How the Date Is Determined

St. Patrick's Day is easy to find: it is the same date every year, March 17.

St. Patrick's Day is always March 17, the traditional date of St. Patrick's death around 461 AD. It is a fixed-date observance, not a federal holiday. So there is no observed-date shift and no general day off in the United States. When the 17th lands midweek, many cities hold their parades on the nearest weekend. The holiday itself stays put.

History

Patrick was a fifth-century missionary, born in Britain, credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. Legend added the shamrock lesson and the banished snakes. The American celebration is older than the country itself. Boston's Irish community marked the day as early as 1737. New York City's first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in 1762, organized by Irish soldiers in the British army. Mass Irish immigration after the 1840s famine turned the feast day into a broad celebration of Irish-American identity. It grew louder and greener in the U.S. than in Ireland itself.

Traditions and Celebrations

Modern American traditions include:

  • Parades, led by New York City's, the largest in the world, with about 150,000 marchers up Fifth Avenue.
  • Dyeing the Chicago River green, a sight the local plumbers union has staged since 1962.
  • Corned beef and cabbage, an Irish-American dish that started in immigrant neighborhoods in New York.
  • Wearing green, on pain of a pinch, plus shamrocks and green-tinted everything from bagels to beer.

Savannah, Georgia hosts one of the country's oldest and largest celebrations, dating to 1824. It even dyes its downtown fountains green.

Planning Around St. Patrick's Day

Nothing closes, so planning is about crowds, not closures. Big-city parades draw hundreds of thousands. So arrive early and expect street closures downtown. When March 17 falls on a weekday, most parades and pub events shift to the Saturday before or after. That means festivities can span two weekends. In Boston the date lands on Evacuation Day, an official Suffolk County holiday. So some local government offices there do close. If you are mapping out parade dates and party plans, our printable calendar templates make it easy to lay out the month.