This year we celebrate the sharing of the green
This year’s Saint Patrick’s Festival will be an online parade of puppetry, poetry, céilís, chats, food and a cúpla focail from some famous Irish faces. Apart from joining in from your device, the celebrations can be watched on the dedicated Tv channel SPFTv, which you can watch on Oireachtas Tv: Saorview 22, virgin Media 207, Sky 517, eir vision 504, vodafone 201, 207 and 208. Some events will only be streamed on stpatricksfestival.ie which can be enjoyed from anywhere in the world, so reach out to the international Irish family and ask them to join the party on www.stpatricksfestival.ie or www.rte.ie/culture.
The organisers are also keen to focus on physical and mental wellbeing with some engaging online events with everything from yoga for kids, mindfulness and, of course, there will be the traditional craic agus ceol to make it a Paddy’s Day to remember. The grand marshal for this year’s festival is comedian and writer Tara Flynn.
The festival, which started on Friday, will run through to Wednesday with 100 events under the name Dúisigh Éire! Awaken Ireland! – ‘a call to the Irish across the world to throw off the long, dark months and rise to embrace the brighter days ahead’.
So, here we bring you the best ways to enjoy St Patrick’s Day 2021.
1. RTÉ VIRTUAL PARADE
The RTÉ Virtual Parade is back this year in partnership with St Patrick’s Festival.
People all over Ireland and the globe will have the chance once again to join the celebrations this year and share their home-parade with the world, using the hashtag #rtevirtualparade on their preferred social platform. The idea is that on March 17, using this hashtag, people share images of how they celebrate the day (in a Covid-safe manner, of course). The 2021 virtual parade promises to be bigger than ever.
2. SEODA: CELTIC CONNECTIONS – Tues, 8pm
Seoda: Celtic Connections is a celebration of music and cultural connections through performances from leading artists across three locations. The symphony will stretch across Ireland, Scotland and Wales and will showcase contemporary work from three nations deeply rooted in folk music. From Ireland singer Ríoghnach Connolly and guitarist Stuart McCallum, from Scotland award-winning folk musician Bríghde Chaimbeul, and from Wales musician, composer, author and SuperFurry Animals’ frontman, Gruff Rhys.
3.BALLET POULET BY FANZINI PRODUCTIONS
For children big and small Ballet Poulet is a non-verbal, familyfriendly street show featuring clown, dance, circus, comedy and absurdity.
Fanzini Productions is one of the foremost street arts companies based in Ireland, touring nationally and internationally. Watch online this morning at 11am and on Tuesday at 4pm.
4. THE MATT CUNNINGHAM BAND – Tues, 12:15pm
THE Matt Cunningham Band has a long history with St Patrick’s Festival as regulars at An Céilí Mór. Matt, his children and his grandchildren will be playing from his home in Galway. Celebrating some of our most treasured performers, this programme commemorates the rich history of traditional music while looking forward to the future and recognising some of the industry’s most innovative artists.
5. MAMO – Tues, 2:50pm
MAMO are a trad band consisting of some of the best traditional Irish musicians, singers and dancers. This programme commemorates the rich history of traditional music while looking forward to the future. 6.XTRACTED BARS
XTRACTED Bars is an ongoing collaborative project that pairs new and established hip-hop artists with beat-makers and musicians. Each collaborating pair aimed to produce a song in a freestyle form. Jordxn leads the hip-hop set as he brings his street style of music to the masses. Tuesday 6.08pm.
7. CORK PUPPETRY COMPANY – HOW TO MAKE PROPS LIKE A PRO
Cork Puppetry Company brings a puppet-presented workshop on how to create your own parade from home with a Viking longboat made of cardboard, and a mask of the eagle from the book of Kells. Learn how to make props, costumes and headdresses then find out about pageant choreography and movement to give your virtual parade that touch of magic. Monday 4pm
8.BLINDBOY BOATCLUB PRESENTS CREATIVITY AND MENTAL HEALTH
THESE five short films explore the importance of good mental health practice as an essential part of the creative process.
Blindboy looks at overcoming the fear of failure as a facet of the creative process, creating time specifically for creativity, playfulness and messing in the creative process, dealing with criticism and establishing a healthy and realistic definition of success.
Ep. 1, Failure (available to watch) Ep. 2, Play (available to watch ) Ep. 3, Success (tonight 6pm)
Ep. 4, Criticism (Monday 6pm)
Ep. 5, Time and Space (Tuesday 6pm)
Blindboy Boatclub’s work is multidisciplinary with a focus on writing, podcasting, theatre and music. He is also a songwriter, musician and producer with his group the Rubberbandits, who have amassed over 100 million Youtube views and have toured the world as a theatre act.
9. KIDS YOGA AT NATIONAL GALLERY IRELAND
Learn more about the masterpieces in the national collection whilst participating in these three yoga classes for children (and the whole family!)
Alongside the yoga, instructor Mary Dowling will also discuss art from the gallery, taking in the different locations on-site as we embrace this skill for life and encourage our young to start early while enjoying the mindfulness connection through art.
10. BEAUTIFUL YOUNG PEOPLE WITH AXIS BALLYMUN
AXIS presents five mini films featuring current poets and spoken word artists celebrating important poetry from Ireland’s past. Vocals and images.