By Stephen Appezzato
It’s that time of year again – time for shamrocks, soda bread and anything green. St. Patrick’s Day, officially observed March 17 every year but really celebrated throughout the entire month, is one of the most popular holidays in Ireland and the United States.
Among the most festive traditions surrounding the day is the playing of the bagpipes, a traditional Celtic instrument.
“Once you start playing the bagpipes, it’s a little shocking to find out how many towns have St. Patrick’s Day parades,” joked Mike Hannigan, a Middletown resident who founded NJBagpiper with his wife Denise. March is the busiest month for Hannigan as he often plays in parades and at other events each weekend.
Hannigan has piped for over 25 years, treating his audience to the instrument’s unique, somber yet uplifting timbre for just about every special occasion.
“I got my start when I joined the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh, which is an Irish organization based out of West Orange. My father and I were both members of the club and it was a great group to be a part of,” Hannigan recalled.
“My family is 100% Irish, but it was usually the seasonal kind of celebration where we’d put the Irish flag out and you’d wear something green to school. I truly didn’t embrace my heritage and all that it stood for until I started playing the pipes and becoming much more active in Irish organizations,” he explained.
Irish people have been honoring the patron saint of Ireland for more than 1,000 years. The annual March 17 observance did not become a yearly tradition until the early 1600s in Ireland. In 1631, amidst the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church declared March 17 a feast day, despite it falling during the Lenten season.
It is widely accepted that St. Patrick was born around 386 AD in Roman Britain. As a teenager, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland to work as a slave. According to the tale, one night, while in captivity, Patrick had a dream of escaping slavery and returning to Britain. The next morning, he made his dream a reality, escaping his captors and venturing back to his homeland.
Following some time, Patrick had another dream in which the Irish called for him to return to the island to inform them of his Christian beliefs. He went on to fulfill this dream, returning to Ireland as a priest to spread his beliefs. It is believed he died March 17, 461. His legend has only grown over the centuries.
The earliest recorded parade in honor of St. Patrick’s feast day occurred in 1601 in a Spanish colony located in what is now St. Augustine, Florida. It was organized by Ricardo Artur, an Irish representative in the Roman Catholic Church.
In the centuries that followed, celebrating the holiday grew more popular. St. Patrick’s Day became more than a religious holiday; it is also an opportunity for the Irish people and those of Irish descent to celebrate their culture and identity. In the United States, Irish American organizations such as the Hibernian Society further helped popularize the holiday as a means of uniting Irish immigrants amidst widespread prejudice.
Nowadays, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated across the globe and serves as a means to showcase Irish traditions and culture. The largest St. Patrick’s Day parades are held in New York City, Boston and Chicago.
Hannigan is hired by many to share his talent for parades but also for many other occasions. He often plays at weddings and funerals in addition to St. Patrick’s Day events, though he’s appeared at just about every kind of affair, including birthdays, grocery store grand openings, school assemblies, small business open houses, graduations, and even an Orthodox Jewish wedding.
“The father of the groom had seen the Black Watch perform at Madison Square Garden when he was a child, which started a lifelong passion for bagpipes for him,” Hannigan said. “I arrived at the temple, he changed into a kilt, and proceeded to dance a highland fling while I played for all of the guests at the wedding – a truly unique experience for me!”
Hannigan recalled one event in October 2001 as his most memorable. To mark its 25th anniversary, a pipe band Hannigan played with sailed around Manhattan on a charter boat, playing on the water. In the wake of 9/11, the pipe band was unsure if they would be able to sail those waters at the time.
“Given the fear and anxiety at that time, we were not even sure if the boat would be allowed to enter the harbor,” he said. “We ended up being allowed to sail that evening and, while no one was in the mood to celebrate, we did the only thing we knew how to at that time – we played to honor those who had passed from that tragic event. I can recall the captain of the boat getting us as close to Ground Zero as he could and the entire pipe band stood at the bow of the boat and played the hymns of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. We also played ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘God Bless America.’ ”
“I will never forget our ending with ‘Amazing Grace’ and smelling the smoke and seeing the brave men and women working on the pile that evening,” he remembered. “That moment was a catalyst for me as it was then that I realized how much I loved this instrument, as well as how emotional it could be, not only to hear it, but to play it, as well.”
Like many in the Two River area, St. Patrick’s Day is important to Hannigan as it is a way of honoring his family’s cultural background and ancestors. Both sets of his grandparents emigrated from Ireland and landed in the Bronx to start a new life. “I am of the opinion that we should always honor family, culture, and where we came from, as that is what defines us,” he said.
This March, just as any, Hannigan will be blowing across the Garden State entertaining many, including at school performances and shows in assisted living facilities and veterans’ homes.
For more information on Hannigan and his bagpiping service, visit njbagpiper.net.
The article originally appeared in the March 9 – 15, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
