Five of the best places to celebrate St. Patrick's Day

The holiday in honor of the father of Irish Christianity has nowadays turned into a secular festival that encourages participants to dress in green, watch green parades and paint shamrocks -- an Irish symbol -- on their faces. Dublin is of course the top place to be to celebrate this Irish event on March 17, however, many other cities throughout the world organize St Paddy's parades like Sydney, Chicago, and even Shanghai, on various days starting March 13.

The holiday in honor of the father of Irish Christianity has nowadays turned into a secular festival that encourages participants to dress in green, watch green parades and paint shamrocks - an Irish symbol - on their faces. Dublin is of course the top place to be to celebrate this Irish event on March 17, however, many other cities throughout the world organize St Paddy's parades like Sydney, Chicago, and even Shanghai, on various days starting March 13.

The Irish diaspora has a lot to do with the popularity of this holiday throughout the world. The Irish population reaches over 4 million in its country, however, roughly 35 million US citizens claimed to have Irish origins in a 2000 census, while 9 percent of Australia's population of 21 million also share these origins, according to globalirish.ie, a website dedicated to the Irish diaspora.

St Patrick's day in the USA starts with the Chicago celebrations on Saturday, March 13, with the very famous greening of the Chicago river to honor the Irish patron in the morning, followed by the parade at noon. Four days before the actual St Patrick's day Chicago organizes early celebrations on a family-friendly day. (http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com)

New York City's gigantic parade will gather more than two million watchers on Fifth avenue on March 17. Considered the most festive of all gatherings outside Ireland, the New York parade is also very old since it dates back to 1766 or even earlier (http://nyc-st-patrick-day-parade.org).

Dublin turns St Patrick's day into a five day festival starting on March 12 culminating with its parade on Paddy's day. The 2010 festival will offer concerts, street performances and a carnival with more than 4.000 artists. (http://www.discoverireland.com)

A less expected destination to celebrate Green Day is Shanghai, China. Since 2007, the Chinese metropolis has its own Irish festivities with nearly 2,000 people expected to take part in the 2010 parade opening the annual Ireland Week (March 13-21). The 4th annual parade will also include events to mark Ireland's participation in World Expo 2010 (May-October) and the Irish Pavilion (www.lecheileshanghai.com).

To conclude the global festivities, Sydney throws one of the biggest parties worldwide on Sunday, March 21. Since almost 10 percent of Australians are Irish, it is no wonder that influences and traditions from Ireland still persist. In Australia, these celebrations have existed for 200 years since the first parade dates back to March 17, 1810. (http://www.stpatricksday.org.au)