Today Is March 17

Saint Patrick's Day takes place on March 17, the feast day of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is celebrated all over Ireland and elsewhere in the world where Irish people or their descendants live.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade was in Boston (USA), not Ireland. It took place on March 17, 1737, when the Charitable Irish Society of Boston held a St. Patrick's Day celebration.

St Patrick's Day became a public holiday in Ireland in 1903 thanks to an Irish MP James O'Mara. He was also responsible for a law which required pubic houses to close on March 17th to prevent public drunkenness. That law was not repealed until the 1970s.

St Patrick's Day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland, Labrador and Montserrat.

Over 8 million St. Patrick's Day greeting cards are exchanged in America making today the ninth-largest card selling occasion in the US.