They say everyone is Irish on St Patrick’s Day, and with parades and events happening from Australia to Zimbabwe, that’s easy to believe. When the Irish first left the shores of the Emerald Isle centuries ago they brought with them a sense of pride in their heritage that is celebrated every year on St Patrick’s Day.
The tradition of the St Patrick’s Day parade actually began outside Ireland as those far from home gathered to celebrate their culture. With so many Irish immigrants, it’s no surprise that North America was the first country to hold parades. One scholar has traced the tradition as far back as 1601 to a Spanish colony that was located in modern-day Florida, but generally Boston is credited as being the city that kicked it all off in 1737.
Nowadays many cities in America hold St Patrick’s Day parades, but the biggest, and indeed the biggest in the world, is in New York. The annual event involves some 150,000 people and is cheered on by two million spectators.
Other places with big Irish communities also go large on St Patrick’s Day. London stages a parade and festival in Trafalgar Square, Montreal hosts its biggest parade of the year and numerous celebrations take place across all of Australia’s major cities.
But St Patrick’s Day has also become an annual celebration in some more unlikely countries.
In Argentina, Buenos Aires hosts the largest St Patrick’s Day celebrations in South America with an annual street party that turns the city into a sea of green.