• St Patrick's Day is a national holiday in Ireland, celebrated every year on March 17.
• Many people in the US with Irish heritage also celebrate the holiday.
• From rivers dyed green to pints of Guinness, here are the ways the day differs over two continents.

St Patrick's Day has become a celebration across the globe.

St Patrick's Day is celebrated every year on March 17 and is named after the patron saint of Ireland. After supposedly driving all of the snakes off of the island country, he was said to have set up numerous Catholic monasteries and spread religion to the local people, according to History.com.

Evidence of the first celebration of St Patrick's Day is as a religious feast day in Ireland, dating back as far as the 7th century, according to HistoryExtra.

However, after many Irish citizens emigrated to America, the holiday turned into a day of celebrating all things Irish according to Britannica. Since then, it's spread across the world and is used as an opportunity for people to honor their Irish heritage and the culture of the small country. 

In Ireland, St Patrick's Day is recognized as a national holiday — it isn't in the US.

While many cities in the US may celebrate the day and their Irish heritage, it isn't a national holiday and most people will celebrate after work on the day, or on the surrounding weekends. 

In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a national holiday so most people have the whole day off.

While people in America often refer to it as "St Patty's Day," in Ireland, it's called "St Paddy's Day," or just "Paddy's Day" for short.

While the day is taken from the saint's name, Patrick, the name is commonly abbreviated in Ireland to Paddy. This is most likely due to the fact that Patrick comes from the Irish name, Pádraig, according to Miriam Webster.

Parades in Ireland usually aren't anywhere near as big as they can be in the US.

According to The Washington Post, while Ireland had observed the Roman Catholic feast day of St Patrick since the 10th century, the idea of parades for the event didn't exist until the first one was held in modern-day Florida in 1601. 

Where Chicago and other cities across the northeast of the US have continued to throw large parades to celebrate the day, parades held in Dublin, Ireland's capital, and other locations around Ireland aren't usually anywhere near as large. 

However, following two years of canceled parades due to coronavirus restrictions, this may be set to change. While it's estimated Chicago's last St Patrick's Day parade welcomed around 500,000 people to the city, according to NBC 5 Chicago, Dublin's 2022 parade is expected to attract over 400,000 people, according to The Irish Times.

Soda bread is eaten all year round in Ireland, not just around the holiday like in the US.

Today, many Americans choose to make soda bread recipes around St Patrick's Day, with traditional recipes in Ireland dating back to the 1800s, according to Britannica.

However, traditional soda bread in Ireland is very different from those created around the holidays within the US. Where the recipes made in the US often include additives, like currants and butter, the traditional Irish versions tend to be closer to brown bread without added extras, like the BBC's Irish soda bread recipe.

Nobody in Ireland drinks "Irish Car Bombs" — and you'll likely be asked to leave if you try to order one at a bar.

The drink, first invented by Charles Burke Cronin Oat in Connecticut in 1979 according to Eater, is often ordered around the holiday in the US and contains Baileys, Jameson whiskey, and Guinness, all of which are Irish products. It's usually served in the US as a shot of Baileys and whiskey, which is then dropped into the Guinness.

However, its controversial name alludes to the Irish Troubles, in which many lives were lost to brutal conflict and bombings, according to Eater.

While Oat said he derived the name from the "explosive" effect of the shot dropping into the Guinness and didn't mean to cause offense, for many Irish people who lived through the Troubles, the drink leaves a bad taste, according to the Belfast Times.

For that reason, you're highly unlikely to find the drink in Ireland, and you probably shouldn't ask the bartender to make you one either.

Ireland doesn't dye any of its rivers green.

Where Chicago has long held a tradition of dyeing its river green every year, there's no similar annual event in Ireland.

The Liffey, the main river that runs through Dublin, was due to be dyed green in 2020 but this was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. As this was meant to be a one-off event as a tribute to the relationship between Dublin and Chicago, according to the Irish Post, there are currently no other plans to dye the river.

People in Ireland don't tend to change the color of their food or drink either — especially Guinness.

Around St Patrick's Day, many publications provide recipes or guides to help people turn their food or drink green, including beer. While this is common in the US, it is rarely seen in Ireland, as it's considered a bit of a gimmick.

People in Ireland don't tend to be as enthusiastic about the holiday as those in the US.

Many Irish people, despite it being a national holiday, prefer to keep the day low-key and often deliberately avoid any major events. Especially as celebrations ramp up this year, Dublin Airport is reportedly expecting almost 800,000 passengers over the holiday period according to the Independent, meaning that the city is likely to be very crowded. 

A news clip of an Irish man who describes the day as "the greatest load of ponce and wonce," often goes viral around the holiday, with one version from 2017 getting over 6,000 retweets, in which he also notes his discontent with the influx of tourists within Ireland looking to celebrate the day.

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