St. Paddy's Day – Dublin

On St. Patrick's Day Eve we came across a mass of people on O'Connell Bridge in downtown Dublin. Most were schoolboys, dressed in black and white striped shirts and chanting the school anthem and fired in a frenzy. Some climbed onto lampposts and leaned from the posts with one foot, and a hand clutching on. Some waved a half black, half white flag in the air. Other passerby's had stopped also, some like us, just to see what the rage was all about.

I had to pull a schoolboy aside and inquire what was going on. Their team, Belvedere College, had just won the prestigious Leinster Senior Cup in rugby over their cross-town rivals, St. Mary's College. Belvedere College is an all-male secondary school that is equivalent to high school in the United States. This private Jesuit school produced such greats as Liam O'Flaherty and James Joyce.

Tradition decrees that the cup be walked over O'Connell Bridge from the south side (where St. Mary's College is situated), to the north side (the location of Belvedere College). We were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time. The Leinster Senior Cup finals are held every year close to St. Patrick's Day.

Quite a crowd had gathered by now and the Garda (Irish police) were attempting to block off traffic to the bridge. The team was conveyed by bus to one side of the bridge, then let out with the trophy. Crazy schoolboys began to cheer and onlookers held their cameras up high to reach over the heads of the horde. When the team began to make their way forward, with the large silver cup in hand, their classmates rushed forward and mobbed them in celebration.

The rugby team wore black sport jackets and ties, and the boy carrying the cup was carried on shoulders. Others high-fived the crowd, and every rugby player had a permanent smile on his face. I vied for a position, along with everyone else, trying to gain any glimpse I could of the boys and their trophy.

The celebration slowly passed us and worked its way up O'Connell Street, past the statue of Jim Larkin and the Dublin Spire. There wasn't a better way to begin our St. Patrick's Day Eve than with a little serendipity.

Our subsequent wanderings took us past a street preacher on a soapbox and for a brief visit to the grounds of Trinity College. Then we happened upon the amusement rides at Merrion Square.

Hundreds of tickets littered the ground and all the rides of pleasure seemed to scream at a hundred miles an hour, their lights blaring and flashing. Every ride made me sick to my stomach just from watching. Some spun around in circles at NASCAR speeds, while others jolted the riders up and down like a hammer. Fast-pitched music boomed out of speakers. Juxtaposed behind the amusement rides was the calmness of the red-bricked Georgian buildings, with smoke wafting from the chimney stacks.

One of the rides, that spun patrons in vertical circles while twirling them like a wheel, was called American Trip. A drawing of the Hollywood Hills covered the backdrop, along with pictures of Marilyn Monroe, a football player, and Elvis.

These rides were on a street adjacent to Merrion Square. While walking through the square itself, which is a grass-filled park, we came across a large orange and pink domed tent with traditional folk music coming from inside. A few people danced on the grass outside, but the real action was in the tent.

We opened the flap and peeked inside and found three men and a lady playing instruments in front of a small crowd. I saw an accordion, xylophone, drum, and violin in action. One of the men wore a long white-sleeved shirt with a fancy scarlet vest, and a black hat. They sounded very good, and we quickly learned that they were Polish and playing music from their home country. Unfortunately, this was their last song and soon they were done for the night.

From Merrion Square we walked to Grafton Street, a quaint pedestrian road known for its high-end shopping. The sun had set by now and street lamps illuminated the walkway. Hundreds of people moved in each direction, some slowing to gawk in windows, others hand-in-hand with a lover, and some just anxious to arrive at their destination.

A lady with a fleece coat and black gloves sat next to a shoe store window and played Celtic music on her harp. Down the street we watched an Asian man in nylon warmups bounce a soccer ball on his head, his feet, and his knee, while standing, kneeling, and even lying down, looping it through his leg, and never letting it touch the ground.

Three men were blowing up skinny balloons and tying them in shapes of dogs and flowers. They seemed very friendly. While my wife was filming, one asked, in a deep Irish brogue, where we were from. After she responded to his question, he approached her camera and breathed deeply onto the lens. “Everybody in Utah,” he announced, “welcome to foggy Dublin!”

