History of St. Patrick's Day Timeline

Saint Patrick's Day parades began in North America in the 18th century but did not spread to Ireland until the 20th century.

Saint Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Montreal since as far back as 1759 by Irish soldiers in the Montreal Garrison following the British conquest of New France.

The Montreal Saint Patrick's Day parade has been held yearly without interruption since 1824, and since 1929 it has been organised by the United Irish Societies of Montreal.

In Quebec City, there was a Saint Patrick's Day parade from 1837 to 1926. It returned in 2010 after more than 84 years.

There has been a Saint Patrick's Day parade held in Toronto since at least 1863.

After the meeting between Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and President Bill Clinton in 1994, the presenting of shamrocks became a yearly custom, building on a tradition that began in 1952 when Irish Ambassador John Hearne sent shamrocks to President Harry S. Truman.

In 1995, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston, concerning participation in Saint Patrick's Day parades.

Image source: Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston

In 2004, the CelticFest Vancouver Society organised its first yearly festival in downtown Vancouver to celebrate the Celtic Nations and their cultures.

The bans on LGBTQ group participation in the New York City and Boston Saint Patrick's Day parades were lifted in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Little Compton, Rhode Island has hosted what is billed as the shortest Saint Paddy's Day parade since 2022, measuring at 98 feet, after a previous shortest-parade tradition began in 1999 but ended when one of the pubs closed.

The first mention of Saint Patrick's Day being celebrated in Australia was in 1795, when Irish convicts and administrators, Catholic and Protestant, in the penal colony came together to celebrate the day as a national holiday, despite a ban against assemblies being in place at the time.

From 1878 to 1955, Saint Patrick's Day was recognised as a public holiday in New Zealand, together with St George's Day (England) and St Andrew's Day (Scotland).

In England, the Royal Colonel or Colonel-in-chief traditionally presents bowls of shamrock to members of the Irish Guards, a regiment in the British Army, following Queen Alexandra introducing the tradition in 1901.

Image source: Irish Guards

While female royals are often tasked with presenting bowls of shamrock to the Irish Guards, male royals have also undertaken the role, such as King George VI in 1950 to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Irish Guards.

The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in Russia took place in 1992. Since 1999, there has been a yearly "Saint Patrick's Day" festival in Moscow and other Russian cities.

Since 1996 the city of Munich holds a Saint Patrick's Day parade on the weekend before the 17th of March, which has turned into one of the biggest St Patrick's Day parades in continental Europe.

Norway has had a Saint Patrick's Day parade in Oslo since 2000, first organized by Irish expatriates living in Norway and partially coordinated with the Irish embassy in Oslo.

London, since 2002, has had an annual Saint Patrick's Day parade which takes place on weekends around the 17th, usually in Trafalgar Square. In 2008, the water in the Trafalgar Square fountains was dyed green.

Glasgow, which has a large Irish population due mostly to 19th-century immigration, has held a yearly Saint Patrick's Day parade and festival since 2007.

Since 2012, Catherine, Princess of Wales has presented the bowls of shamrock to the Irish Guards; male royals have occasionally undertaken the role, such as the Duke of Cambridge in 2016 in place of his wife.

In 2020 and 2021, many Saint Patrick's Day parades and celebrations around the world were cancelled outright due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including London's parade and Dublin's festival, though Brisbane's parade continued as a precautionary exception.

Image source: COVID-19 pandemic

In 1903, Saint Patrick's Day became an official public holiday in Ireland due to the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act 1903, introduced by James O'Mara, an MP from the Irish Parliamentary Party.

The first Saint Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was held in Waterford in 1903, hundreds of years after the first parade in North America. The week had been declared Irish Language Week by the Gaelic League, and Waterford opted for a procession on Sunday 15 March.

On Saint Patrick's Day 1916, the Irish Volunteers—an Irish nationalist paramilitary organisation—held parades throughout Ireland, shortly before the Easter Rising.

Image source: Irish Volunteers

In 1927, the Irish Free State government banned the selling of alcohol on St Patrick's Day, although it remained legal in Northern Ireland. The ban was not repealed until 1961.

The first official, state-sponsored Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin took place in 1931. Celebrations remained low-key after the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, with only a military procession and an Irish-language mass attended by government ministers.

In 1976, loyalists detonated a car bomb outside a pub crowded with Catholics celebrating St Patrick's Day in Dungannon in County Tyrone; four civilians were killed and many injured.

Image source: The Troubles

Some Protestant unionists attempted to 're-claim' the festival, and in 1985 the Orange Order held its own Saint Patrick's Day parade.

Image source: Orange Order

The first Saint Patrick's Festival was held on 17 March 1996. In 1997, it became a three-day event, and by 2006, the festival was five days long.

Since the end of the conflict in 1998 there have been cross-community St Patrick's Day parades in towns throughout Northern Ireland, which have attracted thousands of spectators.

From 2006 to 2012 the Skyfest formed the centrepiece of the Saint Patrick's Festival in Dublin.