dailynewsnblog
Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day parade first started on Saint-Paul Street in 1824, and a couple centuries later, this annual tradition is still going strong.
“The history of the parade is really the history of Montreal,” said author and journalist Alan Hustak.
Last year, Hustak published One Long Line of Marvel: 200 Years of Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Parade. The book dives into the story of a parade that survived two world wars and two referendums, becoming a beloved, well-attended event every March, despite the often frigid temperatures.
That first parade in 1824 had a different vibe than modern times. Hustak told CBC’s All in a Weekend, veterans from the War of 1812 “decided to get together for a party.”
The first decade, it was a mix of Irish and French Canadian Catholics who were both against British colonialism, Hustak explained.
From gatherings of wealthy businessmen, to religious expression and Irish nationalism, we look at how the St. Patrick’s Day parade’s colourful history ‘is the history of Montreal’ as the event marches into its third century.
In 1834, the St. Patrick’s Society was founded to help organize the annual parade. And by 1860, the community grew after half a million Irish immigrants came to Quebec.
“It started as an Irish nationalist demonstration, then it morphed into a more Catholic procession,” said Ken Quinn, a historian with the United Irish Societies of Montreal.
It was an all-male activity in those early days, Quinn said on CBC Montreal’s Let’s Go. They were proud of their Irish roots and they thought it was time they displayed that in a public way.
Hustak said each parish had a parade at one point and parishes even feuded with one another over who had the right parade.
Montreal’s parade is older than Dublin’s
While the parade evolved in Montreal over decades, the first official St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin didn’t take place until 1931.
“In general, it’s not something that’s native to the Island of Ireland,” said Emer O’Toole, Concordia University professor of Irish studies.
“It was originally a military tradition by protestant unionist regiments to commemorate the patron saint’s day of their homeland.”
The St. Patrick’s Day in Montreal along Ste-Catherine Street in 1920
Nowadays, the parade is associated with the wearing of green, a more nationalist symbol, O’Toole said.
“One of the great things about the parade, in my view, is that it’s moved from a strictly religious observation into this great diverse festival that’s really a rite of spring in Montreal,” said Hustak.
This year, the 200th parade is on March 16, following De Maisonneuve Boulevard between St-Marc and St-Urbain streets from noon to 3 p.m.
Cancelled 4 times in 200 years
The parade was cancelled at least four times over the years. In 1878 it was because the pope died. In 1902, it was because a Montreal pastor died.
More recently, it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. So it’s been 200 years since 1824, but it wasn’t necessarily held every single year.
“Maybe we’re not that great at math, but we certainly determined this is the year we’ll celebrate the 200th of the parade,” Quinn said.
In 2022, there were no floats and only a fraction of participants were included in the event as organizers worked to get the tradition back on track.
In 2023, thousands of green-clad parade-goers were cheering from the sidelines of what was touted as the 198th edition of the parade. It roared back to life, stretching about two kilometres down Ste-Catherine Street West.
Danny Doyle is the Grand Marshall for this year’s parade. He grew up in a large Irish family in Griffintown, and he remembers the days when the parade was almost military-like with participants marching down the street.
The parade has become more of a party over the years, with dozens of organizations and political leaders. This year, there will be more than 120 groups.
“It’s obviously an Irish tradition, but I think now it’s become more of a commercial parade than it was years ago with the parishes running it,” said Doyle. “It’s more multicultural.”
