St. Patrick’s Day falls on Sunday, March 17th, 2024.
An Overview of St. Patrick’s Day
On March 17th of every year, St. Patrick’s Day, a celebration attributable to the Irish and non-Irish populations, is observed worldwide. Starting as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland, it has now evolved into a global festival celebrating Irish culture.
St Patrick’s Day remembers Saint Patrick, a Christian missionary born in 387 AD. At only 16, he was taken as a slave to Ireland. It was during this captivity that he found faith and after six years, fled back home to his family.
Thereafter, he willingly returned to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick is believed to have played a significant role in transforming the Irish community to Christianity and dispelling all snakes from the island. His burial site lies beneath the Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down, making him one of the three patron saints of Ireland, with the others being St Brigid of Kildare and St Columba.
The tradition of celebrating St Patrick’s Day was brought to Canada by Irish immigrants. The day is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland. And while it’s celebrated in the rest of the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, it’s not an official holiday there.
Here are some activities you can engage in for St. Patrick’s Day in Niagara Falls:
The Global Greening on St. Patrick’s Day
