Chicago's annual Three Kings Parade marches through Northwest Side

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's annual Three Kings Parade was held Sunday on the Northwest Side.

The celebration was held ahead of Three Kings Day on Monday.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Braving sub-freezing temperatures, hundreds of people came together for the parade near North Mason and West Belmont.

"I mean we tried to be as warm as possible, we've got our hand warmers in our pockets, so we are going to sing joyfully," said Kamila Wilczek-Drath with the Polish Folklore Ensemble. "Hopefully that'll warm us up."

The parade celebrates the epiphany, when the three wise men visited Jesus after the birth of Christ, bringing him gold, frankincense and myrrh.

"Every year we get together as our dance group and we sing Christmas songs to celebrate this occasion," Wilczek-Drath said.

Before the parade, people packed the pews of St. Ferdinand Church on West Barry for a mass conducted largely in polish, but it also included readings in Spanish, English and Tagalog. It was standing room only.

Father Piotr Gnoinski, pastor of St. Ferdinand, led the mass.

"We here in the United States come from all corners of the world and as you see today we have Latino and Filipino and Polish communities united in the same faith and same cause," Father Gnoinski said.

The parade traveled to and ended at another nearby church less than a mile northeast of St. Ferdinand.

It was a celebration of faith and culture, intersecting in Chicago.