Spring Break
Editorial: The Art of the Paddy Parade
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
03/12/09 - For those unable to afford a sexy beach vacation, the best part of Spring Break will not be a glorious stretch of sparkling white sand or adventures in an unnamed tiki bar hidden deep in the heart of Panama City, Fla.
With thoughts of tan lines and clear waters swimming around, it's easy to forget perhaps one of the best days of the year next to Christmas and your birthday - the celebration of Saint Patrick.
March 17 is the one day every year when even those who are of different ethnicities get to be Irish for a day - and you don't have to have red hair to celebrate the right way.
(Irish people with red hair, fair skin and freckles only make up about 10 percent of Ireland's population anyway, according to an issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The best place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, besides Ireland of course, is in the northeast.
This Saturday, Newport is kicking off early for the holiday with its 53rd annual parade and festivities. The Irish-Americans of Rhode Island will brave all weather conditions, starting at 11 a.m. at Newport City Hall, continuing into the very heart of the Fifth Ward. With soda bread, Irish dancing, fiddlin' fiends and green beer, it's hard not to find the appeal of St. Paddy's. But what's most interesting are the stories that will likely spill out of the bars along with the Guinness foam and green shamrock beads.
Because while some Irish people scoff at the sea of green and sometimes over-elaborate leprechaun jokes of the day, to many Irish-Americans, it is an important reminder of the preservation of Celtic culture and oral tradition.
This is celebrated through stories of the Old Country, pride in the rolling green hills of Ireland and the fluid sounds of traditional bagpipes. And what's more, the American parades have become the pride of many communities like Newport, with hundreds of high school students, Irish aid societies and politicians coming together on the street each year.
The art of the St. Paddy's Day parade has been around for centuries. The first St. Patrick's Day parade was actually held in New York in 1766. Though military units originally organized the event, fraternal and beneficial societies began hosting the parades after the War of 1812. Since then, it has become one of the world's oldest civilian parades.
With thoughts of tan lines and clear waters swimming around, it's easy to forget perhaps one of the best days of the year next to Christmas and your birthday - the celebration of Saint Patrick.
March 17 is the one day every year when even those who are of different ethnicities get to be Irish for a day - and you don't have to have red hair to celebrate the right way.
(Irish people with red hair, fair skin and freckles only make up about 10 percent of Ireland's population anyway, according to an issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
The best place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, besides Ireland of course, is in the northeast.
This Saturday, Newport is kicking off early for the holiday with its 53rd annual parade and festivities. The Irish-Americans of Rhode Island will brave all weather conditions, starting at 11 a.m. at Newport City Hall, continuing into the very heart of the Fifth Ward. With soda bread, Irish dancing, fiddlin' fiends and green beer, it's hard not to find the appeal of St. Paddy's. But what's most interesting are the stories that will likely spill out of the bars along with the Guinness foam and green shamrock beads.
Because while some Irish people scoff at the sea of green and sometimes over-elaborate leprechaun jokes of the day, to many Irish-Americans, it is an important reminder of the preservation of Celtic culture and oral tradition.
This is celebrated through stories of the Old Country, pride in the rolling green hills of Ireland and the fluid sounds of traditional bagpipes. And what's more, the American parades have become the pride of many communities like Newport, with hundreds of high school students, Irish aid societies and politicians coming together on the street each year.
The art of the St. Paddy's Day parade has been around for centuries. The first St. Patrick's Day parade was actually held in New York in 1766. Though military units originally organized the event, fraternal and beneficial societies began hosting the parades after the War of 1812. Since then, it has become one of the world's oldest civilian parades.
