St. Patrick’s Day in America

St. Patrick è una tipica festa irlandese, ma è molto popolare anche negli Stati Uniti. La nostra collaboratrice Talitha Linehan ci spiega le differenze tra come si vive la ricorrenza nei due Paesi.

Aggiornato il giorno

396 St Patrick istock

Ascolta questo articolo

Stampare

 On St. Patrick’s Day, like most Catholic families in Ireland, the first thing my family do is to go to mass. That’s because St. Patrick’s Day is traditionally a religious celebration there. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. People say that he converted the country to Christianity, probably in the 5th century. 

immigration

In America, however, St. Patrick’s Day is more of a cultural holiday, a day to celebrate Ireland more than a day to celebrate St. Patrick. There’s a good reason for this. During the Great Potato Famine of the mid-1800s, almost a million Irish Catholics emigrated to America. Many of them were subjected to racial prejudice, so they carried on the tradition of St. Patrick’s Day to celebrate and defend their Irish heritage

MUSIC AND DANCE

After mass, my family and I always go to the local parade, a festival of music and dance that is on in almost every village, town and city in Ireland. I always thought St. Patrick’s Day parades were a quintessentially Irish tradition. 

In fact, the world’s first St. Patrick’s Day parade was in 1762 in New York City, which still has the world’s biggest parade every year, with more than 150,000 participants. Ireland didn’t have its first St. Patrick’s Day parade until 1903. Dublin now has a five-day St. Patrick's Festival.

396 St Patrick istock b

THE GREEN DREAM

Americans certainly take the colour green more seriously than the Irish do. On my first St. Patrick’s Day in Los Angeles, I went to the pub and someone pinched me – because I wasn’t wearing green! That’s a very American tradition. In Ireland, the majority of people simply wear a shamrock or a St. Patrick’s Day badge, but here many people wear green from head to toe

 

396 St Patrick istock c

Americans also dye the Chicago River green for the occasion, probably because Chicago has a big Irish population. And many pubs serve green beer. Yuck! I think I’ll just have a nice normal black and white Guinness, thank you very much!

Train Spotting: A Curious Hobby
iStock

Culture

Train Spotting: A Curious Hobby

Vanno alla stazione ma non prendono nessun treno. Sono i train spotters, appassionati di treni che passano il loro tempo libero a guardarli passare e annotarne le caratteristiche. Un hobby che definisce il carattere di una nazione.

Hengeli Haupt

 Freddie Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody
Shutterstock

People

Freddie Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody è un film sulla vita del cantante e leader dei Queen. Considerato da molti il miglior cantante rock e pop della storia, Freddie Mercury è diventato un mito indiscusso per le sue magnifiche doti artistiche e il trascinante carisma.

Fergal Kavanagh

More in Explore

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Oxford v. Cambridge: The Boat Race

Culture

Oxford v. Cambridge: The Boat Race

Oxford e Cambridge sono da secoli simbolo di eccellenza accademica, ma la loro rivalità sportiva è altrettanto famosa. Scopriamo come si preparano alla celebre regata annuale sul Tamigi immergendoci nel cuore di questa tradizione.

Melita Cameron-Wood

Sentence Structure in English: Rules and Common Mistakes
iStock

Grammar

Sentence Structure in English: Rules and Common Mistakes

Imparare a costruire frasi in inglese può sembrare complicato all'inizio, ma una volta che comprendi la struttura di base, diventa molto più facile. Ti offriamo una guida semplice per iniziare a scrivere le tue frasi.

Natalie Gommon