That was our Sunday in Dublin, the precursor to the biggest festival of the year in Ireland, and a day that is celebrated world-wide. As we rode the tram back to our hotel room, while watching the city lights as we crossed the River Liffey, I couldn't help but to be excited for what we would experience the next day. If our St. Paddy's Day Eve was this good, then who knew what we'd find on the festival day itself.

St. Patrick's Day is a curiosity in Ireland. While Boston and New York City both began their parades in the 1700's, Dublin didn't celebrate the holiday like they do now until the mid-1990's. St. Patrick's Day was originally a religious holiday in Ireland. Citizens celebrated it by attending church and perhaps serving a special dinner in the home.

When Irish began immigrating across the Atlantic, they chose to celebrate on March 17th to remember the country they came from. From those roots, the festivities grew into what they are today in much of the United States.

As for Ireland, it was the very last of the twentieth century when the holiday morphed from religious to secular. The Irish government made the move in part to showcase their culture and promote tourism. I learned from reading the local newspaper that the St. Patrick Day holiday is still debated by the Irish. I will include excerpts from the two contrasting points of views:

Against St. Patrick's Day - “St. Patrick's Day shames me. It is the only day of the year where I wish I wasn't Irish. Each time March 17 comes around I have tried to overlook my disgust at the way our national holiday is 'celebrated.'  Each year I vow not to venture onto streets festooned with litter and people that act like they are auditioning for a part in the next Night Of The Living Dead movie. It usually starts positively enough with a mass turnout for the parade – a ritualistic procession that's improved in content over the years, particularly in Dublin where the organisation has injected some international glamour into the event. But once that's out of the way, Ireland turns ugly . . . . the vomit on the streets will attest to that come tomorrow.” - John Meagher

In favour of St. Patrick's Day - “Paddy's Day . . . manages to retain an ability to express the unique genius of the Irish people . . . . Despite all the corny corporatisation of the event, and the fact that the whole thing was foisted on us by Americans, Paddy's Day remains a place to conspire against wholesomeness and sobriety. Instead of screaming 'won't somebody please think of the children,' we should get over it and realise children are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for.” - Alan O'Riordan

In spite of the debate, Jenelle and I were all for St. Paddy's Day in Dublin. On the morning of March 17^th, we arose and ate the full Irish breakfast, buffet-style. For anyone that doesn't know about the full Irish breakfast, it consists of rashers, sausages, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, and a fried egg. Sometimes it is served with baked beans or blood sausage, known locally as white or black pudding. Brown soda bread and marmalade also come with the meal. It is very filling and satiates well into the afternoon.

To our surprise, eating with us in the hotel cafeteria, was a marching band from Youngstown, Pennsylvania. They would be marching in the parade. These kids were in high school, and I would imagine that this would be the experience of a lifetime.

We didn't know what to expect with the parade, so we took the tram into downtown Dublin and arrived two and a half hours early. We had staked out a spot right across the street from Christ Church Cathedral and decided it was the perfect place to watch.

Yes, we had arrived with plenty of time to spare. The barricades separating the the parade route from the spectators had been set up, but only a few people were loitering around to ensure a front-row spot. We watched the Garda mingled among themselves and engaged in lighthearted chat. A potato chip truck stopped nearby and handed out bags of “crisps.”

It didn't take long, however, for the crowds to began their way to the barricades. They dressed in long green ties, tall emerald hats, and long carrot-red beards. They waved Irish flags and painted shamrocks on their faces. The atmosphere of the festival was now beginning to emerge.

All we had to do now to secure our front-row spot was wait another hour or so in the cold. And when I say cold, I mean frigid. For the first time on our little trip, we saw patches of blue sky. But those blue skies were very misleading. The night before when we watched the weather report, they showed the jet stream moving directly from the north, and from the cold Atlantic waters west of Scandinavia. We wore our green stocking caps and knit gloves to mask the arctic chill.

At last the parade began. The mayor of Dublin led the parade, riding in a chariot that looked like it was made for Cinderella. What followed for the next hour and a half was the most amazing parade that I have ever seen!

All the music was fast-beat and catchy, and the pace of the parade never stopped. The costumes were bizarre and colorful, and most lack description of what they really were – something from another planet. The parade-goers danced, interacted with the crowd, walked on stilts, and juggled fire. They dressed as aliens and insects, fairies and acrobats.

