Introduction
St. Patrick's Festival, or simply the St. Patrick's Day celebrations, is one of the most internationally-renowned annual holidays and is the most popular in Ireland. However, these festivities have extended to other parts of the world, like in the case of the United States, due to the large number of Irish immigrants living there.
In this post, I am going to talk to you about the St. Patrick's Festival in Washington D. C., as we are currently right in the middle of the festivities and, given that I currently live here, I can tell you all about it.
Saint Patrick
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated annually on 17th March, which is the day that commemorates the death of this saint; a day that has ended up becoming one of the most, if not the most, celebrated on the calendar of saints' days.
Celebrations in the United States
The first American city to celebrate this day with a huge parade was Boston in 1737, as there was a huge Irish population within the city's population. Since then, these celebrations have spread to more and more American cities, particularly in the northern part of the country: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D. C.
The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Washington D. C. took place in 1971, and since then, it has become a staple in the annual calendar of events in the US capital.
These festivities are usually celebrated throughout the week, not only on the 17th, which is "officially" the patron saint's day, and is one of the most highly anticipated events in the United States.
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in the United States by wearing the typical Irish green clothing and accessories, drinking copious amounts of beer, whilst donning Irish flags. However, the Americans also go that extra mile, as they colour their rivers green in honour of this holiday, like in Chicago, for example. They also "dye" the beer green in some pubs! Basically, during this week of festivities, especially on the 17th, everything is green and the most-consumed liquid is beer.
The typical accessories that they sell in Washington D. C. for these celebrations are: velvet green pint glass-shaped hats; green shamrock sunglasses; little green dog teddies; plastic green necklaces and bracelets; headbands or hair clips that have either little green birds or ties on them; badges with phrases related to Ireland and St. Patrick on them, amongst other things. For the more daring of you, you can also get your hands on the traditional Irish outfits or dress yourselves from head to toe in green.
St. Patrick's Day parade in Washington D. C.
The St. Patrick's Day parade took place on 15th March at 12 noon on Constitution Avenue (one of the avenues that runs the length of the National Mall), from 7th Street until 17th Street.
During the parade, I could see:
- Groups of children dancing traditional Irish dances wearing different outfits.
- Celtic music groups with musicians dressed in regional Irish outfits.
- Dogs with Irish green or checked accessories.
- Irish and American flags lining the streets, but these were also commonplace in the parade itself.
- People taking part in the parade either on floats or just walking, and I suppose that they will be of some importance and have some connection to St. Patrick or with Ireland.
- Another small float with huge shamrocks and leprechauns.
- Men on strange bicycles with big wheels.
Parties and special events
Dedicated St. Patrick's Day parties and events can be found taking place in several of the city's Irish bars and pubs throughout the week, as well as in other clubs that have decided to join in with the festivities. The main day is March 17th (of course), but for those of you who have to work or are simply not free, you can also have just as much fun on any other day of the week.
I had been recommended to pay for a pub crawl ticket, which has different prices according to the number of days that you choose to do it: $15. 65 for 1 day, $27. 26 for 2 days, or $34. 64 for 3 days.
Finally, I decided to go to a pub on 8th Street in Eastern Market, close to where I live (I have spoken to you about this neighbourhood in another post), called "The Ugly Mug" for the 17th March celebrations.
I quite liked being at that particular pub for an occasion like this one, partly because it was serving the legendary green beer that had been so hard for me to find. However, I also liked it because it's a very friendly place that has lots of different areas for you to sit down in, and especially for the live music that they had on that particular day. There were quite a number of people there donning their green accessories with a pint of green beer in hand - it was great. In true Irish spirit, I also took the opportunity to try a pint of Guinness, so it ended up being a day where I drank beer of all colours, except yellow... For more information about this bar, you are free to take a look at the post that I wrote about it, "The Ugly Mug", over on my profile.
Opinion
Although the St. Patrick's Day festivities have to be doubly impressive in Dublin (the Irish capital), they are also more religious. So, for that very reason, I would stick with the Americanised version of St. Patrick's Day.
I loved having the opportunity to experience these festivities here for myself, as it is not celebrated in neither Spain nor France (the two countries that I have previously lived in), and I have never been able to celebrate it until now. I love seeing the Irish flags along with the American ones along the streets of Washington D. C., I love seeing people wearing all green with funny accessories as if it was a completely normal thing to do, and I love how happy people are during the week after getting a few beers down them. It's a great excuse to meet new people.
However, the parade disappointed me quite a bit, as I had previously seen that it was more of a spectacle in a television series with the bigger floats. Apart from seeing the children dance and dogs donning green outfits with Celtic music playing in the background, the rest of it seemed monotonous and, quite honestly, rather boring. However, that being said, I think that it's just a Washington D. C. thing because the celebrations are even bigger and better in Boston and Chicago. I was also disappointed after the parade when I went in search of the famous green beer. Although we saw bars with signs that said that they had it, it ended up only being for the 17th March and not for the rest of the week, which is something that I don't personally understand...
Curiosities
If you're from Murcia, you are going to love what I am about to tell you, but you may also be left poker-faced. It turns out that the male counterpart of the female patron saint of Murcia, the Virgen de la Fuensanta, is actually Saint Patrick himself! This is due to the fact that the Reconquista del antiguo reino took place on St. Patrick's Day in 1452. And, what I asked, and what you guys are surely missing out on too, is a St. Patrick's celebration right here in Murcia. I think it would be a nice touch, and we could internationalise ourselves as a result.
