New York may have to hand over its title as the oldest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world. iStock
The world’s oldest St Patrick’s Day festival was in St. Augustine, Florida, some 420 years ago.
Boston and New York have long laid claim to being the centers of Irish immigration that saw the very start of St. Patrick’s Day parades before they had even started in Ireland itself with start-up dates of 1737 and 1762 respectively.
In truth, St Augustine in Florida beats them to the mark and is, in fact, home to the oldest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world. (Waterford in 1903 held the first St.Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland.)
According to new research unearthed in Florida, St Augustine may have well over a hundred years on Boston and New York, holding its first St Patrick’s Day celebration in 1600 and its first parade in 1601.
The sensational information was uncovered in December 2017 by historian Dr. J. Michael Francis in a gunpowder expenditures log in Spain’s Archivo General de Indias, or AGI. The documents reveal that spring festivities which included a feast day of San Patricio (St. Patrick) was held in the year 1600 in St. Augustine, Florida.
“While artillery pieces often were fired to help guide ships safely across St. Augustine’s protective sandbar, they were also fired during times of public celebrations and religious festivals,” Francis wrote in his blog for PBS.
“In March of 1601, St. Augustine’s residents gathered together and processed through the city’s streets in honor of an Irish saint, who appears to have assumed a privileged place in the Spanish garrison town. Indeed, during these same years, St. Patrick was identified as the official ‘protector’ of the city’s maize fields.”
The professor and Chair of the Department of History and Politics at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, has studied the records on and off over the past 30 years and he was certainly surprised to discover this information on a St Patrick’s Day celebration written in Spanish in Florida.
“It was certainly a surprise … it did not register the first time I looked through it. … It was written in Spanish, and it took a few seconds before it actually hit me that this was a St. Patrick’s Day parade/procession,” Francis explained to Renee Unsworth from totallystaugustine.com.
“I don’t know how much it will change the national perception (of St. Patrick’s Day) which has evolved into something so unique. … It certainly forces people to pause.”
St Augustine is regarded as the oldest city in the US. Image: iStock.
The news was also welcomed by recently-retired City of St. Augustine archaeologist Carl Halbirt who was recently named Parade Marshal of the 2018 St. Augustine St. Patrick’s Day Parade taking place on March 10.
“The history of St. Augustine, its diversity, and place in American (U. S.) heritage is often overlooked by people who do not live in Northeast Florida,” Halbert said to totallystaugustine.com.
“Yet, it is a city of firsts and oldest in terms of the country’s European ancestry. The discovery of this particular cultural tradition only adds to the city’s mystic and place. The late historian Luis Arana stated that ‘we have only scratched the tip of the iceberg’ regarding the historical records (and I might add the city’s buried archaeological record). Dr. Michael Francis’s discovery of these documents adds to St. Augustine’s cultural heritage.”
From his research, Francis believes that the St Patrick’s Day parade in St Augustine was influenced by the Irish priest Richard Arthur.
Did the first St Patrick’s Day parade take place here in St Augustine? Image; iStock.
“It is likely that Richard Arthur was responsible for the Irish saint’s short-lived prominence in St. Augustine,” he writes.
“When Arthur disappears from the historical records, so too do the references to the Irish saint, and soon thereafter, the memory of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and processions began to fade from public memory.
“Today, St. Patrick’s Day is one of St. Augustine’s most popular celebrations, but its early seventeenth-century origins have long been forgotten.”
While St Augustine could prove to be the oldest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world, as there was no continuation of the parade throughout the past 400 years, Boston and New York could still continue that they are the owners of the oldest continuous parade.
New York may have to hand over its St Patrick’s Day title. Image: iStock.
The first parade was held in New York on held on March 15, 1762, in Bowling Green in lower Manhattan. Before this time, St. Patrick’s Day was honored as a Catholic feast day on which a special Mass was attended and nothing more, but in a show of national pride, Irish soldiers within the British Army marched through Bowling Green in honor of their patron saint, with New Yorkers claiming that this would spark a trend that would result in the worldwide festivities we celebrate today.
