http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/AOH/AOH.htm
ST. Patrick's Day and the AOH By: Gerry Curran Deputy
National Historian
As we again prepare for the Feast of our Order's patron
this March 17th we should be aware that the general American celebration of
the holiday leaves many American Irish and the Irish in Ireland bewildered
or, at best, indifferent. In Ireland, most regard the day as a holyday and
see the American counterpart as somewhat ridiculous if not sacrilegious. In
America, St. Patrick's Day has, unfortunately, become a collection of
extravagant parades, shamrocks and leprechauns on napkins and party hats,
chartreuse apparel, maudlin Irish-American songs, and green beer in which
the nexus between the Irish and alcoholic drink is reaffirmed. Even serious
efforts to properly venerate the saint's memory, in the form of well
meaning but often speculative and somewhat farfetched biographies of St.
Patrick, do little to educate their readers about the evolution of the day
as a cultural celebration. Few special interest or news accounts in the
contemporary media tell the fascinating story of how St. Patrick's Day has
become an American national institution. In those that have made the
attempt, fewer have properly accredited the Ancient Order of Hibernians
with the crucial role it has played in this development.
Although St. Patrick's Day parades can be traced to Boston in
1737 and New York in 1762, these events were relatively simple processions
that were common in Ireland and other areas of Europe on saints' feast
days. These processions were always religious in nature and were largely
unnoticed by the larger Anglo-Saxon Protestant population in the United
States. As the Catholic Irish population in America slowly grew,
stereotypes of the Irish and cultural prejudice against them grew as well.
Situated as the English colonies were between French and Spanish
settlements (both Catholic), anti-Catholicism was rife in America from the
beginning. As early as 1799, frightened Irish Catholics on New York's Lower
East Side defended their national dignity against native-born Americans who
paraded through their neighborhoods on St. Patrick's Day bearing insulting
effigies (dubbed "Paddies") of the glorious saint.
The custom of "Paddy making" became widespread in the early
1800's and continued unabated until the middle of the nineteenth century.
These provocative caricatures incensed those affronted by them. The
social historian George Potter described the "Paddy" as: "an effigy dressed
in rags, its mouth smeared with molasses, sometimes wearing a string
of potatoes around its neck or a codfish to mock the Friday fasting and
with a whiskey bottle stuck out of one pocket...set up in a public place on
the eve of St. Patrick's Day."
In the 1820's Protestant Ulster immigrants brought the Orange
order to New York. By 1824 the order was strong enough to again insult
Irish Catholic sensibilities by parading all day on July 12th (the
anniversary of the infamous "victory" of the Protestant William III over
the Catholic James II and his Irish allies at the Boyne River in 1690) with
orange and purple flags through the Catholic community in Greenwich Village
singing "Croppies Lie Down", "Protestant Boys", and "Boyne Water". As Irish
Orangeism and American nativism combined to promote discrimination against
Catholics, most immigrants retreated into the safety of the Catholic Irish
communities and the institutions that emerged to protect them - the
Catholic Church, the Democratic party and the organizations of the Irish
nationalist movement - the largest and most prominent of which was the
Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Organized in New York and Pennsylvania in 1836 the A.O.H. grew
rapidly, appealing to a broad segment of the Irish Catholic community by
asserting issues of self-defense and social and economic justice, as well
as Irish nationalism. It also spread to other cities and states by
appealing to the similar grievances of canal and railroad laborers, and
their nationalistic sentiments (this growth of the Order also helped
increase the number, size, and significance of St. Patrick's Day
celebrations in cities throughout the nation).
In 1853, the Order was chartered by the state of New York and
also appeared in its first St. Patrick's Day parade under the name Ancient
Order of Hibernians. From this date on, the A.O.H. played a dominant role
in the development of the parade and was ultimately destined to assume
total responsibility for the parade tradition. Writing in 1923,
former National Historian John O'Dea stated: "The feature of the Order
which impressed the public in the early days of our American annals was the
great procession on St. Patrick's Day. The romantic attachment for their
native land and the precepts of Ribbonism had made a reverence for the
immortal apostle a part of the creed of every Irishman. For almost fifty
years these St. Patrick's Day processions were the chief public functions
of the Order, not only in New York City, but in every city where the Order
had found a foothold."
During the July 4, 1853 Independence Day parade in New York,
members of the A.O.H. were attacked at Abingdon Square when a wagon and
team of horses were driven into the marchers and bloody fighting broke out
between the Hibernians and elements of the "Know Nothing" organizations led
by the shameful bigot Bill Poole. With "Know Nothing" attack a genuine
threat, an unusually large number of Irish units of the state militia,
including the 69th, the 9th, and the 72nd regiments, as well as many
volunteer units, acted as escort to the parade on the following March 17th.
Protection of their community in general, and of the marchers in
particular, motivated these men (many of whom were A.O.H. members).
Their demeanor stood in striking contrast to the proverbial Irish faults of
violence, indolence, and intemperance with which the popular media of the
time portrayed them. The inclusion of these military units helped transform
the St. Patrick's Day procession into the parade we recognize today.
Moreover, in 1856, Peter R. Gaynor, A.O.H. National Delegate
(the title then used for National President) led the Father Mathew Total
Abstinence and Benevolent Society in the parade. This famous Irish
temperance organization helped bring a new dimension of order to the line
of march and deflated the myth that the Irish were, as suggested by Henry
Cabot Lodge: "...a hard-drinking, idle, quarrelsome, and disorderly class,
always at odds with the government."
By the beginning of the Civil War and in large part due to the
efforts of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the New York St. Patrick's Day
parade was no longer a small and simple procession. As a result of its
unqualified success (and our Order's rapid growth) St. Patrick's Day
parades became a feature of every substantial American city. The
celebration of St. Patrick's Day has become a symbol not only of devotion
to our patron saint and ancestral home but also of our constitutional right
to freely assemble in our streets as respected American citizens.
As we prepare for St. Patrick's Day let us recall those brave
Hibernians who defended their right to express devotion to our faith with
their lives. Let us pray for them as we honor the institution they helped
create.
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