When is St. Patrick’s Day 2026? Date and meaning

St. Patrick’s Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is the commemoration day of Irish Bishop Patrick, who probably lived in the 5th century and is the first Christian missionary in Ireland. We will inform you here about the holiday in his honor. On what date do you celebrate the festival? Which custom is connected to it? And what do we know about St. Patrick?

Date: When is St. Patrick’s Day 2026?

As every year, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17th. The weekday is a Tuesday in 2026. This day is a legal holiday in Ireland – not in Germany.

Customs: Why do you wear green at St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by Irish emigrants worldwide and more and more by non-Irish. In the capital Dublin and most other Irish cities, large parades and various other activities make St. Patrick’s Day a colorful folk festival. The biggest marches find out except in Dublin in MunichNew York, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, Manchester and Savannah. Also in Great Britain Capital London has a parade and a festival every year.

On March 17th, green is the predominant color of the celebrating Irish all over the world; In some cities, the rivers at St. Patrick’s Day are even colored green – for example in Chicago. Uranin was used until 2003. This is a dye that is normally used for leak location and as a flow path detection. Plant dyes are used today due to possible damage caused by this fluorescent chemical. Even beer (however not The Irish sanctuary Guinness) is sometimes colored green on this day.

There is also a large parade in Munich every year in Munich, which is always placed on a Sunday near the holiday.

Meaning of St. Patrick’s Day: Who was St. Patrick?

Sankt Patrick is said to have brought Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century. However, there are hardly any secure facts about the patron saint of the Irish. Historians assume that the sacred today never existed as an individual and that instead the stories were mixed by at least two people.

The historical figure could have been Patricius, who grew up as the son of a Roman officer in Great Britain of the Roman period and was raised there in the Catholic faith. At the same time, the work of the mission bishop Palladius could also be incorporated into legend formation around St. Patrick.

Patricius and Palladius have one thing in common: As bishops and missionaries, they are said to have ensured that Christian faith spread in Ireland.