ST.PATRICK AND PADDY'S FESTIVAL FREEBIES
“Ireland You Are” is the theme for 2017’s four-day St. Patrick’s Festival. There’ll be lots of fun and frolics with Irish, American, French, German and Swiss bands including a contingent from the Bahamas. There’ll be lots of freebies too, including Open Air Cinemas, Céilí, Street Theatre and Music, Greening of the City and a free Mystery Tour by rail. There are lots more events and for further information on all events, please click here. Additionally, for any visitors reading this, we hope you enjoy our brief biography of St.Patrick.
Dubliner, Annalise Murphy, will be this year’s Grand Marshal for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The twenty-seven-year-old Rathfarnham girl, an Olympic silver medallist, was interviewed, in August last year, by 360dublincity.com. See ‘Plain-Sailing’ Pat’s interview here.
Open Air Cinema: In America (Free Event – Ticketed)
“A special open-air cinema screening of In America is sure to be a memorable evening in the beautiful surrounds of the newly renovated medieval Swords Castle.
It follows an immigrant Irish family’s struggle to start a new life in New York City, as seen through the eyes of the elder daughter. To begin all over again is a classic American dream.”
Directed by master storyteller Jim Sheridan, this Academy Award nominated film is well worth viewing. The venue will be Swords Castle, Bridge St, Townparks, Swords, Co. Dublin, and the date and time will be 7:30 PM, Thursday, 16th March.
Yes, nice one. Open-air cinema is a real American touch, so let’s wish for some Californian style weather.
IFI Archive at Lunchtime: St. Patrick’s Daze
There might be no such thing as a ‘Free Lunch’, but there’s definitively a ‘Free Lunchtime’ in Dublin.
“IFI Archive at Lunchtime is a series of free screenings curated from the IFI Irish Film Archive collections. The Archive includes over 30,000 cans of film made in and about Ireland from 1897 to the present day.
IFI Archive at Lunchtime: St. Patrick’s Daze will be shown on Mondays, Wednesdays and on Saturday Lunchtimes throughout March.”
The Irish Film Institute is located at 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. There are no tickets required but check here for further details.
Open Air Cinema: Sing Street (Free Event – Ticketed)
“A special open-air screening of 2016’s runaway hit Sing Street directed by John Carney. The highly acclaimed Golden Globe nominated musical-comedy starring Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo tells the story of a boy, growing up in Dublin during the 1980s, who is forced to relocate to a tough inner city public school when the recession hits his family. He escapes his strained family life by starting a band to impress a mysterious girl.”
I saw this film. Brilliant. Very enjoyable. This movie can be viewed at Fingal County Council Civic Offices, Grove Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, 7:30 PM on Saturday, 18th March. And it might be wise to bring along your winter woolies.
Festival Céilí / Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 /Free event
At 4:29 PM, Thursday, 16th March, come along to Ardán an Iarla, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 and enjoy the céilí and the craic. “Crochaigí bhur gcosa in airde in éindí le scoth na gceoltóirí agus rinceoirí as an cheithre cúige. Faoi threoir Jerry O’Reilly agus rinceoirí Brooks Academy, le tionlacan ón Matt Cunningham Band, beimid ag rince go hoíche! Hup!”
As the world’s largest outdoor céilí, this promises to be a truly great celebration of Irish traditions. And it’s free too!
JJINSTARAIL Dublin - The Mystery Tour(Free Event – Ticketed)
On Sunday,19th March, arrive 9.30am at Irish Rail Enterprise Lounge at Connolly Station, Dublin 1, and “connect with other photo-lovers and most importantly meet new friends as you are brought on a magical visual and aural journey out of the heart of the city to a mystery location. Once you reach your destination, the @JJCommunity team and fellow photographers will snap until the sun sets, before returning to Dublin.”
Yes, a magical mystery tour by train, sure what else would you be doing on a Sunday morning. Great stuff!
