Green Week and the Heritage Feast in Montserrat
Two countries celebrated St. Patrick’s Day On Monday. One of them wasn’t Ireland. Earlier this week, the 5,000 residents of the Caribbean island territory of Montserrat went down the road to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. While Montserrat and Ireland are the only two nations to celebrate the day as a national holiday, the reasons for their parades and costumes are very different. In Ireland, March 17th is known as St. Patrick's Feast Day, marking the date of his death in 461 A.D. The island celebrates this day as both a religious and cultural holiday to commemorate Ireland's patron saint and the legacy he built for Irish culture. Meanwhile, on the small island of Montserrat (near Antigua and Nevis), they mark the date with a ten-day festival. There is a serious side to the fête the locals call 'Green Week and the Heritage Feast and Market Day.' The final parade is one of emancipation commemorating the nine slaves who lost their lives in the failed slave rebellion of M