Stand back for an explosion of entertainment and a chemical reaction of fun at St. Patrick’s Festival 2009. The six-day Festival of performance, spectacle and participation is set to bring a formula for some much needed music and mirth to the streets and the country as we celebrate our national holiday. Although times and purse strings are getting tighter no one knows better than the Irish how to have a great time for free and this year’s Festival programme promises to make FREE FUN the order of the day for the six-day Festival.



If everything goes to plan I will upload plenty of photographs.





It is claimed that St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. While this may be little more than a myth there is no doubting that the saint in question is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to common pagan practices. In case you are wondering there are no snakes in Ireland


While not the first to bring christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara persuading them to abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptizing them and thousands of their subjects in the countless "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.


It is believed that Saint Patrick was born in the late fourth century, and he is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 to be the first bishop in Ireland.


When he was about sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the church, he later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked and no real link can be made between Patrick and any known church.


Saint Patrick on his journey through Ireland is said to have passed through Dublin. In a well close to where the St. Patrick's cathedral now stands, he is reputed to have baptised converts from paganism to Christianity. To commemorate his visit, a small wooden church was built on the site.


By the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland.


The available body of evidence does not allow the dates of Patrick's life to be fixed with certainty, but it appears that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century. Two letters from him survive, along with later documents from the seventh century onwards. Many of these works cannot be taken as authentic. According to the Annals of Ulster he lived from 340 to 460, and ministered in the north of the island from 428 onwards.


The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint's feast day also thought to be the date of the saint's death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City in 1766.


Today, the tradition continues with people from all walks and heritages wearing green, drinking green beer, wearing silly hats and attending parades. The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland where with the exception of restaurants and pubs, almost all businesses closed on March 17th. All traditions eventually change and these days many shops and shopping centres (malls) now open after the parade has finished.


Why March 17th?

One theory is that that is the day that St. Patrick died. It became a feast day in the Roman Catholic Church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding in the early part of the 17th century, and is a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland. The date of the feast is occasionally, yet controversially, moved by church authorities when March 17 falls during Holy Week; this happened in 1940 when Saint Patrick's Day was observed on April 3 in order to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday, and happened again in 2008, having been officially observed on 15 March. Here in Ireland we solved the problem by organising a multi-day festival. This problem will not arise again until 2160.