It looks like there’s no pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow for FHS students this year. Saint Patrick’s Day recently took place on March 17, with substantially less celebration and fanfare from FHS students compared with previous years. This historic holiday has been celebrated since 1631, when a catholic church held a celebration feast for Saint Patrick, a famous saint of Ireland who died over 1,000 years before this holiday was first celebrated. But the limited recognition of the holiday from FHS students may point to a generational decline in the celebration within the Warrenton community.
The holiday gained major popularity when Irish immigrants in the United States made it into a celebration of everything Irish. Parades have become a staple of this, with the first Saint Patrick’s Day parade having taken place in Boston in 1737. Wearing green is possibly the most iconic aspect of this, stemming from folklore that said green would protect one from leprechauns.
Warrenton is a center for celebration, as it held a Saint Patrick’s Day parade this year. O’Briens Irish Pub on main street was the center of celebration as they held festivities for spectators of the Warrenton Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. This ended up being much smaller than other parades like in Manassas and Alexandria. This could be due to a larger population in those places, or potentially a decline in popularity of Saint Patrick’s Day in Warrenton.
At FHS, many students have lost interest in the holiday and don’t feel a need to celebrate it. Junior David Ponn said, “My mom is Irish but we don’t really celebrate it in any way because it’s not really important.” Junior Jude Scott said that he “was not aware” that Saint Patrick’s Day took place recently and that he “doesn’t care about Saint Patrick’s Day.” Many students, with Scott being among them, were not even aware of this holiday happening. Sophomore Eli Savoie, who is Catholic, said, “I don’t think [Saint Patrick’s Day] is necessary.”
This holiday may be on decline as younger generations begin to stop caring as much about it. This can be seen in the lackluster enthusiasm among students and in the notably older demographic of people celebrating. The only major Saint Patrick’s Day celebration was centered around O’Briens Irish Pub which, based on the fact that such an establishment is centered around serving adults, may point to the decline of such Irish tradition with younger generations.