Street Theatre and Music in the Green
From 12pm-4.30pm, on Saturday, 18th March St. Stephen’s Green will be rocking with music, magic, and circus-style fun. Spend an afternoon in the park and soak up the atmosphere with this wonderful, free event. The best of national and international street theatre and bands will still be around on the 18th to continue the craic in the Green.
“Cast off your shoes and squeeze into Circo Rum Ba Ba’s true-to-life 50ft inflatable Whale. Once inside encounter a shipwrecked Pirate with a treasure tale to tell and a real live Mermaid with a haunting siren’s song and an intriguing secret.
Experience Jack Wise and his jaw-dropping magic tricks, sleight of hand and mind-reading prowess.
Be mesmerized by the Lords of Strut and their satirical, surrealist and silly circus of acrobatics, all wrapped up in a parcel of laughter.”
There will be enough entertainment for all the family. This is the one I look forward to.
Greening the City
At 6:00 PM, Thursday, 16th March, come witness the greening of iconic Buildings across Dublin, including the GPO, Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral, the Mansion House and the Convention Centre.
“In celebration of Ireland’s national holiday, see buildings, venues, and spaces across the city illuminate green for the Festival. After the sun goes down, take a stroll through Dublin’s fair city to check out these iconic buildings - they look even more impressive in green!”
St.Patrick
Uncertainty surrounds the birthplace of the world’s most celebrated saint and Patron Saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. Experts cannot agree where Patrick was born. Some say Bristol or Avonmouth, others say somewhere in Scotland. Nevertheless, as far as we Irish are concerned, he’s one of our own. Over time, many facts and myths about the great man have become tangled. The facts and legends are equally interesting.
SOME FACTS:
- St. Patrick’s own writings proved he did exist and converted the pagan Irish to Christianity.
- The thousands of people inspired by Patrick, who climbs a 2,510-foot stony mountain, some in their bare feet, every year.
- Patrick became a bishop and missionary, and his writings are kept in Trinity College, Dublin.
- St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over Ireland and the world.
SOME LEGENDS:
- Patrick explained the Blessed Trinity to a pagan king, using a shamrock.
- Saint Patrick’s Foot in Skerries, Dublin.
- St. Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland.
March 17th is the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick. He died in the year AD.461. In his autobiography, Confessio, he wrote that he was born in Bannavem Taberniae (Latin) in Britain.
It is widely believed Irish pirates raided Britain in the year A.D.401 and captured St. Patrick. He was sixteen years of age at the time and taken into slavery by the raiders. He spent six years in Ireland, minding livestock for a farmer called Milcho. He eventually escaped from his captors. After his vision of the Angel Victoricus, he returned to Ireland, as a bishop, to convert the pagan Irish.
Some commentators (or detractors) claim St. Patrick was not a consecrated bishop; they say he assumed that role, in Ireland, in order to ordain priests. Other experts disagree; they contend people mistranslated his writings. Nonetheless, the facts are that these ordained priests assisted in converting the Irish to Christianity. St. Patrick founded 365 churches, each with a resultant school, during a 60-year ministry.
The following is an extract from Confessio: “I saw in the night the vision of a man whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them and I read the opening words of the Letter which were ‘The Voice of the Irish’ and as I read the beginning of the Letter, I thought at the moment I heard their voice … We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.”
Patrick’s writings Confessio and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus can be found in the Book of Armagh, Trinity College, Dublin; it is from these works that we learn much about the life of the Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick.
A British chieftain named Coroticus, along with his gang of soldiers slaughtered a group of Patrick’s converts on the day after their baptism. In Patrick’s Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, he makes a fierce, biting attack on his fellow Britons for their savagery.
Regardless of the myths surrounding St. Patrick, his writings prove he was an exceptional man and true Christian. Jesus Christ teaches us to love our neighbours as ourselves. This highest of virtues is exemplified by St. Patrick. Although he was enslaved and abused by some Irish, St. Patrick returned after his escape to show the Irish the path to God.
Happy Paddy’s Day.
Tomas O’hArgadain