St. Patrick’s Day is Ireland’s national holiday and understandably 
St. Patrick himself is looked on as the personification of all that is Irish.
It is probably the only holiday specifically associated with one nation
that is celebrated with gusto in countries across the globe, with
prominent streets and buildings on so many continents being decked out
in Emerald Isle Green.
Yet St. Patrick himself and so many of the traditions associated with
the Festival have their origins far beyond our green shamrock shores.
So for instance:
1. St. Patrick- British & Roman!
St. Patrick himself was actually Romano-British, the son of a Roman
official that was taken as a slave by Irish sea raiders probably from
near Carlisle (at Hadrian’s Wall) in northern Britain in the early 5th century. Even his adopted name is not Gaelic, coming from the Latin term ‘Patricius' (noble).
Yet, as we say in Ireland, the invader/foreigner oftentimes becomes 'more Irish than the Irish themselves' (except for a few Northern Unionists!).
Though sent as a prisoner to Ireland & forced to work as a slave
looking after sheep in the mountains, Patrick decided to voluntarily
return to Ireland as a Christian missionary years after his escape from
captivity.
2. 
Guinness- Invented by Londoners & with some later support from the British Army!
'Guinness' was copied by Arthur Guinness from an 18th century
London drink made out of roasted barley. The beer was known as ‘porter’
because it was originally popular with the porters (carriers) in Covent Garden.
Arthur Guinness switched from producing the more common ale at his
Dublin brewery. However Guinness was initially not well received with Dubliners because
of the owner’s support for the British colonial regime and his
opposition to the republican United Irishman during the rebellions of
the late 1790s.
Guinness’ international reputation had also a lot to do with the British
Army! In WW1, the high-energy consumption ‘porter’ breweries in
mainland Britain were closed down by the government to concentrate the
national energy resources on the armament production factories. However
Guinness and the porter breweries in Ireland were allowed to stay open
thus giving them a virtual trade monopoly in the then British Empire
that stretched across five continents.
3. Irish Pub- Viking roots!
The '
Irish pub' was actually created by Viking invaders in the 9
th century
in their new slave-trading settlements of Dublin, Cork, Limerick etc.
Common to all these Viking cities was the presence of a 'tavern' where
Vikings, after grueling days or months spent fighting, raiding,
pillaging or trading could come to enjoy the delights of beer, music and
food served by gorgeous-looking Celtic wenches.
Over a thousand years later (in 1996), I returned the favour to our
Viking brethren by managing the first Irish pub in Iceland- ‘The
Dubliner’ in Reykjavik! (pubs were only legalized in that country in 1989)
4. 
'St. Patrick's Day Festival Parade’ -an American invention!
It originated in the mid-18
th century
American cities of Boston (1737) and New York (1762) where it was
actually created by Irish soldiers serving in the British Army who
marched on March 17th in honour of the patron saint of Ireland. The
latter parade is usually recognised as the first true parade. By the 19
th century,
it had become an opportunity for the Irish emigrants in the USA not
only to promote their heritage, but most importantly to present a
powerful expression of Irish nationalism and the struggle against
British colonial rule in Ireland.
New York's Parade for Indian & Irish Independence
Interestingly, the New York Parade of 1920 took on a more cosmopolitan
anti-imperial flavour as it became a huge demonstration for Indian as
well as Irish independence with Indian republicans carrying large
banners emblazoned with messages such as
'315,000,000 of India with Ireland to the Last'and
'President De Valera's Message to India: Our cause is a common cause.'
5.
Irish Whiskey -the essence of the Middle East!
The process of creating whiskey(from the Gaelic '
uisce beatha'
= 'water of life') - 'distillation' was learnt from Coptic or Arab
alchemists by studious Celtic monks. The former used it for medicinal
purposes. However, we Irish soon saw its greater significance in the
hospitality and entertainment sectors!
6.
Sexy Irish Traditional Dancing- another American invention!
Traditional Irish step dancing only gained an international appeal in
the 1990s thanks primarily to the efforts of an American, Michael
Flatley.
This Irish-American from Chicago created the choreography for the
'Riverdance' show and, with fellow lead dancer Jean Butler, led the show to amazing success as the intermission act in the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. Irish step dancing has never looked back since and
Riverdance has generated a myriad of successful offshoots. Not only that, but the dour unsmiling
Irish dancers of previous eras were transformed into vivacious high-kicking Irish
cailíní and
buachaillí in
figure-hugging attire. Furthermore, modern Irish dance now unashamedly
embraces elements from other cultures (Russia, Arabian) increasing its
international appeal even further.
