Which Caribbean island has St. Patrick's Day as a national holiday?

Montserrat is the Caribbean island that observes Saint Patrick’s Day as a public holiday.

The island’s connection with Ireland dates to the 17th century, when Irish settlers and refugees arrived in Montserrat after being displaced from Saint Kitts and Nevis. Their presence helped give the island a distinctive Irish cultural tradition, reflected in local place-names, music, symbols and celebrations. Montserrat is sometimes called the “Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.”

The holiday also commemorates a failed uprising by enslaved people on 17 March 1768. That event gives Montserrat’s observance a meaning beyond the religious feast and Irish-themed festivities commonly associated with Saint Patrick’s Day elsewhere. The date is listed among Montserrat’s public holidays alongside Christmas, Emancipation Day and Festival Day.

A common mix-up is to assume the answer must be Ireland because Saint Patrick is Ireland’s patron saint. In the Caribbean, however, Montserrat is the notable jurisdiction with an official public holiday for 17 March; Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica may celebrate culturally but do not fit this question’s specific distinction.