Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day parades across the U.S. are planned for Saturday, promising to turn one river green in the Midwest, commemorate the bicentennial of a parade in the South and put forth the first female leader of a major beer company as its marshal.

Athens' Irish community and its many friends will celebrate Ireland's national holiday at the annual Greek-Irish Society St Patrick's Day Gala Ball at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, Syntagma Square.

Today is St. Patrick's Day - a cultural and religious holiday celebrated annually on March 17th, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The day is a national holiday in Ireland and is also celebrated in many other parts of the world, particularly by Irish diaspora communities. The holiday is typically associated with the color green, shamrocks, and parades.

The Irish may think that the annual holiday of St. Patrick's day is a chance for them to get drunk and fight, but the truth is that the festivities have a number of pagain symbolisms.

Saint Patrick's claim to fame is that he drove the snakes from Ireland. The snake in the case of the saint was a Pagan symbol. Saint Patrick drove the Pagans, specifically the Celts, out of Ireland.

BELGRADE - This year, Belgrade will for the first time join world metropolises in marking the Irish national holiday, St. Patrick's Day, by turning the lights green on the Ada Bridge on Tuesday.

Around 70 million people across the world celebrate the Irish national holiday, and the list of buildings going green includes Rome's Colloseum, Sydney's Opera House and Egypt's pyramids.