Weird and wonderful ways St Patrick’s Day is celebrated across globe
There is no better place to be for St Patrick’s Day than Ireland. However, it is not the only place to be.
Many countries across the world are marking the special day. The Irish Independent has compiled a list of the stand-out ones.
Southern hemisphere celebrates first
The first St Patrick’s celebration takes place at the other end of the world. Thirteen hours ahead of Irish time, people living in Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, are the first to honour St Patrick’s Day.
The St Patrick’s Day parade in Auckland is the farthest celebration from Ireland, more than 18,000km from Dublin.
A walk around the block for Saint Patrick
Every year, Hot Springs in Arkansas, US, hosts the world’s shortest St Patrick’s Day parade.
The parade will go along Bridge Street and be approximately 98 feet long (30 metres).
Masked dancers on the ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’
The Caribbean volcanic island of Montserrat is the only nation apart from Ireland that marks March 17 as a public holiday.
People living on the so-called ‘Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’ go all-out – celebrating St Patrick’s Day with a week-long festival.
The parade kicks off with a torch-lighting ceremony, followed by performers playing steel drums, and masked dancers wearing tall hats resembling bishops’ mitres.
Locals mark the celebration by respecting their two heritages – early Irish influence and the uprising of the enslaved African ancestors on March 17, 1768.
Leprechauns in ‘New Dublin’
On St Patrick’s Day, leprechauns turn the city of New London in Wisconsin into “New Dublin”.
A decade-long tradition sees locals dress up as leprechauns and change the city signs on highways.
A Japanese oyster festival
Tokyo has been hosting the largest St Patrick’s Day parade in Asia since 1992.
The celebrations have quickly spread across Japan, as Irish and Japanese flags fly together in Ise, where the parade starts at the Ise Shrine, a sanctuary dedicated to a Shinto sun goddess.
On March 17, people dress up as leprechauns, play bagpipes, dance Irish jigs, and later attend the oyster festival.
The parade that’s 14 years older than the US
New York City hosts the oldest and largest St Patrick’s Day parade in the world.
The first parade was held in 1762 – 14 years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
There are scheduled to be approximately 150,000 marchers in the parade this year, which starts at 11am local time. Meanwhile, two million spectators are expected to watch it go up Fifth Avenue.
Pearly fusion of Irish dance and African rhythm
Uganda, the ‘Pearl of Africa’ is set to combine traditional Irish dance and African rhythm this St Patrick’s Day.
Young Ugandans from the Cultural Fusion Dance Programme, set up by Galway man John Walsh and his Ugandan wife Debbie, will showcase their Irish dancing skills at the St Patrick’s Ball in Kampala.
Ugandan dancers are led by professional Irish dancer Róisín Lyons.
It comes as the Irish Embassy in Uganda celebrates its 30th – or pearl – anniversary this year.
Where the rivers run green
Chicago, Illinois, which has a large Irish community, has been famously dyeing the Chicago River green since 1962.
This year, participants can witness river dyeing at 10am, followed by the parade kick-off at 12.15pm today.
Another city dyeing its main river for St Patrick’s Day is Singapore, which hosts the biggest parade in Southeast Asia.
Not only planet Earth
Who said we have to limit St Patrick’s Day to our planet? In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield wore green and recorded himself performing
Danny Boy from the space station.