Today is St Patrick's Day, the national holiday for Ireland. Because of the pandemic, things have been very quiet for the past couple years and the last parade was in 2019. We never did get to see one in Dungloe because that ended up being our lockdown town--we were in lockdown for almost the entire time we lived there. Everyone was excited for the return of festivities and this year, because the day falls on Thursday, the government created another holiday as a way to thank everyone for their community spirit during the pandemic which falls on 18 March for this year only. Starting next year, it will be the first Monday in February in honour of Brigid, whose day is 1 Feb.
We had no idea whether there would be a parade here or not. I looked online earlier in the week and could find nothing. But there were flags attached to the lamp posts when I got up this morning, so I thought maybe there'd be something. Then I was looking for something else and saw a link that looked promising. Clicking on that informed me that the parade would begin at 2:30. Since it went right by us, we watched from our windows. It was kind of weird to see cars and vans parking on the sidewalk to watch. It's rural enough here that not everyone who wants to see the Gweedore parade can walk so there were fewer people lining the footpaths and a bunch watching from their cars.
I expected St Patrick to be leading the way as in every other parade we've seen, but he apparently doesn't participate in person here. He was pulled on a trailer in a depiction of himself driving the snakes out of Ireland (thanks, Patrick!).
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| literal translation is 'big apostle of Ireland'--sounds way more catchy than St Patrick, I think! |
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| too windy for the leprechaun |
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| colourful coast guard truck |
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| Donegal |
It was nice to see people out with their flags and funky green hats watching the parade again.
Haven't ever seen green beer here and corned beef isn't a thing (except very occasionally packaged as deli meat). Cabbage is a thing though and I made myself a nice big batch of slaw with balsamic vinaigrette so I can munch on it all weekend!
I have loved this song for decades. After almost 8 years, I am still grateful to be able to live in this wonderful country. Happy St Patrick's Day!
4 comments:
I loved this post! I've never seen a St. Patrick's Day celebration or parade that took place in Ireland! I plan on having some cabbage today and a little bit of corned beef.
My mom was part Irish so things like this interest me.
I am not usually a parade kind of person, but these are fun--quirky in local ways. There are similarities between them, but differences, too.
enjoy your corned beef and cabbage! :-)
I hope you had a super St. Patrick's Day. Those were fun parade photos. I love how it was not like the Macy's Turkey day parade in NY.
They do have their own sort of vibe 😃
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