St Patrick's Day 2027 is Wednesday 17 March, a national public holiday in Ireland. Dublin's St Patrick's Festival runs Saturday 13 to Wednesday 17 March, and the national parade starts at noon on 17 March. Watching the parade from the street is free.
When is St Patrick's Day 2027
St Patrick's Day falls on 17 March every year, the traditional date of St Patrick's death. In 2027, that is Wednesday 17 March. In Dublin, the day sits inside a five-day festival, St Patrick's Festival, which runs Saturday 13 to Wednesday 17 March. The full events schedule appears in January 2027, so check the official programme before you build a trip around one event. See the official Dublin parade route, times, and grandstand information for the confirmed details.
| Date 2027 | What happens |
|---|---|
| Saturday 13 – Tuesday 16 March | St Patrick's Festival in Dublin: street theatre, music, family events, and cultural programmes across the city. |
| Wednesday 17 March, 12 noon | National St Patrick's Day Parade, Parnell Square to Cuffe Street / Kevin Street junction. |
| Wednesday 17 March | St Patrick's Day itself: Mass, parades, and celebrations in Ireland and in cities with Irish communities worldwide. |
Who was St Patrick
St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. He was born in Roman Britain in the late 4th century, to a Christian family. At 16, Irish raiders carried him into slavery in Ireland, where he spent six years as a herdsman. He escaped and returned to Britain, then chose to go back to Ireland as a missionary. His own writings, the Confessio and his letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, are the only details of his life scholars fully accept. Later writers added most of the famous stories. Read the Britannica life of St Patrick for what is known and what is legend.
What happens in Dublin
The Dublin parade is the centrepiece. It starts at noon on 17 March at Parnell Square, runs down O'Connell Street, crosses O'Connell Bridge, and finishes at the Cuffe Street and Kevin Street junction, a route of about 3.2 km. More than 3,000 participants take part, with large floats, marching bands from around the world, dance groups, and street performers. Around the parade, the festival fills the city with street theatre, live music, family zones, and cultural events. The parade draws dense crowds, so arrive early for a viewing spot. See the full list of religious festivals in this category.
Tickets
Watching the parade costs nothing. There is no ticket for standing along the route: pick a spot and watch. What costs money is a grandstand seat and some individual festival events. Grandstand tickets for St Patrick's Festival 2027 went on sale on 28 September 2026, and numbers are limited. Check the official festival site for prices and availability before you buy, since third-party sellers may charge far more. Read the Dublin St Patrick's Day 2027 parade and trip guide for how the free and ticketed options compare.
| What | Ticket | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Parade, standing along the route | Free | No ticket. Arrive early for a good spot. |
| Grandstand seat | Ticketed | Limited numbers. Check the official festival site for prices. |
| Festival events | Mixed | Many street events are free. Some indoor events are ticketed. |
Why green, and what is a shamrock
Green was not always St Patrick's colour. Early images linked him with blue, called St Patrick's blue. Green grew instead through the shamrock and as a symbol of Irish nationalism from the 18th century. A shamrock is a three-leaf clover and a symbol of Ireland. Tradition says St Patrick used its three leaves to explain the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to converts. The story is legend, not a fact from Patrick's own writings, but the shamrock has stayed the day's best-known symbol. A lighter piece of folklore says wearing green hides you from leprechauns, mischievous fairy figures said to pinch anyone they can see. That is where the modern habit of pinching anyone caught without green comes from.
Snakes, corned beef, and other stories
Two popular stories need a short correction. The first says St Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Ireland has never had native snakes, since the island separated from mainland Europe after the last Ice Age before snakes could reach it. Historians read the story as symbolic, with the snakes standing for paganism. The second story is about food. Corned beef and cabbage is Irish-American, not Irish. The traditional Irish meal was bacon and cabbage, since beef was costly in Ireland. Irish immigrants in 19th-century New York bought cheap corned beef from kosher butchers as a substitute for bacon, and the pairing stuck. Chicago adds its own spectacle: the river has been dyed green since 1962, when workers using dye to trace sewage discharges saw the effect and kept it as a tradition.
How the day became a festival
For most of its history, St Patrick's Day in Ireland was a quiet, largely religious day. The feast day was placed on the Church calendar in the early 1600s through the work of Waterford-born Franciscan Luke Wadding. It became a public holiday in Ireland in 1903, under the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act. Pubs were then required to close on 17 March, a rule repealed in the 1970s. The bigger, public version of the day grew first in America: Boston held an observance in 1737, and New York held the first recorded parade in 1762, organised by Irish soldiers in the British army. In Ireland, Waterford held a parade in 1903, and Dublin's first parade followed in 1931. The Irish government set up the Dublin festival in November 1995, and the first festival took place on 17 March 1996. It has grown from a single day to five days.
Another feast day in the same Lenten season is the Easter dates, traditions, and visitor guide. For the full list of festivals across the world, go back to the World Festival and Holiday Calendar.
Safety and visiting tips
- Crowds: keep your bag closed and in front, carry little cash, and agree a meeting point with your group in case you get separated.
- Parade spot: arrive well before noon. O'Connell Street fills first; the south end of the route is often easier.
- Weather: March in Dublin is changeable. Dress in layers, wear a waterproof jacket, and choose closed, comfortable shoes.
- Drink: pace yourself, eat, and look after your group. Pubs are busy, and queues are long on parade day.
- Getting around: streets close on parade day. Use public transport or walk; a taxi will not be faster through closed streets.
- Stay: book months ahead. Central Dublin fills for festival week, and prices rise close to the dates.
- Join in: a ceili, an Irish social dance with music, is a good way to see the older, community side of the day. Many are open to beginners.
- Worldwide: if you cannot reach Dublin, New York, Boston, Chicago, and cities with large Irish communities hold major parades of their own.
Sources
- St Patrick's Festival: Dublin parade route, times, and grandstand information
- Britannica: St Patrick, biography, feast day, and legends
- Adventure Ireland: St Patrick's Day Ireland 2027, Dublin parade and trip guide
- World Event Guide: Dublin St Patrick's Day Parade 2027, plan and hotels
- Go to Ireland: St Patrick's Day budget in Dublin, 2027