St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on the 17th of March in several countries. The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the UK proclaim a national holiday on this day, and this religious day is celebrated internationally with dancing, drinking, parades, and with everyone wearing green.
St. Patrick’s Day is now a part of the social calendar worldwide with a deep history of Ireland’s culture, explaining how this became a global phenomenon. This day is celebrated to commemorate and remember the life of Saint Patrick and the introduction and initiation of Christianity in Ireland.
Irish immigrants brought the tradition to American colonies in the 18th century and this became a symbol of Irish heritage. Feast Day attained popularity and adoration as more Irish came across the Atlantic, and the first-ever St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Boston in the year 1737.
The United States witnessed an enormous inrush and inundation of Irish immigrants escaping from the Great Famine in the 19th century. This saw the transformation of small-scale Feast Day into a major celebration even among the people who are not Irish. Feast Day became a national holiday in Ireland in 1903, which is now known as St. Patrick’s Day.
American cities began orchestrating large celebrations and ornate parades with the growth of the political power of Irish Americans. Montserrat is the only country where St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday. New York held its first parade in 1762, and this parade is now the world’s biggest, with more than 1,500,000 participation from the public. Chicago dyes its river every year with environmentally friendly green color since 1962.
Betway suggests this is how some of the countries from around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day:
- USA: St. Patrick’s Day is not a legal holiday in the States, but it is one of the countries that widely celebrate and recognize the Irish culture.
- Argentina: The largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in South America is in Buenos Aires.
- Norway: Oslo celebrates this day with the Fringe Festival and the Patrick’s Day parade.
- UK: United Kingdom, England, and Scotland are home to many Irish immigrants, and these cities hold remarkable parades, of which the biggest is in Birmingham, which is also the third biggest in the world.
- Turkey: From Istanbul to Izmir, Ankara and Bodrum celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with heavy music and large feasts.
- Japan: St. Patrick’s Day parade has been held in Tokyo since 1992, which has introduced the Irish culture to Japanese people.
- Australia: Australia celebrates this day in abundance with pubs and restaurants offering traditional Irish foods and drinks and large parties from Perth to Sydney.
- Croatia: Concerts and parades are held in Zagreb for the past several years now.
- New Zealand: Auckland Sky Tower is lit with a green light at night, and the parade takes place in the morning.
- Canada: The longest and largest parade of North America on St. Patrick’s Day is in Montreal, which has been going on since 1824.
