Tags: Americas New York City Culture When: 2011 March
St Patrick’s Day Parade
| 3.9 | (64 votes cast) |
Strange really, that the world’s largest St Patrick’s day parade is not held in Ireland. Not Dublin; not Cork; not Kilkenny. No, in fact, the world’s largest day celebrating Irishdom is held way across the Atlantic from Ireland, and in New York.
America has long links with Ireland and tens of millions of current inhabitants declare some sort of lineage to the emerald isle. St Paddy’s day is celebrated in America almost as hotly, if not more so, than in Ireland, especially in cities and towns with strong connections to Ireland, such as Boston and New York.
But of all the celebrations one can visit, it is New York’s St Patrick’s Day Parade which is in a league of its own. Begun almost 250 years ago, this parade is almost old enough to rival long standing festivals across the globe- quite a feat when your modern nation is only just over 500 years old anyway.
The parade starts fairly early and is made up with row upon row of marching bands, dance troupes, Irish expat organisations, Irish singers and any other organisation or institution with Irish links. It is quite a mammoth parade- and a very long day too too. The marchers seem to go on and on- such is the sheer volume of groupings.
But if you have had enough of the parades, the other Irish past time that no one seems to be able to forget is the drinking. Yes, indeed. Irish pubs are dotted all across the city, and from mid-day onwards they are rammed with parade goers tucking in to an awful lot of top quality Guinness. It’s all part of the craic, see.
So if you can stand slightly chilly temperatures (NY can be a tad freezing in March) this is certainly a good call.