St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, people around the world are getting ready to celebrate. For ages, it has been the usual: wear green, eat corned beef and cabbage, and spend time with family. However, over the centuries, the St. Patrick’s Day holiday has developed into something even bigger.

Ireland closes down almost completely on St. Patrick’s Day. The only places opened are pubs and restaurants. People wear shamrocks on their clothing, and children wear green in their hair. Artists throughout Ireland paint and draw shamrock designs on people’s cheeks. Outside of Dublin, the biggest celebration is held in Downpatrick, which is in Northern Ireland. This celebration features 2,000 participants, including bands, floats, and performers, and is watched by more than 30,000 people.
    In the Manchester, U.K, a two week Irish festival is held prior to St. Patrick’s Day. The festival includes an Irish market, a parade, and cultural events throughout the two-week festival. This festival produces quite a turn-out since Manchester has the largest population of Irish citizens in Great Britain.
    The U.S. also has its annual ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. We hold parades and sporting events, such as hockey. The state of Chicago even dies its river green.
    Seattle, Washington, celebrates St. Patrick’s Day by hosting a week filled with fun activities. They even put on a mini-parade to prepare for the bigger one, which takes place on St. Patrick’s Day. In preparation for the main parade, a green stripe is painted down the center of the road on 4th Avenue.
    The parade in New York City is not only the largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world, but also it is the oldest surviving parade, being held since 1762. This parade features 150,000 marchers that include firefighters, military and police groups, county affiliation groups, emigrant societies, and social/cultural clubs. This parade is led by the U.S. 69th Infantry Regiment. As many as 2 million spectators go to New York City to attend the parade. It runs for 5 hours on a 1.5 mile path along 5th Avenue.
    Even though people around the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in many different ways, all of the festivities are held for the same reason- to celebrate and remember St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.