March — days, dates and countdowns

How to use March

Use this page to answer the small questions that interrupt planning: how many days are in the month of March (31, every year), what weekday a given date falls on, how much of the month is left, and which dates carry a holiday. In 2026 the month opens on a Sunday and closes on a Tuesday, which leaves 22 business days before subtracting any public holidays — a fact payroll and project plans care about more than anyone admits.

March calendar 2026: the dates that matter

The month's fixed points, with weekdays for 2026: St. David's Day (Wales) — Sunday, March 1 International Women's Day — Sunday, March 8 Daylight saving time begins in the US — Sunday, March 8 (second Sunday, clocks forward)

Pi Day — Saturday, March 14 St. Patrick's Day — Tuesday, March 17 Feast of St. Joseph — Thursday, March 19 First day of spring (Northern Hemisphere) — Friday, March 20 Two feast days of saints in one week give mid-March its character; St. Patrick's is the one that spills out of churches and into the streets.

March holidays and awareness months

March is what awareness month? In the United States it is Women's History Month, and it also carries National Nutrition Month. These run the whole month rather than sitting on one date, which is why they get flags and hashtags rather than days off. When people search for special days in March, the answer splits cleanly: month-long causes, fixed international dates like Women's Day, and the movable feast of the spring equinox.

National days in March 2026

The lighter register of march national days — food days, funny days, one-word celebrations — fills nearly every square of the grid. Pi Day is the most durable of them, because the date writes the number: 3/14. If you want to celebrate something in March, the honest advice is to pick by menu: the month is generous with food-themed days, and corned beef on the 17th is practically mandatory in some cities.

March is the only month that is also a verb — fitting, for the month when the year finally starts moving.

The name, and the missing two months

March is named for Mars and was once the first month of the Roman year, which is the cleanest explanation for the calendar's oddest feature: September, October, November and December mean seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth. Count from March and the names come out exactly right. January and February were added at the front later, pushing every numbered name two places out of position, and nobody has ever bothered to fix it.

It is a good reminder that the calendar is not a designed system but an inherited one, patched repeatedly and never rebuilt.