ObservanceWednesday, March 17, 2027
St. Patrick's Day
- Date
- Recurs
- Every year on March 17
- Category
- Celebration
St. Patrick's Day falls on March 17, the traditional date of the death of Ireland's patron saint, and it is one of the few holidays Americans largely built for themselves. The parades, the green river in Chicago, the corned beef: almost all of it took shape in American cities, among Irish immigrants who were not especially welcome in them.
History
What is reliably known about Patrick comes mostly from Patrick. His Confessio, published with its manuscripts and translations by the Royal Irish Academy, is a first-person account and strikingly plain: he calls himself a sinner and a simple country person, the least of all believers, and says many look down on him. He names his father, Calpornius, a deacon, and his grandfather Potitus, a priest, and places his family home near somewhere he calls Bannavem Taburniae. He says he was about sixteen when he was taken prisoner there. The Library of Congress notes that legend holds he died on March 17, around 492 — the date the feast commemorates.
The stories most people can recite — the shamrock explaining the Trinity, the snakes driven into the sea — are later traditions. This page has no primary source for either, so it will not tell you when they began.
The American holiday is better documented, and it is an immigrant story before it is an Irish one. The Charitable Irish Society, founded in Boston in 1737 and still describing itself as the oldest Irish society in the Americas, has held a March 17 dinner since its founding; one of its two original purposes was relieving suffering among Irish arrivals in need. Parades came later: the Library of Congress dates New York's official parade to March 17, 1766, with an unofficial march in 1762, suggests Boston's may go back to 1775, and puts Savannah's at 1824.
Then came the famine. Irish immigration rose sharply in the 1840s after the potato famine of 1845–49, which killed more than a million people. Many arrivals met economic discrimination and open prejudice from an Anglo-Saxon Protestant majority hostile both to the Irish and to Catholicism, which is part of why a parade was never only a celebration. When New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral was completed in 1879, the route was extended up Fifth Avenue so the archbishop and clergy could review it from in front of the church.
Timeline
- 1737 — The Charitable Irish Society is founded in Boston and begins holding a St. Patrick's Day dinner on March 17.
- 1762 — An unofficial St. Patrick's Day march is held in New York City.
- 1766 — New York City's official St. Patrick's Day parade dates from March 17 of this year.
- 1845–49 — Ireland's potato famine kills more than a million people and drives a sharp rise in Irish immigration to the United States.
- 1879 — St. Patrick's Cathedral is completed in New York and the parade is extended up Fifth Avenue so the archbishop and clergy can review it.
- 1960s — Chicago plumbers find that orange leak-tracing dye turns the river green; the head of Plumbers' Local 130 proposes doing it on purpose for St. Patrick's Day.
How to observe
Read Patrick in his own voice. The Royal Irish Academy's Confessio site carries the Latin alongside English translations and the manuscripts that preserve the text. It is short, and the distance between the man who wrote it and the figure on the parade float is the most interesting thing about the day.
Find out what your city's parade actually is; many are older than their green-beer reputation and are still run by Irish-American societies. In Chicago the river is dyed by the plumbers' union: NBC Chicago reports that plumbers in the 1960s used orange dye to trace a leak, saw it turn the water green, and the head of Local 130 then proposed doing it deliberately, with the agreement of his friend Mayor Richard J. Daley. The dyeing follows the parade weekend rather than March 17 — in 2026 it began at 10 a.m. on March 14.
Frequently asked questions
Is St. Patrick's Day a federal holiday in the United States?
No. March 17 does not appear on the Office of Personnel Management's list of federal holidays, set by 5 U.S.C. 6103. Federal offices, banks, and the mail all run normally.
Is it a public holiday in Ireland?
Yes, one of the country's ten. If it falls on a day you would not normally work you still get public-holiday benefit, but there is no automatic legal right to take the next working day off.
Which American city had the first St. Patrick's Day parade?
It is genuinely contested, and the answer depends on what counts as a parade. The Library of Congress dates New York's official parade to March 17, 1766 and an unofficial march to 1762, and says Boston's may go back to 1775. The frequently cited Boston 1737 is the year the Charitable Irish Society was founded and began its March 17 dinner — a banquet, not a parade.
Did St. Patrick use a shamrock to explain the Trinity?
Not in anything he wrote. The Confessio, his own surviving account of his life, does not contain the story. It is a later tradition, and this page has no primary source for when it started.
Why is the Chicago River green?
Because the plumbers' union dyes it. NBC Chicago reports that plumbers in the 1960s used orange dye to find a leak, noticed it turned the water green, and the head of Local 130 proposed doing it on purpose, with Mayor Richard J. Daley's agreement.
When is St. Patrick's Day?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | March 17 | Wednesday |
| 2028 | March 17 | Friday |
| 2029 | March 17 | Saturday |
| 2030 | March 17 | Sunday |
| 2031 | March 17 | Monday |
Sources
- Library of Congress, Today in History — March 17 — https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/march-17/ → St. Patrick as patron saint of Ireland and the legend that he died on March 17, circa 492; New York City's official parade dating to March 17, 1766 and an unofficial march in 1762; Boston's parade possibly dating to March 17, 1775; Savannah's to March 17, 1824; the 1879 completion of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the parade's extension up Fifth Avenue so the archbishop and clergy could review it; the sharp rise in Irish immigration in the 1840s after the 1845–49 potato famine, which killed more than a million people; and the economic discrimination and prejudice Irish arrivals met from an Anglo-Saxon Protestant majority hostile to the Irish and to Catholicism.
- Royal Irish Academy, Saint Patrick's Confessio (St Patrick's Confessio HyperStack) — https://www.confessio.ie/ → the Confessio as Patrick's own first-person account, published by the Royal Irish Academy with the Latin text, English and other translations, and the medieval manuscripts that preserve it; Patrick calling himself a sinner, a simple country person and the least of all believers, and saying many look down on him; his father Calpornius a deacon and grandfather Potitus a priest; the family home near Bannavem Taburniae; his capture there at about sixteen.
- Charitable Irish Society, About Us — https://charitableirishsociety.org/About-Us → founding in Boston in 1737; the two original purposes, including relieving suffering and aiding members and other worthy recipients in need; the St. Patrick's Day dinner held on March 17 since its founding; and the society's description of itself as the oldest Irish society in the Americas. Cited as the organization's own account of its history.
- Citizens Information (Ireland), Public holidays — https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/leave-and-holidays/public-holidays/ → St Patrick's Day, 17 March, as one of Ireland's ten public holidays; entitlement to public-holiday benefit when the day is not a normal working day, with no automatic legal entitlement to the next working day off.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays — https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ → the eleven federal holidays established by 5 U.S.C. 6103, and the absence of March 17 from that list.
- NBC Chicago, Why does Chicago dye its river green for St. Patrick's Day? How the tradition began — https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/why-does-chicago-dye-its-river-green-for-st-patricks-day-how-the-tradition-began/3907795/ → plumbers in the 1960s using orange dye to find a broken pipe and seeing the water turn green; the head of Plumbers' Union Local 130 proposing the river be dyed before St. Patrick's Day; his call to his friend Mayor Richard J. Daley; and the 2026 dyeing beginning at 10 a.m. on March 14.
On the "first parade" question: the Library of Congress is followed throughout, and the frequently repeated Boston 1737 date is treated as the Charitable Irish Society's founding and dinner rather than a parade, per that society's own page. No aggregator claim is repeated. The shamrock and snake legends are left undated because no primary source for them was found.
Rejected as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and content-farm or AI-generated listicles.
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