1 week from today is St. Patty's Day. In Chicago they have 2 parades. One in the downtown area and then there is "The South Side Parade.
I grew up on the south side of Chicago and have attended this parade for many yrs.
I am not Irish. I am 100% Italian.
The only reason I went to this parade is because my ex, ex's parents and brother and sister lived blocks away and the have Irish in them which by they way is very little.
Now being divorced and in the far Southern Burbs I haven't been to one of the parades for yrs.
My middle daughter still goes. ( Proud of that little but of Irish in her)
I however not being Irish, and don't go to the parades anymore still makes for dinner the good ole Corned Beef and Cabbage.
They say on St. Patty's Day everyone has a little Irish in them.
I know I don't but I live for that Great Irish Dinner.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO ALL

Yes!

My late father and mother were married March 17, 1938.

Not really. The whole parade, dyeing rivers green, stringing the celebration out for two or three weeks beforehand thing is almost uniquely Irish-American. As far as I know they don't even do that in Dublin.

I know quite a few Irish people living here, and the most they do to celebrate is to go to the pub (and Irish pub if possible) and drink Guinness. As such I may celebrate it to the same extent as they do, especially as this year it falls on a Saturday. However, with our drink-centred culture, this isn't significantly different to a "normal" night out.

Indeed, I remember reading somewhere that much of the push to turn Paddy's Day from a simple national saint's day into a "celebration of Irishness" came about as a marketing campaign to sell more Guinness.

Besides all that, I'm Welsh anyway, so I'm more likely to celebrate St David's Day (1st March). This isn't the special occasion that 17th March has been turned into (perhaps because the Brain's or Felinfoel brewery haven't been as clever), but I do spend more time contemplating my Welshness (100%, none of this American-style "one-quarter on my great-grandmother's side which gives me reason to self identify as something I'm clearly not" stuff ) then.

It was a lasting disappointment to me that when I last visited the USA, I was in Boston on 1 March, and the green Paddy's day decorations were already all over the place, and there was not a single indication that anybody even knew it was the Welsh saint's day, much less that it was celebrated in any way.

OK, the ethnic history of the Welsh in the USA is different from the Irish; there was no mass emigration from Wales. (The USA's loss )

And the Dublin guy working in the bar I talked to about it was as taken aback by the scale of St Padraig's Day celebrations in the USA as I was.

We speculated that, in the New England climate at least, it was as much a usefully-scheduled celebration that Winter is coming to an end (though it wasn't that year, being the coldest weather I have ever experienced, including on skiing holidays in the French Alps) as anything about Ireland. Including the ubiquity of the colour green - the colour of spring. This seemed plausible to me.

St. Patrick's Day is one of two days every year I'm very likely to have to hit someone on the train. Amateur Drinking Day. I like what it should be, I hate what it is.

Next weekend we're having some family over and we've bought everyone Old Navy St. Patrick's Day shirts... So this year, yeah.

I am not a parade, crowds, hoopla kinda person, regardless of the event, date, or whatever else.

However, the Irish percentage of my mixed heritage demands that I recognize and celebrate St. Patrick's day!

Generally, we make a family event out of it where my Mom, My In-Laws, and our family all get together and just have a good time. Since we all live on the same block there are no worries about driving afterwards, though frankly, most of us are far too old to party to anything close to an extreme anymore (heck a 6 pack of Killian's can last me over a month!) .

I haven't in the past...But being a college student in Boston, I'm making an educated guess that that may change this year.

CP

Lydia's Irish and Welsh, so I'll be cooking up the corned beef and cabbage. That usually leads to more corned beef and cabbage until we're sick of it. The German in me demands kraut on the endless sandwiches, along with horseradish, thousand island, Jewish rye -- then it's a Reuben, isn't it.

I've learned to stay away from amateur drinkers a long time ago. No pub crawls or parades. I'll wear something green though, just to keep the peace around here.

What else? Watch the River Dance video -- likely. Be thankful that Ireland has no snakes, for some reason or another. We got 'em, timber rattlers. I refuse to wear a little green plastic bowler with the elastic chin strap, gotta have some limits. I mean, they got me to wear the Santa hat and that should be enough.