Boston, on the other hand, could claim the first celebration but not first St. Patrick’s Day parade. On March 17, 1737, as a gesture of solidarity among the city’s new Irish immigrants, Boston’s Irish community joined together in festivities of their homeland.
Either way, all three locations in the US were hundreds of years before the first St Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland which was held in Waterford in 1903.
Irish-American Heritage Month is celebrated by proclamation of the President and Congress in the United States to honor the achievements and contributions of Irish immigrants and their descendants living in the United States. It was first celebrated in 1991. The heritage month is in March to coincide with Saint Patrick’s Day, the Irish national holiday on March 17. Heritage Months are usually proclaimed by nations to celebrate centuries of contributions by a group to a country.
Saint Patrick’s Day is a Roman Catholic religious holiday that honors the saint, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the early fifth century. It has developed in the United States as a celebration of all things Irish. With large ethnic Irish populations, Boston and New York City both claim the world’s first Saint Patrick’s Day parade, while Philadelphia claims to be the second oldest behind New York City. In New York City, it occurred on March 17, 1762, featuring Irish soldiers serving in the British military protecting the Colonies during the French and Indian War. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman, of Scottish descent, attended the New York Saint Patrick’s Day parade and gave a speech to attendees. This was a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and prejudice to find acceptance in the United States. In 1960 John F. Kennedy was elected as the first Irish American Catholic President; in 1961 he was in New York to review the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
In tribute to all Irish Americans, the US Congress, by Public Law 101-418, designated March 1991 as “Irish-American Heritage Month”[1] Congress again proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month for 1995 and 1996.[2]
Within the authority of the Executive Branch, the President of the United States has also issued a proclamation each year since 1991.[3][4]
Each year in March, the Irish Taoiseach visits the United States for Saint Patrick’s Day. A Shamrock Ceremony takes place in the morning at the White House where a crystal bowl containing shamrock, a traditional symbol of Ireland, is presented to the President in the Oval Office. This is followed by a Friends of Ireland luncheon hosted by the House Speaker in the U.S. Capitol or the Rayburn House Office Building.[5][6] The luncheon is attended by the President, Vice President, the Taoiseach, the Speaker, and other officials.[7] In the evening, a Saint Patrick’s Day Reception takes place at the White House.[8]
An essay originally written by Bobby Sands in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh
in 1979.
When one spends each day naked and crouched in the corner of a cell
resembling a pigsty, staring at such eye-sores as piles of putrifying
rubbish infested with maggots and flies, a disease-ridden chamber pot,
or a black, disgustingly-scarred wall, it is to the rescue of one’s
sanity to be able to rise and gaze out of a window at the world.
My cell window, fortified by thick concrete slabs which serve as bars,
affords me with a view of nothingness, unless a barbed wire jungle and
rows of blank faceless tin timbers offer an artistical appreciation
unknown to me. It’s what passes by, lingers, or materialises, in front
of my humble little window that saves me, that can dampen depression,
allow me to contemplate, serve as an enjoyable distraction from my
surroundings, and provide me with a once unknown pleasure.
On a dreary, dull, wet, morale-attacking November afternoon, when one’s
stomach is empty, and when the monotony begins to depress and
demoralise, it is soothing in many respects to spend a half-an-hour with
one’s head pressed against the concrete slabs, gazing in wonder, and
taking in the antics of a dozen or so young starlings bickering over a
few stale crusts of bread. Circling, swooping, sizing up and daring an
extra nibble, continually on their guard, and all their tiny nerves on
end, the young starlings feud among themselves, the greedy one continually trying to dominate and always wanting the whole haul to
himself, fighting with his comrades whilst the sparrow sneaks in to
nibble at the spoils.
But the ruler of the kingdom of my little twenty-yard arched view of the
outside world, is the seagull, who dominates, steals, pecks, and denies
the smaller birds their share. The seagull takes it all. In fact, his
appetite seems insatiable. He goes to any length to gorge himself. Thus
I dislike the seagull, and I often wonder why the starlings do not
direct their attention to the predator, rather than each other. Perhaps
this applies to more than birds.