Michael
Flatley portrayed
all that was good and important about Irish-Americans. When Irish
traditions were dying out in the Emerald Isle, it was they that for
centuries nurtured and kept alive the flame of Celtic culture.
7.
There is no such thing as Irish 'Craic'!
The term '
Craic'
is looked on today as an Irish word denoting a quintessentially Irish
form of fun (drink, music, amusing & friendly conversation).
In fact there was no such word in the Gaelic Language until the 1970s.
It is actually an old English(!) word spelt 'crack' that meant in
Elizabethan times 'to boast', 'to banter' or 'to tell a joke' as in the
term 'to crack a joke'.
8. 'Irish Coffee'- invented for the benefit of American tourists suffering from the Irish weather!
On one cold evening in 1942 at a small windswept airport terminal on the west coast
of
Ireland, the local chef felt pity for the tired and freezing passengers
who had just embarked from a seaplane that had to turn back from its
trans Atlantic journey due to atrocious weather conditions.
Being Americans, he
knew that
they would enjoy a cup of hot coffee (not then much consumed by Irish
people) topped with fresh cream. But because of the freezing conditions,
he decided to spice it up with a shot of Irish whiskey. Legend has it
that one of the passengers, remarking on the unusual taste of this drink
asked, "Hey Buddy, is this Brazilian coffee?", to which the chef Joe
Sheridan replied, 'No, that's Irish coffee'. And so, history was made!
9. Irish Songs-written by English, Americans, Scots & Australians!
Many
of those great 'traditional Irish' ballad songs that are sung with such
gusto every night by broken-hearted inebriated Galwegians or Dubliners
in some Irish pub across the world were in fact written by English,
Scotch, Australian or American!
(Click on song title below to hear the song)
For instance Dirty Old Town (that many mistakenly believe refers to Dublin) was written by the (Scottish-) English socialist folk singer Ewan MacColl; From Clare to Here by English singer songwriter Ralph McTell; Willie McBride/Green Fields of France by Scottish Australian Eric Bogle; Danny Boy by English lawyer Fred Weatherly; My Wild Irish Rose and When Irish Eyes are Smiling by New York Broadway star Chauncey Olcott; and the late great Johnny Cash wrote Forty Shades of Green
British Army made an Irish theme song the most popular music of World War One
Written in 1912 by Englishman Harry Williams and Jack Judge, the son of Irish emigrants, the song It's a Long Way to Tipperary was heard by English news reporter George Curnock being sung by the Connaught Rangers regiment of the British Army as they marched through Boulogne
in August 1914. He wrote about it in the Daily Mail and very soon it was
being picked up by other British regiments and became the most popular
marching song of the war.
10. Irish Traditional Music- reinvented by British Punks
It
was a London-based Punk group of mixed English & Irish background
that shook Irish music to its foundations and re-invented it for a
modern Western youth audience. The anti-establishment Pogues, led by their brilliant lead singer and lyricist Shane MacGowan,
that revitalised Irish music and brought vibrancy, youthfulness,
relevancy and radical politics back into a staid Irish music scene.
Formed in 1982, the inventors of Celtic Punk fused traditional Irish folk with contemporary English punk and rock.
The name 'Pogues' comes from Pogue Mahone, the anglicisation of the Irish 'póg mo thóin,' meaning "kiss my ass".
As with Riverdance,
their music was oftentimes condemned by the native Irish purists who
preferred to keep Celtic culture in a sealed box untainted by outside
forces.
Silly people! Like all cultures, Irish traditions are ever-changing, are
constantly borrowing and being re-shaped by external influences.
11. The Irish Potato- Brought to Ireland from North America by English colonists
More than any other food item, the potato is associated with Ireland.
Today it is a central element of Irish cuisine with a myriad of
traditional recipes associated with this root crop, ranging from Boxty
(Irish Potato Griddle Cakes), potato soup, Dublin Coddle to Colcannon.
Particularly from the early 1800s, it became the staple diet of the
Irish people.
Because
of its high nutritional value and its ability to be grown abundantly on
poor soils, the majority of the impoverished native peasantry planted
this vegetable on the miserable patches of lands left to them by their
new lords and masters, the British ruling elite, who had conquered and
colonised Ireland during the wars of the 16th-18th centuries,
transforming the countryside in the process into grazing and tillage
lands to provide livestock and grain for the British market. Over
dependency on the potato in the 19th century sadly had dire consequences
when potato blights led to mass starvation, death and emigration
particularly in the
Great Famine (an Gorta Mór = the Big Hunger) of the 1840s.