Nope. I just watched The Departed and those Irish fellas are a rough crowd. Any celebration that gives White folks an excuse to drink lots of beer and get rowdy is not the best time for us non-Irish types to be hangin' around.

Enjoy your day. Catch ya later.

St Patty's day is a big deal here in Dallas... and all types of folks show up for the Parade and festivities involved... good times had by all. I'm not 100% sure how many people are actually Irish, but who really cares?

The green is everywhere in Savannah!

As I've said here (probably ad naseum for your regulars) Savannah hosts the biggest St. Pat's festival in the South. Our parade is second only to NYC - but our weather will always blow NYC out of the water. Looking to be mid to upper 60s for parade day (and that's chilly for us!). City officials say we should expect an influx of 700,000 people this week. Considering our city's population is just around 200,000, it's going to be NUTS. And St. Pat's just isn't one day here, it's usually about three. Tomorrow things will really start to amp up. The legal open alcohol laws may be part of our charm.

This week, I've already helped out lost tourists, saw the green fountains, and have been subjected to the wild call of the drunk ('wooo!'). I can't wait. St. Pat's is always a blast in Savannah - or should I say good craic? If you haven't been down here for one, make it a point to be here next year. You won't regret it.

Cheers!

In the past, I've celebrated St. Patrick's Day with great gusto!

But, since I've become somewhat of a hermit, and St. Patty's now holds some painful memories of love lost, I don't celebrate in any exhuberant ways. I wear some green, and my Irish (green) eyes'll be smilin', and that's about it.

As non-Irish who love the holiday anyway, Curmudgeon and I used to go out to dinner for some London Broil (I always wondered why they would specifically serve something named 'London' for an Irish holiday, but it always tasted great!). Then we would come home with a six pack of Killian's Red beer (the remnants of which would stay in the fridge for a week or two) and settle down to watch The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and that lovely, spirited redhead Maureen I-Forget-Her-Last-Name (Sullivan?).

I, too, saw The Departed. You don't mess with those Irish-Americans!

This year we're doing something a little different. First, we're going to the demonstration protesting the fourth year of the War in Iraq. Later on, we'll be going to a Chinese restaurant where some of the guests are lining up some musicians for an Irish singalong. Our hosts don't know a lot about Irish culture, but they agreed to it, and they'll learn .

Only in America...

I just don't know what the deal is. Why can't these so-called Irish-Americans just assimilate for goodness' sake?!?

How much do these cities end up spending - from our tax dollars - on a parade celebrating some other country? It's crazy I tell you! These people are living in AMERICA and need to learn how to become GOOD CITIZENS!

quark

I'm sure you know I was restraining myself from pointing that out.

I'm glad someone noticed the irony.

For me and mine St. Patty's day has just been yet another excuse to (playfully) annoy on another.

Not much drinking in a SDA home, but pinching is still legal.

My little cousins are merciless and I've likely given the reason for vengeance.

YEAH QH... because the Irish spend the rest of the year calling themselves "Irish-Americans" and wearing green, denouncing the flags of the US. GREAT point...

OH YES- and lest we not forget that America doesn't spend money celebrating Chinese New Year in Honolulu or in NYC, that Cinco De Mayo isn't celebrated anywhere here in the US (SURELY NOT IN DALLAS) and that Mardi Gras is an All American Holiday.

QH, that was a poor stab at cynicism. Heck, not like you.

No one wants anyone to forget their heritage, but people also want us to realize that we're still American at the same time... not hyphenated Americans, of course unless you're actually an immigrant with a hyphenated citizenship or something.

I'm in the mood for a good debate so I'll start a separate one on St Patty's day.

So as to preserve the festive spirit...

..but quark's point was dead on accurate and I can show that using many posters own words...

I have some Irish ancestry, but never really got into St. Patrick's Day, mostly because I don't drink.

Actually I was attempting to playfully poke at a position that contrasts my own.

But now that I think about it, you're absolutely right. Because I too am fed up with the fact that Mexican-Americans and African-Americans spend every day of the year in their sombreros and dashikis, burning American flags - and sometimes sacrificing American babies to their heathen gods!!!!

Really, dude, I was just kidding around.