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5th Annual
St. Patrick's Essay Contest
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2009 Announcement appears below... |
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The
Atlanta St. Patrick’s Day Committee Announces
“The Meaning of St. Patrick’s Day”:
An Essay Contest for Georgia High School Students
$1000 Prize |
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St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, is the only
American ethnic celebration that has become a national holiday. Held in
honor of Ireland’s national saint, St. Patrick’s Day honors the cultural
traditions of the Irish but also the historic American commitment to
embrace the multifaceted traditions of all immigrant peoples who have
come to our shores.
Here in Atlanta the annual St. Patrick’s Parade
was first held in 1858 by the Hibernian Benevolent Society. Savannah’s
St. Patrick’s Day Parade is even older, dating back to 1813 and is the
second largest in the country. Thousands of people march in both
parades to the skirl of brilliant pipes and drums, while revelers line
the streets and enjoy the festive air. But sometimes people forget that
a holiday such as this originally came out of dire and compelling
circumstances: the horror of famine and religious persecution, the
sorrow of leaving one’s homeland, family and friends, the terror of
ocean voyages in crowded, disease-ridden boats, and the challenge of
building new homes in a foreign land.
This St. Patrick’s Day, honoring all Americans who
have come to our country in hopes of finding new opportunity, the
Atlanta St. Patrick’s Parade Committee is pleased to announce its
annual contest for high school students.
With a prize of $1000 for the first place winner and $250 each for
two runners-up for a 1000-word essay on “The Meaning of St.
Patrick’s Day,” the contest will be adjudicated by a committee
headed by Dr. James W. Flannery, Director of the W. B. Yeats Foundation
and a member of the Irish Studies program of Emory University.
Students are encouraged to look at the meaning of St.
Patrick’s Day from any number of perspectives: historical, religious,
sociologic, folkloric, cultural or multicultural. We encourage students
to share their familial or community histories, stories and customs with
us, whether or not they happen to be Irish. Another approach might be
to look at the life and values of St. Patrick: a slave himself, he was
a fierce opponent of slavery. The only criterion is that, in some way,
the essay should shed a fresh light on the continued meaning of St.
Patrick’s Day.
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The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2009
Please mail to:
Dr. James Flannery
Director, W. B. Yeats Foundation
Winship Professor of the Arts and Humanities
Emory University
1655 North Decatur Road Suite 105
Atlanta, GA 30322 |
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Announcement of the winner will be made by March 10th, and the winner
will be an honored guest at the 127th Atlanta St. Patrick’s
Parade held on Saturday, March 14, 2009 and at the Sponsor & Dignitary
Breakfast preceding the Parade.
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2008 Winning Essay |
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The Meaningfulness of
St. Patrick's Day in
"The City Too Busy to Hate"
by Katrina Parsons
Atlanta Girls' School |
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The first St. Patrick's Day parade in Atlanta was held in
1858. It was coordinated by the newly formed Hibernian Benevolent
Society of Atlanta. One can only imagine whether the founding members
wondered what might become of the parade and the city 150 years later.
Would founder, Bernard Lamb, be proud that by 2008, the parade had
expanded its emphasis to recognize the hardships of all immigrant groups
to America? Could early member, Father Thomas O' Reilly, have envisioned
that Atlanta would someday become known as "The City Too Busy to Hate"?
Probably, young Father O' Reilly knew of St. Patrick. As an Irish
priest, Father O' Reilly likely studied St. Patrick's much admired
traits of patience, love, tolerance, and forgiveness. Interestingly, St.
Patrick was a significant figure in Ireland, even though he was not
Irish. In the fifth century C.E., he was kidnapped from Britain and
taken to Ireland as a slave for six years. He eventually escaped and
returned to Britain to be with his family. While there, he had a vision
and wrote that he heard a calling to help the Irish people. He then
returned to Ireland. As bishop of Ireland, he busily set about
converting Ireland to Christianity. Instead of harboring hatred, he
established monasteries and schools, which became famous throughout
Europe. “The Island of Saints and Scholars;” that's how Ireland was
known. He brought Latin and learning to the island so that the Irish
were less isolated. He forgave the Irish for his years of mistreatment
In fact, he pleaded for the lives and improved conditions of enslaved
Irish people in his Letter to Coroticus.
