Today thousands of Americans will be donning themselves in the loudest green attire as they celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Major cities such as New York, Chicago (where the city traditionally pours green dye into the Chicago River), and, of course, Boston will host parades and other festivities such as music, dancing, and ample opportunities to enjoy soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and perhaps some green beer.
The earliest recorded celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the New World was in 1600 at the behest of an Irish chaplain named Father Richard Arthur, who was the parish priest in St. Augustine, Florida. A cannon salute marked the feast day on March 17 of that year, but Father Arthur organized the first St. Patrick’s Day parade the following year. However, for whatever reason the tradition did not last. In 1737 a group of Irish settlers in Boston formed an Irish mutual aid society and celebrated the feast day of their homeland’s most prominent saint with a social and dinner. This tradition marked the beginning of the annual public celebration of the saint’s feast day, which has continued right up until today.
