throwback thursday - TBT #25

march 17th is st.patrick's day. it is one of those celebrations that have become so much assimilated into mainstream american culture despite having originated in another country (ireland in this case). originally began as a catholic feast day for st.patrick, today it has become more associated with parades, drinking, and everything in green ! many american towns dye their rivers green for the day (and in recent years even the white house fountain ), and it is believed that americans spend more than $4 billion on the day - most of it probably on guinness beer, but also largely on costumes including green irish top hats and shamrocks, and cabbages ! (not to mention probably a sizeable amount on 'dui' tickets, post-beer.)

and now, coming to today's throwback - i always love a good round of vintage-picture-hunting, so here are a few that i found of vintage st.patricks day parades from around the world -

the one above is from the st patrick's day parade in new york city, 1909. photo from the collection of US library of congress, found on wikimedia here

photo above shows a parade in brisbane, australia, around 1927.  (on a side note, see the store on the side called 'barnes self service bazaar'. must have been one of the earliest stores to adopt a 'self service' format, without salespeople handing you the goods.) photo from the state library of queensland, found on wikimedia commons here.

and lastly, one from ireland itself - kids dressed up to entertain, dublin, 1924. photo from the 
national library of ireland, posted on flickr here.