Feeling lucky? St. Patrick’s Day is in one month, on Tuesday, March 17.

The centuries-old Irish holiday is wildly popular in the U.S., with many bars pouring green beer, many cities hosting parades, people dressing up as leprechauns and others digging through their closets to find green garb simply to avoid a pinch.

But did you know Florida is home to the oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S.?

Here’s a quick breakdown of the history and origins behind St. Patrick’s Day and which Florida town hosts the oldest St. Paddy’s parade in the nation.

When is St. Patrick’s Day 2026?

St. Patrick’s Day always falls on March 17, which is a Tuesday in 2026.

Is it St. Patty’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day?

The correct spelling is “St. Paddy’s,” but people often misspell it as “St. Patty’s.”

What is the name Paddy short for?

“Pádraig is the Gaelic or Irish origin of the name Patrick which is colloquially shortened to Paddy, hence the abbreviation ‘St Paddy’s Day.’ In Ireland, ‘Patty’ is a common diminutive of the female name Patricia,” According to language learning platform Preply’s Head of Methodology Sylvia Johnson.

“So, the Americanized abbreviation of ‘Patty’s Day’ for St Patrick’s Day isn’t a true or recognized phrase elsewhere when talking about the patron saint.”

In the 19th century, “Paddy” turned into a dismissive and disrespectful name, as more Irish people began to move to the U.S.

Linguists and etymologists think that the term “paddy wagon” stemmed from one of two Irish stereotypes: Either that many Irish people became police officers or the perception of drunken Irish men finding themselves as passengers in police cars, according to the Inclusion Solution.

Why do we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day started as a day to commemorate the death anniversary of Ireland’s patron saint and has since turned into a big party day for many Americans, who, regardless of their descent, wear green, drink green beer and attend St. Patrick’s Day parades.

According to the Library of Congress, St. Patrick’s Day is “an Irish and Irish-American holiday commemorating the death, as legend has it, of Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, on March 17, circa 492.”

But most of the traditions we now associate with St. Patrick’s Day have nothing to do with the patron saint of Ireland or his death.

For example, wearing green. Wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day actually comes from 18th-century Ireland, when Irish people made green a symbol of Irish rebellion and nationalism under Britain’s rule.

Why do we wear green on St. Patrick’s Day?

Wearing green on the holiday was loosely tied to Saint Patrick, but a more direct symbol of the patron saint of Ireland was the three-leaf shamrock.

“The significance of the three-leafed shamrock comes from St. Patrick himself,” Irish Historian Elizabeth Stack said in a History.com article. “He used the shamrock to describe the three forms of God — the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit — to convert early Irish people to Christianity.”

There’s also a superstitious reason for wearing green on St. Paddy’s, but its origin is more American than Irish. The legend suggests that wearing green will keep you safe from being pinched by a leprechaun.

“No one in Ireland is worried that they will be pinched if they don’t wear green,” History.com says.

“The mischievous mythical creatures don’t actually have anything to do with the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, who is credited with spreading Christianity on the island in the fifth century, in part by blending its rituals with customs of the ancient Celtic pagan religion.”

What is the oldest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S.? When the 2026 St. Augustine St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be

While the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland was in Waterford in 1903, according to IrishCentral, the first American version of a St. Patrick’s Day was in 1601, in a Spanish Colony that is now St. Augustine, Florida. 

And the first recorded celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the country was also in St. Augustine, one year earlier than the first parade.

That’s well over 100 years before the first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parades in Boston and New York City.

“The sensational information was uncovered in December 2017 by historian Dr. J. Michael Francis in a gunpowder expenditures log in Spain’s Archivo General de Indias, or AGI,” IrishCentral’s website says.

“The documents reveal that spring festivities, which included a feast day of San Patricio (St. Patrick) was held in the year 1600 in St. Augustine, Florida.”

The oldest city’s tradition, over 400 years and counting, still continues. The 2026 St. Augustine St. Patrick’s Day Parade will kick off on Saturday, March 14, at 10 a.m. at Francis Field.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: When is St. Patrick’s Day? Date, history of the observance

Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Times-Union

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