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St. Patrick’s Day is Sunday and millions of Canadians will mark the day by either wearing some green or using it as an excuse to down a pint or two (or three or four…) of Guinness. And yet only about 12 per cent of Canadians have Irish origins. The latest census data shows that 4.4 million listed “Irish” as part of their cultural origins: about the same number listed “Scottish,” while almost a million more listed “English.”
So why has St. Patrick’s Day established itself as a day of celebration? I dipped into the archive of The Conversation to provide some context on the day itself, on who St. Patrick was and how Irish-born writers have contributed to Canadian literature. And the recent death of Brian Mulroney reminded me of the famous "Shamrock Summit" he held with Ronald Reagan in 1985 when the two leaders broke out into song with a version of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Joe Biden continues the tradition of American presidents playing up their Irish ancestry.
Regardless of whether you will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, this coming week brings another important calendar event. Spring officially arrives at 3:06 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time on March 20 – the moment of the “vernal equinox” when the sun is directly over the equator. But climate change has made seasonal changes harder to distinguish. For many parts of Canada, it’s felt like spring for several weeks. To help understand why this is happening, I’ve dipped again into our archive to provide some great explanatory articles on the changing seasons.
Enjoy the weekend, with or without a green beer. And make sure to listen to the newest episode of our podcast Don’t Call Me Resilient, which looks at last Sunday’s Oscars ceremony.
We’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.
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Weekend Reads: Green Days
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Lauren Alex O'Hagan, Cardiff University
Irish language and culture, not Guinness and Leprechaun costumes, were at the heart of early St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
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Michele Holmgren, Mount Royal University
Irish-born writers from the late 1700s to 1900 who spent time in present-day Canada influenced colonial narratives about Canadian identity or defended Irish linguistic and political autonomy.
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Thomas Klassen, York University, Canada
The death of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney will lead to a wide examination of his legacy. A lasting policy of the Mulroney regime is free trade with the United States.
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Richard Johnson, Queen Mary University of London
Joe Biden is just the latest in a long line of US presidents to trace their ancestry back to the Emerald Isle.
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Frédéric Cyr, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Recent research sheds light on the ocean’s annual ‘biological clock’ and highlights the key dynamics that make it susceptible to climate change.
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Olga Koppel, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Seventy-two per cent of native bumblebee species in North America are cutting their winter hibernation short by timing their emergence to earlier spring onsets.
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Alemu Gonsamo, McMaster University
Global warming has increased plant growth and helped offset increases in carbon dioxide emissions.
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Roberto Silvestro, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC); Sergio Rossi, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC)
Climate change is modifying the timing of recurrent life-cycle events with critical consequences on ecological and economic levels.
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Fritz Holznagel, The Conversation
Test your knowledge with a weekly quiz drawn from some of our favorite stories.
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Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation; Dannielle Piper, The Conversation; Ateqah Khaki, The Conversation
It’s been nine years since #OscarsSoWhite called out a lack of diversity at the Oscars. Has anything changed? Prof. Naila Keleta-Mae and actress Mariah Inger unpack the progress.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation
Russian disinformation expert Ilya Yablokov tells The Conversation Weekly podcast about the president’s shifting relationship with conspiracy theories.
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