President Biden joins with Ireland PM and Americans to celebrate 'bond' between two countries and revel in St. Patrick's Day fun

President Joe Biden celebrated his Irish heritage and hosted a Saint Patrick's Day brunch at the White House with Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar - as the two joined millions across the US celebrating the holiday. 

Biden and Varadkar were joined by leaders of the Catholic Church and some 200 guests to dine on a menu of traditional Irish dishes including colcannon, Irish soda bread, eggs Florentine and bacon, reported KYMA.

The president wielded a cheat sheet when he welcomed Varadkar on Friday. He was pictured holding a notecard with a pronunciation guide on how to say the name of the Irish leader's title, 'Taoiseach.'

During his brunch speech Biden said, 'You know this has always been a special day for the Biden family and the Biden household. It's not just about heritage, but it really is about faith.

'So much of it being Irish means to be connected to the Catholic teachings that I grew up with. As long as you're alive, you have an obligation to strive. And you're not done until you've seen the face of God. So, keep moving.'

President Joe Biden celebrated his Irish heritage and hosted a Saint Patrick's Day brunch at the White House

The North Lawn fountain is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day

Biden invited Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (right), leaders of the Catholic Church and some 200 guests to celebrate the holiday

'That was her expression for real. And that belief inspired generations of the Irish to keep going even in the face of enormous setbacks and to convince millions of Irish immigrants including my ancestors, many of you here, here today to leave their beloved homeland and begin a new life in America,' Biden said.

Biden took a trip to his ancestral homeland for the first time as president last spring, and said he hoped to return the hospitality that was shown to him there to Varadkar.

People across the United States started celebrating the Irish holiday early on Saturday at several major St. Patrick's Day parades and parties. 

The annual celebration of the patron saint of Ireland is traditionally held on March 17, but with it being on a Sunday this year the party started early.

New York City held its St. Patrick's Day parade for the 263rd year with 150,000 people marching 35 blocks of Fifth Avenue and 2 million watching from the street or on TV on Saturday.

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams joined crowds and the parade was led by grand marshal Margaret Timoney, chief executive of Heineken USA and Irish native. 

Jim Fanucane, mayor of Kerry County, Ireland, attended the parade and told CBS New York: 'It's a particular honor to be asked to be here. That bond between the Irish and the Americans is, it's very important to us in Ireland.'

The parade has been held since 1762 - 14 years before the US gained its independence - and the first reference to the holiday being celebrated in the city was in 1756. 

'This parade means, I think, so much to the city. Not just Irish Americans, but the entire city, the entire melting pot,' Bridget O'Brien, part of the St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee told WABC.

'It's a welcoming, open community for everyone to come and celebrate with us.' 

Photos show a group of young women smiling with New York City Police Officers while looking inside of their patrol car

Crowds of people wearing green, beaded necklaces and shamrock shaped sunglasses were spotted having fun at bars and drinking beer

After the parade New Yorkers took to their favorite Irish pubs to keep the celebrations going

After the parade New Yorkers took to their favorite Irish pubs to keep the celebrations going.

Crowds of people wearing green, beaded necklaces and shamrock-shaped sunglasses were spotted having fun at bars and drinking beer. Others sported traditional Irish kilts, wore Irish flag sashes and scarves and some dressed up as leprechauns.

Photos show a group of young women smiling with New York City Police officers while looking inside of their patrol car. 

In Chicago, thousands of people gathered along the Chicago River to watch the local plumbers union boats turn the water green on Saturday.

The Windy City held two additional parades on Saturday, one on the city's South Side and one on the Northwest Side.

'It's a tradition. It's a huge economic driver in the neighborhood, as well. Not just for bars and restaurants, but for local businesses, sprucing up your house, getting paint, things like that,' Marianne Rowan Leslie, chair of the South Side Irish Parade told WGN.

Down south, in Savannah, Georgia, another very old parade took place, claiming to be in its 200th year, with 300 entries marching through the city's old town.

The party started at 7 a.m. for some, with locals sharing their first beer being cracked open earlier than almost any other day of the year.

In Chicago, thousands of people gathered along the Chicago River to watch the local plumbers union boats turn the water green

Children watch as the annual Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday

 In Oklahoma City, hundreds lined the streets of Stockyard City - the country's largest stockyard operation - for a parade including longhorn cattle, clowns and a man dressed as St. Patrick.

'We're all really excited. It's our 15th Saint Patrick's Day celebration,' Katie McCormick, McNellie's Pub bar manager in Oklahoma City told KOCO.

'We're expecting upwards of 100,000 people to come through the pub and the block party. It's easily the biggest day of the year for us.' 

In San Francisco, revelers wearing dark green T-shirts and lime green feather boas watched bands, floats and buses in the city's annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

'This is San Francisco. Chinese, Irish and Latinos have walked arm in arm for 150 years in this fine city of ours,' parade organizer James Quinn of the United Irish Societies told the San Francisco Chronicle.

'Everyone here came from somewhere. We need to help people out, to unite. This is a great place to live, grow up, to raise kids.'