Q: it is on the 15th this year... it was moved by the roman catholic church... so those of u who answered my previous question actin like i was ignorant im not! i know what im talking about! read the second paragraph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick's_Day
A: The RELIGIOUS observance has been moved. The CULTURAL observance may not have been moved. St. Patrick's Day is kind of two different things now -- the religious part is a more solemn kind of event, when you have the official church services. The church observance has indeed been moved. But the rest of the country considers St. Patrick's Day to be more of a cultural "yay Ireland and Irish people" party, and THAT part probably hasn't been changed. What's probably confusing things even more is that a lot of cities don't have all their big parades on St. Patrick's Day, they have them on whatever the closest Saturday is. So even when St. Patrick's Day IS on the 17th, some cities will probably still have their parades on a different day anyway. This year, we've got the double-whammy of the 17th being a Monday, and the church moving the religious observance, so a lot of cities may have just thrown up their hands and decided to go with the 15th because that's when the closest Saturday is. But traditionally, St. Patrick's Day is the 17th.