St. Patrick’s Day is an official public holiday in just three places: Ireland, Northern Ireland and where else?
A) Australia B) Canada C) Malta D) Montserrat ü
Montserrat, in the Leeward Island group, is known as “the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean”, partly because of its lush greenery, but also because so many Irish people settled there. One large group arrived in 1632 and began the custom of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. For two centuries, the Montserrat economy was founded upon slavery. In 1768, slaves chose March 17 to launch an uprising against the plantation owners, whom they reckoned would be distracted by the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Unfortunately the rebellion failed, and the slaves were not freed until 1834. St. Patrick’s Day was made an official holiday in 1985, commemorating Montserrat’s own national heroes as well as its Irish background.
