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As millions across the globe prepare to celebrate Ireland's national holiday, nowhere are the celebrations more lavish than in the United States, where everyone, including the president, goes green for St Patrick's Day.

A reveller at the 2006 St. Patrick's day parade in Chicago
© AFP/Getty Images/File

From the town of Savannah, Georgia, to San Francisco in California, without forgetting Boston and New York, where the Irish have left an indelible mark, beer will be flowing freely at pubs Friday while parties and parades have been organized to toast the shamrock.

Many of the country's Irish bishops have given their parishioners special one-day dispensation from Lenten rules that prohibit Roman Catholics from eating meat on Friday.

That means a large number of the estimated 40 million Americans who claim Irish descent will be allowed to indulge in the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal served in the United States on Saint Patrick's Day.

Sean Caine, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said Cardinal William Keeler, as well as other church officials across the country, had asked their parishioners to try and find a way to make up for bending the rules.

"They've asked that they replace it with some other kind of abstinence or perhaps to abstain from eating some other kind of food in place of meat," Caine told AFP.

Members of the Sheila Tully Irish Dancers perform at Chicago's 2006 St. Patrick's Day parade
© AFP/Getty Images/File

In Washington, meanwhile, the hottest ticket in town Wednesday evening was the Irish embassy's annual St Patrick's Day reception attended by more than 500 of the city's movers and shakers.

This year's guest of honor was Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

The premier was to meet with President George W. Bush on Friday at a White House ceremony during which he was to present the US leader with a traditional bowl of shamrock.

The two leaders were then to hold private talks before being joined by Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

Ahern is expected to raise with Bush the plight of an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 illegal Irish immigrants living in the United States as well as the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Also due at the White House Friday is Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, who was snubbed by the US leader last year because of mounting criticism of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Reports say that while Adams may be back on the guest list at the White House reception, he is unlikely to even get a handshake from Bush.

Revellers at the 2005 St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City
© AFP/File Tim Clary

Sinn Fein is the political wing of the IRA, which was blamed for killing a Catholic civilian -- Robert McCartney -- in January 2005 and was implicated in a huge bank robbery a month before the murder.

McCartney's sisters, along with relatives of Joseph Rafferty, a Dublin man whose killing last April has also been blamed on a former member of the IRA, will be meeting with Bush Friday.

In New York, meanwhile, month-long festivities marking the Irish holiday will culminate Friday with the city's 245th St Patrick's Day parade, the oldest and largest parade in the nation.

The second largest St Patrick's Day parade is in Savannah, Georgia, where more than 400,000 revelers are expected to converge on the coastal city.

"The celebrations in the United States are as big if not bigger than the celebrations in Ireland," Christina McElwaine, spokeswoman at the Irish consulate in New York, told AFP.

"It's because of the warmth felt by not only Irish-Americans but Americans in general towards Ireland.

"It's really a day of celebration of Ireland whether you are Irish or not."

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