Last Tuesday night, Seton Hall's Irish organization Pirates of Irish Persuasion & Extraction (PIPE) held the third event in its Irish Studies five-part discussion series on Irish life in America. This round of discussion focused on the history and planning of area St. Patrick's Day parades, which the three presenters and their families have a long history of involvement with.

The first presenter was Christopher J. Durkin, Essex County Clerk, who said that the tradition of the St. Patrick's Day parade came to the U.S. in 1737. He noted that St. Patrick's Day has become more of a secular holiday here, while in Ireland, it's much more religious and referred to as the Feast of St. Patrick.

"Until 1995, there was a law that had all of the pubs closed [on St. Patrick's Day] in Ireland," noted Durkin. He says that 15 years ago, the Irish legislature decided to capitalize on tourism and keep pubs open. He also explained that the tradition of wearing green comes from the Irish wearing shamrocks in their lapels after Queen Victoria outlawed celebrations on St. Patrick's Day.

Durkin is the Grand Marshal of the 2010 Newark St. Patrick's Day parade, scheduled to take place on Friday, March 12, starting at 1 p.m. This year marks the 75th parade, but Durkin noted that the parade has actually been around since 1896. There have been breaks in the parade's history—one for approximately 40 years—and another interruption during the Second World War.

Durkin noted that he does not simply ride in the parade; he's got to work for it. He's been charged with raising $10,000 for the parade and designing pins, which is the responsibility of every Grand Marshal.

The next speaker was Pat Giblin, a past president of the Montclair branch of  the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a sponsor of Newark's parade. Giblin's involvement with the AOH encouraged him to work with other Irish groups, including serving as the chairperson of the NJ Irish Festival in 2009. Giblin likened the AOH to what Eilish R. Harrington—the founder of PIPE—has started at SHU. "The main goal is to preserve the culture that Irish people think is so important," said Giblin.

Noreen Giblin, an SHU graduate, then took the podium. She's serving as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Grand Marshal of the upcoming Newark St. Patrick's Day parade. Like her brother Pat, she's involved with numerous Irish organizations, and she has provided parade commentary for cable television for 11 consecutive years. She explained that she got involved with Irish organizations after realizing that keeping Irish culture alive isn't a given.

She then spoke of her upbringing: "Patrick and I have two other brothers and a sister. We would go to all these Irish-American events with my parents—and candidly, we took it for granted." She says that growing up, she thought that it was commonplace to have soda bread as an after-school snack and for the paper to be the Irish Echo, an Irish community-based newspaper. "It wasn't until years later that I realized not every home got that," she said.

The floor was then opened for discussion. A question was asked about opportunities for students to get involved in Irish organizations outside of Seton Hall. Noreen Giblin responded that for students, who are usually unable to make a long-term commitment, it's a good idea to get involved for the day of the parade. Two other participants also suggested finding Irish groups on meetup.com and www.saintpatricksdayparade.com. The latter suggestion came from James Casserly, the Web site's creator.