by M.S.S.

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: March 02, 2011

St Patrick's Day.   A Day for Everyone to enjoy

St Patricks day, known in America for the televised Manhattan parade renowned for attracting scores of spectators, has historical depth far beyond the superficial hedonistic depictions of gluttony, green-dyed beer, and gyrating jigs.

It always was and still is a social, spiritual, political, commercial, and contagiously captivating communal event with ever widening appeal. Since the 90s it is being ever earnestly employed by Irish officials to pitch picturesque Ireland's storybook charm.

Conceived in 5th century Ireland, the March 17 holiday initially was a reverent Roman Catholic observance humbly paying homage to St Patrick the patron saint of Ireland.

In keeping with that sober tone, until the 1970s, Irelands, pubs were mandated closed, in veneration of the holy day. The holiday's observance is the day St Patrick died, believed by historians to be somewhere around 460 A.D.

There was no parade.

Imported to America and other countries by nostalgic Irish immigrants, the hallowed festival was launched in their newly-settled homelands to inspire unity, assert a presence, and to celebrate their cultural integration.

After Irish immigrants found their way to America, the Colonies celebrated St Patrick's Day for the first time in Boston, in 1737.

In New York City, the earliest celebration was held in 1756 at the Crown and Thistle Tavern, according to the U.S. Department of International Information programs.

Parades were not initially included in the activities.

Today people of all ethnic backgrounds in countries worldwide celebrate the enormously popular holiday. Many gather to share a meal of corned beef and cabbage, even though, despite popular impressions, corned beef is not a traditional Irish Holiday dish.

Corned Beef is a tradition that only became associated with St Patrick's day at the turn of the 19th century, when Irish-American immigrants substituted corned beef for their traditional homeland meal of Irish Bacon or salted pork boiled with cabbage and potatoes, according to Bridgette Haggerty of Irish cultures and Customs.

It was a cuisine variation possibly influenced by the price and availability of pork, historians believe, as well as the influences of America's melting-pot of ethnic customs.

The color green, not always Ireland's national color, was once considered unlucky because Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the "Good People," the proper name for "faeries." People,

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