "The Wild Rover" that Clare started a few comments ago.
Leah, I pretty much blew my entire Gaelic vocabulary here!
Thank you all for stopping by, and I hope you had a day as Dawn describes, green and filled with laughter and perhaps a wee drop of the craythure (creature, slang for whiskey) would do you good, but only a drop now.
Terrie
Nice post.
I heard an interview on NPR with a captain in the Fighting 69th about his time in Iraq. The officers still tend to be Irish descent but the men are from all over the world. But, as he said, it's still the "fighting 69th."
The interview was particularly interesting as the captain talked about how some of the most urban people in America had to learn to exist in the desert. But they did to their great credit.
Happy st Patricks Day and Slainte!
my Mum is Irish and we celebrated ( a little !!)
Great post. Glad to see you carried the MTM banner in my absence this week and you'll be glad to know I sported a good bit o' green as I tolled around the amusement park Monday. as did my boys. I have a wee bit of Irish blood so I always do something for St. Patty's Day.
Years ago I caught in traffic in Manhattan on St. Patrick's Day. My boyfriend at the time completely forgot about the parade when he planned our 2nd anniversary evening (dinner at Mama Leone's & "A Chorus Line" afterwards.)
Although I don't miss sn*w, sometimes I do miss NY!
Alex,
The history of the 69th is extraordinary. The regiment was founded, I believe, as a unit for the Irish immigrants before the start of the Civil War. They fought hard and long is some of the worst battles of the war, and it is said that they got the name "The Fighting 69th" when Robert E. Lee asked which Norther unit he would be facing the next day and he was told it was 69 New York. He commented, "Oh, the Fighting 69th."
I hope you enjoy the link in this post.
Terrie
Debbielou,
Thanks for stopping by. How nice that you could celebrate a bit with your mother.
Travis,
Thank you for starting MTMs. I am learning so much about so many places. Glad you wore your green!
Lana,
Altho' St. Patrick's Day is my favorite, all the parades in New York are fun. They do mess with the traffic.
Thanks to all for stopping by.
Terrie
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