What initially started as a day to celebrate and honor the Catholic feast day of St. Patrick has led to the pomp and circumstance of what we see today. 

"St. Patrick's Day parades are probably more of an American Irish tradition than they are an Irish Irish tradition, said Elizabeth Stack, executive director of the Irish American Heritage Museum. “In fact, one of the first parades in Florida appears to have been documented. When Irish men in the British Army, as, of course, it would have been at the time, marched in honor of the patron saint."

Stack describes the initial celebration of St. Patrick's Day involving mass, a holy shrine, and a day known as Passion or Patron Day. 

"We know Boston in the 1730s and New York in the 1760s. Again, these soldiers had some sort of military display, and then they became more entrenched in New York after the Civil War," Stack said.

It was in the next three decades that Irish patriotism flourished among American immigrants, prompting the creation of "Irish Aid" societies such as the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. In addition, bagpipes and drums would be played at annual parades, which were first popularized by the Scottish and British forces.

"By the 1860s, the parade had become a way of showing Americans that Irish Catholics could be productive citizens,” Stack said. “You know, they acted as garbage collectors, policemen, and firefighters." 

After gaining momentum in America, St. Patrick's Day spread to Ireland, where in 1931 Dublin held its first-ever parade. Today, the New York City parade is the world‘s oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United States, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the nearly two-mile parade route. 

Nearly every major city throughout the country holds some sort of parade or celebration. In New York state, major cities like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany all hold parades featuring thousands of people. The events bring together diverse communities of different ethnicities and cultures to celebrate the Irish holiday. 

If you are interested in celebrating and taking part in Irish heritage celebrations, you can visit irish-us.org.