There was a reason I put the word "celebrate" in quotation marks.
I wonder if "celebrating" anything is a reflection of where one grew up or lives. I grew up in the Boston area, and St. Patrick's Day was a "big deal." Boston has always been proud of its Irish heritage (even though we could argue how immigrants were treated- should at least acknowledge/discuss it). There is no way we'd miss our corned beef and cabbage (also known in the area as boiled dinner, and sometimes made with a smoked shoulder instead of corned beef) on March 17th. I know that's not how the day is celebrated in Ireland, but it's how I grew up, and I love corned beef and cabbage, it's on sale at this time of year (if $3.59 a pound for a fatty cut of meat can be considered a "sale" price), so I make it for dinner AND put one in the freezer for later in the year. I know the Irish don't make a big deal out of having green beer/greena coladas/Irish coffee OR corned beef on St. Patrick's day. Hence the quotations.
It's kind-of like Mardi Gras. I always knew it existed in NOLA, but never really thought of it unless there were pictures of Fat Tuesday parades on TV. Then my sister went to school in NOLA and stayed in the area, permanently, and I learned that Mardi Gras is actually a spin off of Carnivale, celebrated in a lot of the world. Now we at home have red beans and rice or jambalaya or something similar on Fat Tuesday. Why? I don't know, but it's fun to recognize another culture. I suppose we often misinterpret how it should be done (can't easily get andouille in northern Maine, hahaha) but it's also interesting/fun to acknowledge other countries and that most of us who live here have original heritage from somewhere else.
Anyhow... I'm off to figure out how long to simmer a 5 pound corned beef and plan out when I have to start everything if we want to have dinner around 6pm. Hope everyone enjoys their day.