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Given Boston’s indispensable role in securing independence for the original 13 colonies, Independence Day adopts a certain poignancy here. With beer-fueled barbecues and a fireworks display on the Charles River banks, Boston throws the nation a rousing birthday party.

Chinatown (see Chinatown, the Theater District, & South End) buzzes with the pageantry of the Chinese New Year every February. Streets are transformed into frenzied patchworks of color, while sidewalk vendors peddle steamed buns, soups, and other Chinese delights. Don’t miss the annual parade, held the Saturday following the Lunar New Year.

For one week in March, more than 150,000 visitors descend on this indoor exhibition to forget their winter blues and enjoy the bright blooms and fragrant aromas.

Despite being plagued in recent years by staggeringly cold weather, the New Year’s Eve festivities remain among the most highly anticipated events of Boston’s year. A $15 pass grants access to countless concerts, performances, and museum exhibits throughout the city, not to mention a dazzling midnight fireworks display over Boston harbor.

For nearly 40 years, Boston’s squares, parks, and bandstands have staged the greatest names in jazz and blues for one week in June. All the shows – save the marquee acts like Harry Connick Jr., Branford Marsalis, and Natalie Cole – are free.

The Feast of St. Anthony caps an entire summer of feast holidays in the North End (see North End & the Waterfront). On the last weekend in August, from morning well into the night, Hanover Street bulges with revelers, parades, and food vendors giving a vibrant display of the area’s old world Italian spirit.

Boston’s immense Irish-American population explains why few, if any, American cities can match Boston’s Irish pride. Come St. Paddy’s, pubs host live Irish bands and increasingly raucous crowds. The South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, with its famous drum corps, is a tradition that starts off from Broadway “T” station.

In late August, Chinatown (see Chinatown, the Theater District, & South End)commemorates the summer’s fullest moon – signifying the beginning of the harvest season – with a jubilant, unique festival. A dragon dance snakes through the area and vendors line the streets hawking everything from hand-painted fans and herbal remedies to the festival’s official food, the semisweet mooncake.

Every winter, dozens of the city’s top chefs convene at Boston’s World Trade Center to create one night of outrageously inventive cuisine. Funds raised support the Spinazzola Foundation, which aids food banks and homeless shelters citywide. The gala runs concurrently with the equally luxe Boston Wine Expo.

While the Arnold Arboretum (see Arnold Arboretum) counts 4,463 species of flora, one plant deserves particular celebration. When its 500 lilac plants are at their fragrant, color-washed peak, garden enthusiasts arrive in droves for a May Sunday of picnics, folk dancing, and tours of the lilac collections.