However the potato was introduced into Ireland only in the late 16th
century from North America, probably by English soldier and adventurer
Sir Walter Raleigh on
his estates in county Waterford that had been awarded to him from lands
seized from Irish rebels. Raleigh is mostly remembered today for
popularising another crop from the the New World, namely
tobacco.
However his legacy in Ireland is somewhat different and will be forever
associated with colonising Irish lands with English settlers and
American spuds.
12. Claddagh Ring- African Origins of the Irish Symbol of Love
The
Claddagh ring (
Fáinne Chladaigh in Irish) is internationally renowned as a traditional Irish token of
friendship, love, or
marriage.
It is called after the fishing village of Claddagh ('Cladach' = stony
beach in Irish), now a suburb of Galway city on the west coast of
Ireland.
Each element of this distinctive metal ring has symbolic meaning: the
hands represents friendship, the
crown loyalty, and the
heart love.
If the ring is placed on the right hand with the heart turned outwards,
it means that the wearer is "unattached". When the heart is turned
inwards, it is a sign that he or she is married or in a permanent
relationship.
Many famous people have worn it including the British Queen Victoria,
Hollywood actor Gabriel Byrne, film producer Walt Disney and US
President Bill Clinton.
It has appeared in popular television programmes including
Friends, and in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer where
the character Angel (who was an Irishman in a previous life) presents
Buffy with a Claddagh ring on her birthday saying “My people – before I
was changed – they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It’s a Claddagh
ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown loyalty…and the
heart….well you know…..wear it with the heart pointing towards you it
means you belong to somebody."
All wore the ring in the belief that it is a authentic Love Symbol from ancient Ireland.
Yet its origins probably lie in North Africa, in the white slave trade
practiced by the fierce Moorish pirates in what was then known as the
Barbary (Barbarian
) Coast.
According to legend
Richard Joyce, from British occupied Ireland,
was captured by Muslim pirates on a ship traveling to the slave
plantations of British West Indies. Sold like many hundreds of thousands
of captured Europeans in a slave market in Morocco or Algeria, he was
bought by a kindly goldsmith from Algiers who taught him the skills of
his trade during his 14 years of captivity.
Under a peace treaty during the reign of King William III, Richard was
released along with all other British prisoners. In spite of being
offered riches and a daughter in marriage by his former master. Richard
returned to Galway. Equipped with his new metalwork skills and designs,
he became a successful goldsmith. It is said that he presented the first
Claddagh ring to a lover that had remained faithful to him during his
long years in captivity.
13. Easter 1916 - Ireland's greatest rebellion against British Imperial Rule- Led by a Scotsman, an Englishman, an American and the English-born wife of A Polish Count
The Easter 1916 Rising is probably the most celebrated rebellion against
British colonial rule in Ireland. Though it ended in failure, it was
the catalyst for the larger scale guerrilla warfare campaign of the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) that commenced in January 1919 and became
known as the War of Independence which led to the establishment of the
Irish Free State and the end of British rule in 26 counties of the 32
counties of Ireland.
Yet interestingly, many of the rebel leaders were foreign-born, evidenced of the extent and influence of the
Irish Diaspora. The chief planner of the rebellion,
Tomas Clarke was born in the Isle of Wright, England;
James Connolly the internationally renowned socialist and overall commander, was born in Edinburgh
Scotland;
Éamon DeValera, commandant of the Boland Mills unit, was born in
New York to a
Cuban father;
Constance Georgine Markievicz (neé
Gore Booth) second in command of the St. Stephen's Green rebel forces was born in
London and married a
Polish aristocrat
Count Casimir Markievicz from what is now Ukraine. The father of
Pádraig Pearse, the Commander in Chief of the overall rebellion and the person most associated with the Rising was from
Birmingham.
14. Ireland's Picturesque Landscapes of Green Fields & Stone Walls - A Product of British Conquest & Colonisation
A rural landscape comprising a mosaic of little green fields and a
network of drystone walls is the image that many foreigners have of
Ireland and its ancient Celtic past and rural traditions. In fact the
fields and walls were largely created by British colonists and merchants
from the early seventeenth century onwards when, after the defeat of
Gaelic clans, the huge forests that covered much of the country were cut
down to provide fuel for the English ironworks, timber to build ships
for the imperial navy, tillage and pasture lands for the production of
crops and livestock for export to the English homelands.
A traditional Irish (honest!) Toast
In honour of the day itself, may I send you all an old and heartfelt Irish blessing:
"May your glass be ever full,
May the roof over your head be always strong,
And may you be in heaven
half an hour before the devil knows you're dead!"
