St. Patrick's Day is commemorated with a lot of gusto in Ireland. St. Patrick's Day celebrations include everything, like eating Irish food, drinking green beer or the Irish drink Guinness, indulging in Irish festivities, wearing green, and of course, the St. Patrick's Parade. There even goes a saying that on St. Patrick's Day, everyone wants to be Irish, and this is turning out to be true. More and more people of non-Irish descent and various cities around the world are celebrating this day. From New York to Tokyo, every city has its version of the St. Patrick's Day parade, and the best part is that each one is carried out with the same amount of zeal, enthusiasm, and excitement. Let's look at how some of these cities brought in this beautiful ‘green’ day past in 2014!
Dublin, Ireland
The heart of St. Patrick's Day festivities, in this capital city, people start their day with going to the mass and honoring St. Patrick. It is a five-day festival here. A little St. Patrick's Day history for you; this celebration has been a part of the Irish, and the parades date back to the 19th century. The parade in itself is a marvel. In 2006, there were 500,000 attendees, and the parade was a spectacle, with music, dance, shamrock (three-leaf clover), leprechauns, green clothes, and amazing performances.
Chicago, USA
Image credits: Hannah Moorhead
The most catching feature of St. Patrick's Day celebrations is the dyeing of the Chicago River green. Apart from the river, the Chicago Bears football team, city's towers, and other buildings turn green. Chicago also has the new Chicago St. Patrick's Day Queen, a competition for girls aged between 17 and 27 years, who have never been married and are of Irish descent. The St. Patrick’s Day parade is also a must-watch if you happen to be in town. It starts at noon and usually leaves from Balbo and Columbus, and goes up till Columbus Drive, toward the Buckingham Fountain.
New York City, USA
Image credits: Hannah Moorhead
The biggest St. Patrick's Day parade, with 150,000 participants, this one started in 1762, before the Declaration of Independence. The parade marches down to Fifth Avenue and is a delight to watch. The parade is shown live on TV, and there's even a website that streams it live. This St. Patrick's Day parade lasts for six hours, and the huge crowd cools down later on at the Irish bars, with mugs of green beer. The Empire State Building also turns green, thus joining in the celebrations.
London, England
Image credits: Hannah Moorhead
The beautiful city of London celebrates with pomp and show, with colorful marching bands and floats. Here, the parade starts from Green Park in Piccadilly and goes up to Trafalgar Square, where you'll be able to catch the day-long festival with plenty of Irish music and dance. Many of the city's Irish pubs have events like storytelling sessions, exhibitions, and parties.
Apart from London, Birmingham and Manchester also have great St. Patrick's Day celebrations.
Munich, Germany
Munich has a very large Irish community, and the parade here is organized by the German-Irish Society of Bavaria. The Parade goes from Munchner Freiheit to Odeonsplatz. After the parade is over, the festivities continue, and are followed by an amazing open-air party with live performances, dance, and music.
Sydney, Australia
Image Credits: mayacocinero - Traveller planer blog
St. Patrick's Day parade in Sydney is the second-largest after New York's parade. The parade is a great joy to watch. The parade usually leaves from Town Hall on George Street, heads along Park Street, and ends at Hyde Park. There are a lot of other fun activities at the Hyde Park, like food stalls, performances, etc.
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo's St. Patrick's Day celebrations are an exciting event. It is organized by Irish Network Japan, and it proudly calls itself ‘The First St. Patrick's Day in the Northern Hemisphere.’ It starts at around 1 pm, and goes along Omotesando. It lasts for about two hours and is full of colorful costumes, marching bands, and colorful floats. There are 1,500 to 2,000 participants.