St. Patrick’s Day 2025: When is St. Patrick’s Day 2025 & 2026?

Below you can find dates of St. Patrick’s Day 2025 and St. Patrick’s Day 2026. In the table you can check how many days you have been on holiday, which week is the holiday and which day of the month.

When is ..? Date Day of the week Week Number Day left
St. Patrick's Day 2024 March 17, 2024 Sunday 11 Passed
St. Patrick's Day 2025 March 17, 2025 Monday 12 364
St. Patrick's Day 2026 March 17, 2026 Tuesday 12 729
St. Patrick's Day 2027 March 17, 2027 Wednesday 11 1094
St. Patrick's Day 2028 March 17, 2028 Friday 11 1460
St. Patrick's Day 2029 March 17, 2029 Saturday 11 1825
St. Patrick's Day 2030 March 17, 2030 Sunday 11 2190
St. Patrick's Day 2031 March 17, 2031 Monday 12 2555
St. Patrick's Day 2032 March 17, 2032 Wednesday 12 2921
St. Patrick's Day 2033 March 17, 2033 Thursday 11 3286
St. Patrick's Day 2034 March 17, 2034 Friday 11 3651

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is a religious and cultural celebration held on March 17th, the death date of Saint Patrick who is the patron saint of Ireland. It largely celebrates Irish-American culture in the United States, as well.

Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late 4th century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 to convert the Irish to Christianity. By the time of his death on March 17, 461, he had established monasteries, churches, and schools. Many legends grew up around him, for example, that he drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to explain the Trinity.

St. Patrick’s Day 2025 is on March 17th in 2025. This will be an enjoyable day with parades, special foods, concerts, music, dancing, drinking and a lot of green.

In this article, you will find general information about St. Patrick’s Day including its history, traditions, symbols and dates of the coming years.

What is Saint Patrick’s Day?

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and also celebrates the heritage and unique culture of the Irish in general.

Celebrations generally involve parades, parties, festivals and the wearing of green clothing or shamrocks. Christians who belong to liturgical denominations also attend church services and historically the Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the day, which has encouraged the holiday's tradition of alcohol consumption.

Let’s go back in the history and learn the background of this special day. First of all, the name of the day comes from the name of a religion man of Ireland, Saint Patrick.

He was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Many things we know about Saint Patrick comes from the declaration, which was written himself. He was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather were a priest in the Christian church. According to its Declaration, he was kidnapped at the age of sixteen by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland.

Declaration says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he found God. According to the Declaration, God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. That day, after he arrived his home, Patrick decided to become a priest.

Today's celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions (céilithe) and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. There are also formal gatherings such as banquets and dances, although these were more common in the past.

The participants of celebrations generally include marching bands, the military, fire brigades, cultural organizations, charitable organizations, voluntary associations, youth groups, fraternities, and some other institutions like those. Over time, many of the parades have become more similar to a carnival. Moreover, as the week of St. Patrick's Day is "Irish language week", there has been created more effort to use the Irish language, especially in Ireland.

According to the tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelizing in the northern half of Ireland and converted thousands to Christianity. Patrick's efforts against the druids were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove "snakes" out of Ireland (Ireland never had any snakes). Tradition holds that Saint Patrick died on 17 March and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries, many stories have been told about him and he became Ireland's foremost saint.

On St. Patrick's Day, it is a tradition to wear shamrocks, green clothing or green accessories. It is believed that St. Patrick have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

Green is a great symbol with Saint Patrick’s Day, as people of Irish descent all over the world wear a piece of green clothing on March 17. But the wearing of green only became a tradition in the 19th century. Until then, the color most commonly used in St. Patrick's Day was actually blue. Today, it’s all about jade and emerald, moss and olive. So, if you are going to be in Ireland on or around March 17, or will attend the celebrations in US, make sure to have or wear something green and say to anyone with green “Happy St. Patrick's Day!”

About shamrocks, although it may be older, this story first appears in writing in 1726. In pagan Ireland, "three" was an important number and the Irish had many triple deities and they helped St Patrick in his evangelization efforts.

In 1952, Ireland’s ambassador to Washington sent a box of shamrocks to President Harry Truman and this became an annual custom. Four years later, the first St. Patrick’s Day meeting between an American President and the Irish Taoiseach (the country’s term for its prime minister and head of government) took place at the White House. By the 1990s, a St. Patrick’s Day visit from the leader of Ireland to the President of US had become an annual tradition.

When is Saint Patrick’s Day 2025?

Saint Patrick’s Day 2025 will be on 17th of March, the same date on which it is annually celebrated.

St. Patrick's Day, while it is not a legal holiday in the United States, is widely recognized and observed throughout the country as a celebration of Irish and Irish-American culture. Celebrations include prominent displays of the color green, religious observances, various parades and big consumption of alcohol, especially Irish drinks such as Irish beers. The holiday has been celebrated in North America since the late 18th century.

Saint Patrick's Day, although a legal holiday only in Suffolk County, Massachusetts (where it is recognized alongside Evacuation Day) and Savannah, Georgia, is nonetheless widely recognized and celebrated throughout the United States.

It is primarily celebrated as a recognition of Irish and Irish American culture. Celebrations include prominent displays of the color green, eating and drinking, religious observances, and numerous parades. The holiday has been celebrated on the North American continent since the late 18th century.

New York's first Saint Patrick's Day observance was similar to that of Boston. It was held on 16 March 1762 in the home of John Marshall, an Irish Protestant, and over the next few years informal gatherings by Irish immigrants were the norm. The first recorded parade in New York was by Irish soldiers in the British Army in 1766.

The first documented St. Patrick's Day Celebration in Philadelphia was held in 1771. Philadelphia's Friendly Sons of St. Patrick was found to honor St. Patrick and to provide relief to Irish immigrants in the city. Irish Americans have celebrated St. Patrick's Day in Philadelphia since their arrival in America. General George Washington, a member of Philadelphia's Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, actively encouraged Irish American patriots to join the Continental Army.

In 1780, while camped in Morristown, NJ, General Washington allowed his troops a holiday on 17 March "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence.

The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. On St. Patrick’s Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families traditionally attended church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people dance, drink and feast on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

What Is Open and Closed on St. Patrick’s Day 2025?

St. Patrick's Day is not a federal holiday in the United States. Schools, businesses and organizations are open as usual. Public transport systems also run on their regular schedules. There may be some local disruption to traffic due to St Patrick's Day parades. This is particularly true in cities with a large Irish-American population, including New York, New Orleans, Detroit, Seattle and Philadelphia. The parades will be on March 17 or around, so it is a good idea to check local sources for the exact location, date and time.

St. Patrick's Day 2025 falls on March 17 and most businesses follow regular opening hours in the United States.

 

 

Check out the St. Patrick’s Day in the following years.