The Irish came up with a great PR idea in having a day to honor St Patrick. The parades with all manner of participant, bagpipe bands, the green beer, corned beef and cabbage, Irish step dancers, accordion music, Irish flags and parties honoring St Pat galore. Who would have thought that the celebration today is honoring the day a 5th century Christian died, March 17. Patrick desired most of all to reach the pagans of Ireland with the Bible and the truth of Jesus’ love, making disciples of all men.
Patrick was a 5th-century Roman-British Christian missionary and bishop to Ireland. Patrick is probably the best known of Christian missionaries of the island country. History records that at the age of 16, Patrick was taken from his home in Great Britain to live as a slave in Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric studying in France, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. He reached out to the people of Ireland using examples from Irish heritage to explain the Gospel: the shamrock to show the triune God, etc.
The Stewart Tartan Pipes and Drums celebrated along with the best ‘em by marching in the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade. We had most of our pipers, drummers, color guard and banner carriers out in full regalia, marching in full uniform with full plaid and ostrich feathered bonnets. We were honored with Maribeth Allen joining us for her last gig on bass drum. Playing our standard parade sets, we honored all things Irish with ‘Wearing of the Green’ and ‘Minstrel Boy’ standards along with three other parade sets. We also had Scottish Dancers to march and dance with us. In front of the reviewing stand the band provided ‘extra’ pageantry by marching into formation to play ‘Orange and Blue’ for the dancers. Suffice it to say (and modestly I might add) our band took first place in the parade!
After the parade most of the band hung out together playing at a couple of pubs near the Civic Center. We all enjoyed the playing, as did the patrons, but there wasn’t enough space for us to hang out and have a cold one. Outside our second pub, a mom asked if we might play for her son who loves bagpipe music. No missing a beat, I started to play, some drummers joined in and I went down on one knee to play for the lad at his eye level. Maybe a third of the band headed out to find a pub and the group I was with headed back to where the cars were parked and ended up being welcomed at The Chieftain Irish Pub, playing everything in our repertoire, plus some. The owner welcomed us like long lost friends, offering food and drink as we played for the appreciative crowd. We hope to return next year, but with even more music. As mentioned earlier, our band had split, so when some of us were leaving, the rest of the band showed up and played for another hour for the revelers. A good time was had by all. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
