Rain and pom poms dutifully put in an appearance as crowds revel in all things green, writes ROSITA BOLANDat the Dublin Parade
RAIN AND American cheerleaders doing mysterious things with pom poms are as firmly a part of the Dublin St Patrick’s Day parade as shamrock on the lapels of dignitaries, and both faithfully showed up on Saturday. An estimated half a million Dubliners and visitors were in the city, and it appeared most of them had something green on their heads.
There were thousands of leprechaun hats, green wigs, Viking helmets, and glittery headband boppers featuring shamrocks, harps, and yet more leprechauns. If you had landed here with no knowledge of our national saint, you might have thought Ireland was celebrating St Leprechaun’s Day.
A group of language students from Japan, Spain, Brazil, and Denmark standing on Dame Street waiting for the parade to start were wondering why everyone was wearing green. “It’s only one part of the three colours in the Irish flag,” puzzled Anna Palmes from Spain. “But nobody’s wearing white, or orange.”
“St Patrick’s is as close to Mardi Gras as you can get,” was the verdict of American Steven Ahonen, who was in Ireland for the first time.
“Celebrating St Patrick’s Day is almost a civic duty,” said his Irish friend, Eoin O’Driscoll, who was wearing eight items of green clothing, including a pair of shamrock-shaped glasses. “It’s about inclusivity. That’s why so many people come here for it.”
“We were debating whether to come into town or not,” said Eleanor Fitzsimons, who was watching the parade with her husband Derek Bain, their boys Alex (11) and Ewan (7) and cousin Tom Davis (11). “We were afraid the place was going to be full of puking teenagers. But we thought, if we don’t come in, that’s what it does become. Families have to reclaim the streets on Paddy’s Day.”
The parade itself, which took roughly an hour to pass, was themed “How? What? Why?” to mark the capital’s designation as City of Science 2012.
The grand marshal this year was football legend and TV pundit John Giles.
Among the first of the 3,000 participants to march were the Dublin Fire Brigade Pipe Band, followed by a random vampire, and six electric-powered cars.
Dublin has the biggest, shiniest and most expensive parade in the country, but it still manages to retain a sense of the local. Along with the impressively large marching bands of the Shorecrest Highlanders from Washington, the University of Notre Dame, and the John F Kennedy High School from La Palma, were two small Garda dog and horse units, which charmed the children present.
Sections of the parade were given over to creative exploration of scientific themes, such as rainbows and weather. There were giant mechanised fishes, suns, flowers, rhinos, multi-headed birds, ships, deconstructed cars, and objects best described as magnificent yokes on wheels, all pushed along by teams of stoic, sweating men, who needed a rest before tacking the upwards rise at Christchurch.
The final group to parade were a collective of cyclists. They included Finn Ginty who was strapped onto the back of his father Cian Ginty’s bike and who, at 11 months, was probably the youngest person to participate in the parade and definitely the only one to be asleep.
After the parade, Mike Hatfield from St Louis, who was visiting Ireland for the first time, remarked that “the image abroad of Irish people getting drunk on St Patrick’s Day is a misconception. In the US, it’s about drinking as much as you can as early as possible. But to me, this is about a family holiday.”
“It was a great parade, but it had nothing to do with Ireland,” said Paul MacKinnon, from New Zealand. “I thought there might be some Irish dancing in it, for instance.”
French couple Nathalie and Amsad Hussain admitted they had no idea who St Patrick was. They had enjoyed the parade, but were surprised to see so many American marching bands. “The parade isn’t Irish at all, but it doesn’t matter,” said Nathalie. “It’s more about the great atmosphere and the celebration. Everyone wants to be in Dublin today.”
By late afternoon, the streets of Dublin were still crammed. Among the crowds were a group of 30 schoolfriends from Knocklyon, dancing on Grafton Street. They hadn’t watched the parade, they said, and had only come into town after it was over. “The parade is for your mam,” David Mahon explained. “The parade is for kids and families, not for teenagers like us,” agreed Johnny Murray. “Now it’s our time of the day – and we’re going to party, party, party.”