Ireland’s biggest festival is on the horizon and across the island towns and cities are gearing up for the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations (17 March).
Fabulous festivals will take place in cities from Armagh in the north to Cork in the south and Galway in the west, with the biggest and most flamboyant taking place in Dublin.
The theme of Dublin’s St Patrick’s Festival is ‘ONE’, as it issues an open invite to people from all over the world to come to the city to share, to connect, to participate and to celebrate together as one.
The St Patrick’s Day parade will feature a new opening pageant featuring an interactive AR element in the parade for the very first time.
Also new for 2023 is Suntas! (meaning take notice!). Suntas! will feature giant creative interventions on iconic buildings around Dublin, adding layers of storytelling and intrigue and animating the city in the run up to the Festival.
Ollphéist (giant monsters) will take over some of the city’s best-known buildings. They will be visible by day and illuminated by night and on Parade Day, the pageant participants will interact with them in an epic battle between good and evil.
Across the island you can expect a carnival atmosphere, music in the streets, art exhibitions, comedy, dance, walks, talks and more.
The ‘wearing of the green’ tradition will be front and centre with people donning green clothes, green wigs, green face paint and bunches of shamrock to proudly mark their Irish identity.
Traditional Irish music will spill out from every pub in the land and there is often dancing in the streets, especially after a few pints of ‘the black stuff’.