A giant St. Patrick, with a long red beard and a faulty left eye, rode a large three-wheeled motorcycle, powered by several busy feet beneath the float, Flintstones style. We had seen this same float the night before in Merrion Square.

I was impressed with the large number of marching bands. With the exception of at least one, they were all from the United States. We even saw our breakfast buddies from Youngstown, Pennsylvania. I get the impression that the Irish are proud of their American cousins.

[As a side-note, I asked a local about the tradition we have in the States where we get to pinch somebody if they're not wearing green. They replied that they had never heard of this tradition, and I got the impression that they thought it was a little silly.]

A bagpipe band, dressed in kilts, played “The Final Countdown” by Europe. A girl's school from Hiroshima, Japan danced. Giant balloons in the shape of owls and dragons, floated and bobbed over the crowd, touching off screams when they hovered too close.

By the time the parade was over, we were thoroughly impressed and excited for the rest of the day. I will admit that we had no concrete plans. My only strategy was to roam around the streets, and surely something would come along.

Our first move was to find a bite to eat. I envisioned coming across a grassy park, much like I find in my own hometown, where booths would be set up, selling all the local Irish food: stew, shepherd's pie, coddle, and maybe even corned beef and cabbage (although I knew it was an American invention). We couldn't find anything. Only lots of people roaming the streets, acting like hooligan's.

Maybe we were in the wrong part of town, but we weren't even finding but a few pubs. And the pubs we did find looked either too crowded or too overpriced. I cringe to say where we ate lunch that day . . . at Quiznos. Yes, we traveled all the way across the Atlantic for St. Paddy's day to eat a sandwich at the Powerscourt shopping center in Dublin. It was the first time I had ever eaten at a Quiznos, despite the fact that there is one in my hometown!

The next five hours seem like a blur when I think back on them. Nothing very memorable happened. We returned to Grafton Street. No buskers this time. Only wall-to-wall people. We tried sneaking into Burger King to use the restroom, but were denied.

Someone referred us to side-street off O'Connell. By the time we walked there, the vendors were cleaning up. At this point, our St. Paddy's day had shifted from excellent, to very anticlimactic. Perhaps John Meagher was correct in his analysis of the holiday.

We had just passed the line of statues on O'Connell Street and the trees of Parnell Square. Dusk was setting in, and silhouetted against a dimming sky, an old church with a very tall steeple caught our attention. (We later learned that this was the Abbey Presbyterian Church, and it was nearly 150 years old.) It sat on the corner and we walked to get a closer look. Then Jenelle noticed the poster: St. Patrick's Day Ceili at Abbey Church. We stood there contemplating the sign, obviously stumped by the word ceili, trying to figure out what it meant, when a young lady passing by invited us in. “Would you like to come in and watch the dancing? It is free. You should come in!”

We passed through a wooden door and descended narrow steps to the basement of this old stone church. A very sweet old man and his wife were teaching a room-full of kids some traditional Irish dancing. A band played an accordion, guitar, fiddle, and flute. Balloons and streamers festooned the room. A table in the corner served refreshments.

Although we were the obvious intruders, the people there treated us very kindly and didn't mind our observing. The old man with silvered hair looked dignified in his tweed jacket and striped tie. He held the microphone close to his lips, and step by step taught the kids how to move around the floor.

“Ladies cross . . . now gents cross. Now in, two, three; in, two, three; back, two, three; back, two, three. Take your partner and swing them 'round.”

As he taught, his wife, dressed in black pants and a knit sweater, with a perfectly permed head of hair, watched studiously at the students and corrected any mistake they may have made.

After several minutes of instruction, the band began to play, and at once, the room became a festive dance hall. Dancers skipped and pranced around, taking their partners by the hand and hopping to the beat. All the kids grinned and laughed as they danced. Many knew the jig well and moved their feet with great skill. Others were just happy to be there and rolled with the flow.

We left the basement of that church, feeling satisfied that we had salvaged any disappointment that we had experienced on St. Patrick's Day. By the time we had returned to O'Connell Street, the night had completely set in.

We had one more stop that to make. I had to buy a t-shirt to prove that I was in Dublin on St. Paddy's Day. We found a gift shop that seemed to have all that I needed. We also bought a copy of the Irish Independent. On the cover was a large photo of a Belvedere rugby player raising the Leinster Cup.