Saint Patrick’s Day, the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, brought out a dash of green and dozens of Irish politicians from Dublin to Tokyo, providing a little-needed excuse for parties, parades and some politics, too.
Up to half a million people were expected for the flagship parade through the Irish capital, while hundreds of thousands more across the country were to stage similar celebrations on their national holiday.
Meanwhile, the family of a slain Northern Ireland Ireland man was to deliver a message to the more than 40 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry, about the devastation of crimes by the Catholic paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The Dublin parade gives pride of place this year to Irish charities which provided aid to tsunami victims in Asia and Africa, with four grand marshals each representing an aid organization leading the march.
As millions watch on television some 3,000 marchers will snake their way north to south through the Irish capital and end their parade, fittingly, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Arts and Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said the holiday was the one day of the year when “the whole world turns to Ireland” and “people throughout the globe look deep in themselves to find any bit of Irishness that they can”.
In Tokyo Irish President Mary McAleese was to take part in a St. Patrick’s Day parade through the city — which has become an annual tradition since 1992 — and meet Emperor Akihito.
The United States will host several shamrock-strewn parades, in line with traditions started by Irish-American immigrants more than 150 years ago.
The Irish holiday is also normally a time for Northern Ireland’s Catholic republicans to bolster US support for their decades-long quest for independence from Britain, but a recent series of crimes blamed on the IRA has changed this year’s agenda.
At the White House, President George W. Bush will host the family of Robert McCartney, a murdered Catholic man from Belfast, who are pressing their campaign to bring his alleged IRA killers to justice.
Gerry Adams, the leader of the IRA’s political wing Sinn Fein, has been excluded for the first time since the historic 1998 Good Friday agreement, as Washington Washington steps up its condemnations of Northern Ireland Ireland paramilitary crime.
The political pressure follows the McCartneys’ high-profile campaign over the January 30 killing, as well as a spectacular pre-Christmas bank heist blamed on the IRA.
Along with the shamrock and leprechaun, St. Patrick’s Day reminds people worldwide of Irish culture.
But according to legend, Patrick himself was born in Wales Wales, in the second half of the fourth century.
He was sold into slavery in Ireland Ireland, escaped to France France and later returned to the isle to convert it to Christianity, according to lore.
The saint also gets credit for banishing the “demons of paganism” as well as ridding the island of snakes — although spoilsport scientists say Ireland Ireland never had any snakes to begin with.
These days St. Patrick’s Day successfully rids Ireland Ireland of most of its politicians, as they use the national holiday to promote Irish trade and culture abroad.
McAleese will head to South Korea South Korea after Japan, while Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will attend the White House reception with the McCartney family in Washington Washington.
Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney, and 24 other senior and junior ministers as well as the parliamentary speaker are all celebrating the holiday abroad, in more than two dozen countries on six continents.
At home St. Patrick’s Day is seen as an early kick-start to the tourist season, and for Dublin — where it has become a weeklong festival — the event alone brings in about 80 million euros (107 million dollars) worth of business.
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February 21st, 2008 at 6:12 am
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