14 Things You Never Knew About St. Patty’s Day

9. St. Patrick’s Day, the American Holiday

Though the holiday has become synonymous with the Irish, St. Patrick’s Day was actually first celebrated in Boston, as early as 1737, when Irish immigrants (who were mostly Protestant) wanted to celebrate their far away homeland. The annual St. Patty’s Day Parade — America’s biggest yearly march — brings in more than a million watchers each year and goes all the way back to 1762. Meanwhile, St. Patrick’s Day didn’t make it’s first big appearance in Ireland until around 1810.