Insight into: St Patrick's Day in Newfoundland

O'Reilly's Pub gets in St Patrick's Day spirit.

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated around the world as a day where everyone can pretend to be Irish, but for an island off the coast of Mainland Canada, it has a very special meaning. Since the 17^th century, thousands of Irish Emigrants have arrived in Newfoundland, setting up fishing and farming communities around the island, which is known as the Irish Loop. The Irish connection is so important to Newfoundland, that it is one of only two places outside of Ireland that celebrates St Patrick’s Day as a public holiday.

Newfoundland’s capital, St John’s, is laden with Irish pubs, but one of the most popular is O’Reilly’s, which was full of people dressed in green and wearing leprechaun hats. On stage was a Newfoundland folk singer, blasting out songs based in Newfoundland, but inspired by Ireland. 

Sitting in a booth enjoying their Irish coffees and breakfast beers were married couples Francis Corrigan, Sylvia Corrigan, Bill Stephenson and Rose Stephenson.  The group, from the Irish Loop, have roots in Wexford and Waterford and say they come out every St Patrick’s Day to celebrate their heritage. They even got to visit Ireland two years ago, something many Newfoundlanders want to do. Francis says that they loved their two-week break, which was their first time in Ireland.

“It was wonderful. We went from Dublin to Galway and then we went around the coast. I’ve never seen so many sheep in my life.  We really enjoyed Galway and the scenes in Dungarvan were beautiful.  We were in Galway for Halloween though and we got egged by a bunch of students.

“The only thing was we went searching for old Ireland, and we didn’t really find it.”

Despite not finding the old fashioned Ireland they were expecting, they couples say that they keep up the Irish traditions in Newfoundland. Francis and Sylvia were also getting ready for perform on stage later on.

“I’ll be singing ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and Sylvia will be singing ‘The Spinning Wheel’. We like to keep up the Irish feel. At home we have a kitchen garden as well. The first Irish that came here, I think the fished out of necessity, but farmed out of love.

“Our son is in his thirties now and he loves the Irish two-step and traditional Irish music. Irish traditions are just so engrained in Newfoundland society and culture. There’s no fear of Irish culture dying out over here. We won’t let it.”

 Francis Corrigan, Sylvia Corrigan, Rose Stephenson
 and Bill Stephenson enjoy a few drinks.

 Also out celebrating were Genie Power and Judy Dawe from Torbay, who were wearing green glow sticks shaped into glasses. Both Genie and Judy have Irish heritage, but neither are sure what part of Ireland their forefathers came from.

Genie says that the week before St Patrick’s Day the schools, shops and pubs are decked full of leprechauns and shamrocks.

“I brought my grandson to his elementary school and the teachers were all wearing green and had big green hats on. [Irish singer] Fergus O’Brien was playing there for a little while as well. St John’s goes all out for Paddy’s Day.”

Judy, whose maiden name is Eustace, will be visiting Ireland next year and is looking forward to touring the country.

“I hear there’s a  Eustace Street in Templebar, so I can’t wait to see that. I will be taking pictures of everything to do with my namesake.  I hear Templebar is the really Irish part of Ireland with all the traditional pubs. I’m so excited. I’m coming over boys. Get ready.”

Genie Power and Judy Dawe enjoy Paddy's Day.

Throughout the day, O’Reilly’s promoter and former radio DJ, Bill Gregory was working in O’Reilly’s to make sure everyone was having a good time. Bill, like nearly 60per cent of the island, has Irish heritage, which he wants to explore with his father.

“My father is always talking about visiting Ireland and seeing where we came from, so I said we should do it sooner rather than later. We have roots in Waterford, so that would definitely be a place we’d have to visit. The amount of Newfoundlanders visiting Ireland is nuts. I was there in 1998 as well.”

Bill also said that if the next generation of Irish emigrants fleeing Ireland’s economic woes would be more than welcome in Newfoundland.

“There is a huge connection between Newfoundland and Ireland. We know that a lot of newer emigrants will want to go to major centres like Toronto and Quebec, but there is so much more to Canada than those places.

“It would be nice to see the Irish emigrants coming here. We would welcome them with opens arms and we know that they would settle in just fine here.”

Bill added that St Patrick’s Day is a huge event for O’Reilly’s pub, which is he says is the epicentre for Irish entertainment on the island.

“People from all over the island come here every year. It’s like Christmas for so many people. It gives them a chance to celebrate their heritage. The people here are fiercely patriotic.”

Bill Gregory celebrates Paddy's Day.

In the same way that many people visit Ireland visit Ireland for St Patrick’s Day,  people from across Canada also visit Newfoundland. Pam Mackay from Manatoba and Lyn Duchesney from Cape Breton came to Newfoundland pub, Shamrock City, for the celebrations. Lyn said that they both love Irish culture and would love to visit Ireland.

“We both would absolutely love to visit Ireland. We just love the culture and the music. We want to go there within the next two years. I expect when we get there we’ will be greeted by green fields, fantastic music, friendly people and lots of horses.

“It would just be like Newfoundland, really.”

Pam Mackay and Lyn Duchesney enjoy Shamrock City.

Parts of this article were published in the 'Irish Independent' on 18/08/2011.

Insight into: St Patrick's Day in Newfoundland