Pre-internet, pre-television, pre-telephone, and pre-radio, proliferation of cultural practices more closely resembled generational genetic adaptations than the viral spread we are used to witnessing with proliferation today. And because our practices are responses to the world around us, the changes in the world leads to changes in the practices. In the case of St. Patrick's Day, casual observation reveals that the meaning of the celebration has been a moving target for centuries, and that What we recognize, Why we recognize, and How we recognize have all been evolving and somewhat decentralized elements of cultural practice. (For example, recognition of discrimination endured by Irish-American immigrants figures prominently in today's practices even though the holiday was already hundreds of years old when the first of these people crossed the Atlantic.]

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD [@PeterHotez]. (2021, December 14). 6. I was really hoping we would get the holidays in before the omicron wall hit. Doesn’t look like it https://t.co/X3Kud2ybdQ [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1470895433518133252

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/18/not-a-colony-welsh-council-defies-london-to-declare-st-davids-day-holiday

Davis, Nicola, and Nicola Davis Science correspondent. ‘England Reports Record 113,638 New Covid Cases on Christmas Day’. The Guardian, 27 December 2021, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/uk-reports-daily-figure-of-98515-new-covid-cases.

Millman • •, Jennifer. ‘NY Pre-Christmas COVID Testing Delivers Record Total Just Shy of 50,000 Cases in Single Day’. NBC New York (blog). Accessed 3 January 2022. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/ny-pre-christmas-covid-testing-delivers-record-total-just-shy-of-50000-cases-in-single-day/3468284/.