Contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick ’s Day is not just one day of raucous celebrations, awash with green and gold and random outcries of our national anthem across streets, pubs and clubs. It’s a whole week!

Yes, Lá Fhéile Pádraig in Ireland is a festival, lasting an action-packed seven days. Plenty of time for you to find your inner Irish man or woman, don the emerald green and pin a bush of shamrocks to your lapel.

St. Patrick is a patron Saint to our small emerald isle and we celebrate him for more than just banishing all snakes from the land.

Legend tells us that St. Patrick was born in Britain and at the age of 16 was kidnapped by Irish pirates, held captive on the West coast of Ireland and was treated as a slave. The notion to escape and flee back to England came to him in a dream from God. He was successful and once he set foot back in England began studying to be a priest.

Soon after that, God told him once more in a dream to return to Ireland and to spread his word of Christianity. Using the shamrock to help explain the Holy Trinity – the father, son and Holy Ghost, St. Patrick continued to spread Catholicism in Ireland. In a nutshell, that is why he is a saint, and why we love the shamrock so much.

Home to “The Black Stuff”, leprechauns and plenty of sheep, St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland can be rivalled by no other. We pull out all the stops for our week of national pride and countrywide cheer.

A country girl, like yours truly, will be no stranger to the budget St. Patrick’s Day parade that drifts through the nearest town’s main street. Float after float of “St. Bridget and St Joseph’s Primary School” and Anne-Marie Maguire’s Irish Dancing Group on the back of pick-up trucks, tractor trailers or worse - the horse and cart. The crowd have their faces painted, some with our green, white and gold, others with the shamrock across their cheeks.

Children wave banners and shout for their friends who were privileged enough to be walking in the parade. Toddlers on their daddy’s shoulders, to see above a sea of heads. Neighbours standing side by side at the end of the garden applauding as the convoy goes past. One nudges the other and says “Well, it’s far better than last year, and thank God for the good weather!”

However, those who venture to the Capital will see no expense spared on our National Day. A mammoth display of colour, lights, inflatable animals and scores of dancers, musicians and brass bands.

This year the theme for the parade is ‘Extraordinary World’, and the much anticipated annual favourite promises highly original and inventive street theatre troupes, artists, giant puppetry, dancers and marching bands from Ireland and across the globe. As always, thousands will flock to the streets and cheer from the barriers, and of course wave frantically at the TV3 camera crews who will be playing the parade live to those watching from their “good front rooms”.

But it’s not all about the parade. This year, the festival events range from the skyfest fireworks display, an 80 metre stiletto heel dash for charity and a traditional Irish dancing Céilí in the capital’s St. Stephen’s Green.

And whether you are on the streets of Dublin, Cork or Galway, or in the cross road towns of Ballybracken, Knockanroe or Shanballyduff you will all head to the local for a couple of pints to satisfy that thirst you worked up.

Not forgetting that St. Patrick’s Day is an excused day off lent, so kids can eat as much chocolate and drink fizzy pop till explosion point. Is it any wonder that we take the time to raise a glass to our Patron Saint and celebrate the day with such zest and passion?

Now, the real question is, will London be able to compete with the pros? I’m sure they are going to give it their best Guinness-shaped shot.