I celebrated my first St. Patrick’s Day ever

It didn’t take me long to realize Bostonians more proud to be Irish than the Irish in Ireland. So naturally I realized that I can’t call myself a true Bostonian till I have taken part in the most Irish tradition of them all – St. Patrick’s Day. I wasn’t able to take part in the actual festival, but I did venture to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday.

I was expecting utter anarchy – drunk people vomiting green, people cosplaying as leprechauns, random songs and chanting filling the air.

There was no anarchy, however, because there was a lot of police.

All in all it was looking tamer than Halloween, and I wasn’t complaining. However, there was still a lot of very ritualistic-sounding chanting going on everywhere – the T, the walk to the parade site, the shops – and there were enough people drinking from pretty eerie looking goblets.

The people around me were just as excited as I and were delighted to hear that this is my first ever St. Patrick’s Day. Apparently I was interesting enough for a couple of students from Emerson College to come up to me and request me for an interview for a documentary they were making on the festival. So far so good!

I could hardly wait for the Parade to begin. I had woken up early to get to Broadway and I had managed to find a good spot. I was expecting the Parade to be all about carnival-esque floats and other ostentatious displays, but the first thing I saw was this:

Various other displays of Boston’s public infrastructure – ambulances, police forces, coast guard, army, navy, air force followed and I realized that St. Patrick’s Day, at least in Boston, was more than a drinking holiday.

It was about celebrating the history of the city, the ancestors of its current peoples, and for taking pride in the strides the city has made over three centuries. Sure, the green costumes and ornaments and the drinking were long upheld traditions, but it became clear that the Irish and their traditions are more than just what stereotypes call them out to be.

The people around me were as generous in spirit as they probably were in drinking. They shepherded me into spots that would allow me to have a better view and when they saw me become green-eyed (haha!) with jealousy when everyone but I seemed to catch the various trinkets the performers threw at the crowd, they passed along some of their loot to me.

I was delighted to see how the public institutions of Boston had such a great sense of humor. I will not be forgetting the firetruck with a Minion on its hood any time soon. It was also really nice to see police officers scrape up the candy from the ground or actually go up to the performers to get some candy from them for the little kids in front of me.

I was also surprised to see so many beauty pageant winners being driven down the parade. I learned that there are many different ways in which you can express your pride.

My favourite parts of the parade were any time dogs and horses appeared, and the one time when the rebels stepped into the present, fresh from the Boston Tea Party, and did a gun salute.

I didn’t get to experience the crazily flamboyant side of the festival – and perhaps that is just as well. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade brought me closer to the city, its peoples and its culture. It reminded me again why I chose to join Boston University and why I love Boston so much.

It has brought me one step closer to feeling like a true Bostonian. And perhaps one day, when I am finally old enough and Bostonian enough, I might actually take part in the drinking and the “go-green” movement that St. Patrick’s Day is famous for!