During the summer months, finches were abundant, and the music of the
lark a constant symphony of sound and a reminder of life. The various
crows, the odd magpie, and the little wagtails are still to be seen and
heard from dawn to dusk.
In the late evening, when most of the prisoners of war are sleeping,
when a hush descends, amplifying the gentle sound of a breeze, one can
gaze upon the ocean of sky arid the multitude of stars that seem
embedded and ablaze. In that black root of nothingness that not even the
moon in all her beaming regalia can penetrate, and one can dream a
thousand dreams of yesterday, of childhood and happiness, of love and
joy, and escape through make-believe and fantasy. The evils that engulf
each day, forgotten about, and tomorrow as far away as the unreachable
stars.
On many a summer evening and cold winter night I stand with only my old
shabby blanket wrapped tightly around me, my breath pouring out into the
blackness, in ghost-like clouds, just dreaming. Many a day in the
eternal hours, I stand watching the birds and listening to the lark,
trying to discover its whereabouts in that stagnant blue ocean above me
that represents the outside world, and I long for the liberty of the
lark.
I suppose, to many, a few birds, the sound of a lark, a blue sky, or
full moon, are there, but unnoticed most of the time. But, to me, they
mean existence, peacefulness, comfort, entertainment, and something to
view, to help forget the tortures, brutalities, indignities and evils
that surround and attack my everyday life.
Today, the screws began blocking up all the windows with sheets of
steel. To me this represents and signifies the further torture of the
tortured, blocking out the very essence of life: nature!
A few words I once read came echoing back to me today: ‘No-one can take
away from a person his or her ability to contemplate. Throw them into
prison, give them hard labour, unimaginative work to do, but you can
never take away from them the ability to find the poetry and music in
life: And I also realised that, here, my torturers have long ago
started, and still endeavour, to block up the window of my mind.
BAYSIDE ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
The 3rd Annual Bayside St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held Saturday, March 28, on Bell Blvd at 11:00 AM. Formation will meet on 35th Ave and Bell Blvd at 10:45 AM. All members participating are requested to wear Class A Uniform. Children are welcome to join the formation to march. Post parade lunch will be held at One Station Plaza, located at 213th St. and 41st Ave. For any further information, contact Lt. Gerard Walsh, BN 51, at (347) 525-4108.
UFA RETIREMENT SEMINAR
The UFA will host a Retirement Seminar for delegates and members who are beginning the retirement process on Thursday, February 27, at 12:00 PM, in the 4th Floor Conference Room of the UFA office. Topics will cover SBF Benefits in retirement, Social Security options and Pension options. Space is limited, so we are only able to accommodate 50 members. Members must RSVP beforehand to reserve their place. For more information, or to RSVP, contact UFA Retiree Liaison Marty Tighe at mtighe@ufanyc.org or call (646) 899-6416.
FDNY BASEBALL
FDNY Baseball’s One Pitch Softball Tournament will be held April 20, 2020, at Eisenhower Park. Registration is $300 per team. Call or text Scott Miller at 917-225-7872 for more information.
FDNY MEMORIAL QUILT
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion is designing a quilt to celebrate the contributions FDNY has made to the City of New York. Each firehouse may submit a piece of fabric that best represents where you work, the spirit of your team, the neighborhood that you serve, or your contribution to FDNY. Please also provide a brief narrative of the significance of the fabric. The narratives will be consolidated in a booklet to accompany the quilt. The quilt will be a beautiful longstanding work of art showcasing all of FDNY and will travel throughout the boroughs. The most outstanding submissions will be awarded. Submissions for the “We are FDNY Quilt and Stories” are due March 6, 2020. To participate, please send or bring your fabric and accompanying narrative to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, located at 9 MetroTech Center, Room 8S-09, Brooklyn, NY. Questions should be directed to diversity.inclusion@fdny.nyc.gov.
