St Patricks Day in Chicago

March 17, 2007

They say everyone is Irish on St patricks Day in Chicago and yes i was lucky to experience it...i celebrating St Patricks day in chicago ....the city celebrates the festival for almost two weeks. St Patricks was a saint in ireland . This day is celebrated for him

we started with the south side irish parade which happened last weekend...check out fotos at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazalphotos/sets/72157594583694843/

it was the most amazing displays of floats, irish step dancing , bagpipes and lots of irish music.....and everyone was wearing something green...some people had even green hair and green beard...we almost felt out of place...not wearing green. ...and of course there was lot of drinking...yes green beer

yesterday we went for irish step dancing and music performances at the irish american heritage center.........just took my breath away.....

and then this morning...the unique chicago tradition of dyeing the chicago river green....though i saw the entire thing from my bedroom window but it was most amazing...check out the fotos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazalphotos/sets/72157600005757038/

some more info about the river dyeing....

If you were watching this for the first time you would think this is a mistake or a bad joke. You see the dye is orange and its initial color on the surface of the river is orange and you would think to yourself what heathen would do something like this. After a moment or two you then see the true color magically appear.
Two miracles appear that day, the river turns a perfect shade of green something that many other cities have tried but have not been successful at doing, and the second miracle by starting with the color orange giving the impression that river will be orange only to convert the river to that true Irish green.

next year if i am in chicago or if any of u are in chicago on St Patricks day.. ........dont forget to wear green......

even though i missed the downtown parade...but like they say in chicago " everyone is an irish on st patricks day "...and beleive me i felt the same for this whole week...

some interesting stuff i found on the net ....

Much Irish folklore surrounds St. Patrick's Day. Not much of it is actually substantiated.
Some of this lore includes the belief that Patrick raised people from the dead. He also is said to have given a sermon from a hilltop that drove all the snakes from Ireland . Of course, no snakes were ever native to Ireland , and some people think this is a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday.

One traditional icon of the day is the shamrock. And this stems from a more bona fide Irish tale that tells how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.

The St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737. That was the first year St. Patrick's Day was publicly celebrated in this country, in Boston .
Today, people celebrate the day with parades, wearing of the green, and drinking beer. One reason St. Patrick's Day might have become so popular is that it takes place just a few days before the first day of spring. One might say it has become the first green of spring.