Irish holiday actually began in U.S.

Welcome to the American holiday of St. Patrick's Day.

That's right, American, for it started here. In New York City to be exact, on March 17, 1762, when Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through the streets celebrating their music and culture. It was the first of many parades.

Then, beginning about 90 years later, waves of Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine came ashore in the U.S., reinforcing the St. Patrick's Day celebrations on this side of the Atlantic.

Sure, the Catholic Church had named March 17 a sacred feast day to honor the man born in the 5th century with the name Maewyn and who was enslaved as a child and later became bishop of Ireland. The church deigned to honor him thus because he was so good at converting pagans, perhaps by explaining the Holy Trinity with a three-leafed green shamrock.

But it's here that the religious feast day became a secular spree -- one that would catch on around the world. St. Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland in 1903.