Father O'Reilly could not have known that he, too, would be
challenged to practice those same traits of love, patience, forgiveness
and tolerance here in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1864 the Irish priest found
himself in the middle of the American Civil War. He had been assigned
by a bishop to minister to Federal troops in the prison camp in
Andersonville, and had been appointed a chaplain by the Confederacy. In
Atlanta, he trekked up to 20 miles per day to help over 20,000 sick and
wounded soldiers of both the Confederacy and the Union, both Catholics
and non-Catholics. After the fall of Atlanta in the autumn of 1864,
Father O' Reilly pleaded for the saving of Atlanta churches. Remaining
with the priest after the evacuation of the city, were still a small
group of frightened citizens, including 10-year-old Carrie Berry whose
diary is at the Atlanta History Center. She quotes in her diary “We
were fritened almost to death last night” and “they said that they would
set the last house on fire if they had to leave this place.” Father
O'Reilly courageously stayed on at the parsonage of the Catholic Church
in Atlanta (the church is now known as the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception) where he had been pastor since 1861. The young priest
interceded with General William Tecumseh Sherman after the general's
famous order to begin the final destruction of the standing buildings in
Atlanta, prior to the Union Army's March to the Sea. The outraged
cleric said that many of General Sherman's soldiers were Catholics and
he threatened to have them excommunicated if the churches were burned.
His actions saved the churches of five different faiths: St. Philips
Episcopal Church, Central Presbyterian Church, Trinity United Methodist
Church, Second Baptist Church, and last but not least, Immaculate
Conception Catholic Church. Atlanta's City Hall, the Fulton County
Courthouse and the buildings between Mitchell and Peters Streets were
also spared thanks to his efforts. The war weakened Father O' Reilly's
health though, and he died on September 6, 1872. (His crypt lies in the
basement of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Church, where it had
been buried, undiscovered, until 1982.)
Almost a hundred years after Father O'Reilly's courageous
stand, a new civil war came to the United States- this time a war for
equal rights, regardless of race or background. Concurrently the city
of Atlanta adopted the slogan "The City Too Busy to Hate". In Atlanta,
the city leaders may have taken inspiration from Reverend Martin Luther
King, Jr. In his "I Have A Dream" speech given August 28,1963 on the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC Dr. King prayed that “my
four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their
character." He wanted an end to segregation; he thought that people
should be valued by their human qualities and not by their racial
attributes. In this same speech, this son of Atlanta envisioned: "I
have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit
down together at the table of brotherhood". This quote demonstrates Dr.
King's belief- that everyone of any race, religion, age, or gender
should be able to sit together (on the bus, in a restaurant, at a
parade, etc.) without fear of discrimination or prejudice. Tragically,
Dr. King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee in April, 1968. His crypt now
lies downtown, only a mile away from Father O'Reilly's.
In 2005, the Parade Committee, (Atlanta St Patrick's Parade
Inc., including the Hibernian Benevolent Society) returned the Atlanta
St. Patrick's Day parade to downtown. The Parade Committee extended the
celebration to include not just Irish American immigrants, but all
immigrant groups. It is thus a celebration of America's best. With this
150th anniversary of the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta, as
well as the 127th Atlanta St. Patrick's Day parade, it is
fitting that the 2008 ceremonies will include a commemoration of the
heroism of Father O'Reilly. With this 40th anniversary of Dr. King's
death, it is also meaningful that the 127th parade in honor of a former
slave, St. Patrick, will be celebrated in the hometown of a descendant
of slaves, Martin Luther King Jr. That hometown is Atlanta, "The City
Too Busy to Hate".
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Previous Essay Contest
Winners |
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CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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$1,000 Winner 2007
Emily Halstead - Etowah High School
See Essay Below |
$1,000 Winner 2008
Katrina Parsons - Atlanta Girls School
See Essay Above |
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Photo
Coming |
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CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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$1,000 Winner 2006
Marcella Preininger
Receives check from Dr. James Flannery |
$1,000 Winner 2005
Paige Lanier ...
Click Here to read Paiges Essay |
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CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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2007 Winning Essay |
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The Meaning of St. Patrick’s Day:
A True Marathon Celebration
Emily Halstead ... Etowah High School
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A marathon is a competition of endurance. It not only
tests physical fitness, but also measures mental strength under
pressure. No matter where the race is held or who is competing in it,
one thing is always assured: a large celebration will be held at the
end. Everyone joins in, athletes along with their supporters, in order
to take joy in the fact that wonderful goals have been accomplished in
the face of tremendous challenges. Similarly, all people can find a
reason to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. It is a day that marks the
triumph not only of the Irish who came here beginning in the early
eighteenth century, but also all of the diverse peoples of America who
have braved tremendous obstacles and emerged triumphant despite
hindrances in their own marathons of life. There are no requirements for
participation in this celebration; one need not be of a certain
nationality, religion, or race. While the meaning and purpose of Saint
Patrick’s Day for individuals and ethnic groups has evolved since the
time when it first began, this holiday has continued to be one of hope
and unity for people of all backgrounds and walks of life.
The Feast Day of Saint Patrick was established by the
Catholic Church to take place on March 17th, the anniversary of his
death. In Ireland it was originally observed in a somber and reverential
manner, usually involving Mass and observance of the usual Lenten
practices. It was actually in America in the late nineteenth century
that people began to recognize this feast day with a more celebratory
tone. Following the Potato Famine of the 1840s and the surge of
immigration into the United States that ensued, waves of nativism struck
the country. The Irish constantly faced discrimination in forms such as
signs on factory walls and other workplaces reading “No Irish Need
Apply”. Ever a proud and persevering people, Irish-Americans soon used
Saint Patrick’s Day as a celebration of pride in their ethnic identity,
and the holiday quickly grew more and more popular. Even as the barriers
of scorn and hatred toward the Irish died down, the love of this green
day in March quickly grew stronger among people of other backgrounds,
including Italian, Greek, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants as well as
African Americans. The first St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in Boston
in 1737, but by the end of the nineteenth century the holiday had become
one celebrating America’s cultural pluralism.
We have no way of knowing how deeply the earliest
celebrators of Saint Patrick’s Day in America understood what they
wanted March 17th to represent. It’s possible that their only aim was to
have a specific day to call their own in the form of a public ritual
celebrating their new identity in a new nation. What better way to do
this than to honor the feast day of the patron saint of their native
country? What the Irish celebrants may not have realized, however, is
that Saint Patrick was not a native of Ireland. Actually born in
Britain, Saint Patrick spent his life working hard to achieve his own
goal of helping others. He overcame every challenge that arose in his
life including the experience of slavery, without faltering in his
faith. It was, in fact, as a slave that Saint Patrick first came to
Ireland. The Irish people thus found an extraordinary moral example to
look up to in their own struggle for survival in the face of centuries
of oppression.
Saint Patrick also provided a benchmark for the Irish in
America - a benchmark corresponding to the fundamental American belief
that any person who puts forth a proper effort can ultimately achieve
his or her dreams, regardless of any roadblocks faced along the way.
Americans of all backgrounds came to admire the way the Irish combated
adversity in establishing new roots in the United States. The green
frenzy caught on. That connection between Irish and American values may
be the ultimate reason that an Irish holiday quickly became an American
one.
Saint Patrick’s Day is today celebrated chiefly as a
large party in America. It happens to be the only ethnic and religious
holiday that is celebrated by Americans of virtually every race and
faith. While one could argue that Thanksgiving presents a similar spirit
of inclusion by uniting the various cultures that make up America, one
can see a clear distinction between the two holidays. No doubt, in the
year 2007 here in Atlanta, Saint Patrick’s day is primarily an occasion
of fun. It’s a southern rite of spring. But Saint Patrick’s Day is much
more than that. It’s a day when contemporary immigrants are given a
chance to honor the cultural diversity that is a basic part of the
American way of life. Saint Patrick’s Day thus presents an opportunity
for all of us to recognize that there’s always a way to overcome
hardship and prejudice and ultimately earn the respect of a nation as
well as a permanent place in its culture and history.
Each of us can be proud of his or her ancestry and the
struggles and triumphs within it, just as everyone can be proud of a
person who has worked hard and completed a grueling marathon. To
understand this can lead one to realize that the real purpose of Saint
Patrick’s Day is not to celebrate the contributions and pride of the
Irish alone, worthy as these may be. Nor is it all about the revelry,
enjoyable as that may be. Above all else, it is a day of celebration for
those who have persevered and completed their own personal and
collective marathons, thereby earning not only the right to pause and
reflect on how far they’ve come, but also the opportunity to share their
blessings with all of us.
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Page Last Updated
04/06/2008 08:05 PM |
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Essay Contest
