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In retrospect: St Patrick’s Day 2008

My social media feeds have been flooded with various St Patrick’s Day-related photos, videos, well-wishes, articles and more. They are making me very nostalgic for the good ol’ days when I celebrated the festival with much gusto, as well as certain level of silliness, with my friends.

Today, I found a folder of photos from St Patrick’s celebration back in 2008 on my computer. These photos are precious to me. I have not been in Dublin for Paddy’s Day since 2009 (I was elsewhere, then I moved to France) so this was more or less the last time I properly celebrated the big day with the whole shebang: parade, céilí, pub crawl! (Previous years I even hosted parties at home – fun, but a lot of work!)

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

The parade has always been a real feast of colours and diversity, with participants from all over the country as well as visiting groups from abroad. There’s always a large American presence, with marching bands and cheerleading groups to up the festival mood. From a live online broadcast I saw today, this year’s marching band competition also extended to German, Italian and Canadian teams. Also, special mention, French marine was part of this year’s parade in Dublin too!

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

St Patrick's Day 2008

No St Patrick’s celebration is complete with a little session of group céilí around Harcourt/ St Stephen’s Green (traditionally this took place after the parade but seemingly this year, it had been held a couple of days earlier) so of course my friends and I went! In the photo above when Mo was direction his own version of Irish dancing, there were people of seven different nationalities in it! Sadly, only one among all still live in Ireland today. (Ok, two, if you count the headless guy to the left.)

Still, I am thankful for all the happy memories and hopefully one day not too far in the future, I’ll be celebrating Paddy’s Day again on the streets of Dublin. Maybe the lot of us who are now living elsewhere could come together for a reunion party?

There is an old Irish blessing that goes:

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

And so, I hereby wish you all the best that the Irish charm brings you, and have a wonderful St Patrick’s Day no matter where you are. Sláinte!



Category: Europe, Event, Ireland, Musing

Tagged: , , , , ,

6 scribbles & notes

  1. Sarah says:

    Thank you and a Happy St Patrick’s Day to you too. I love the photographs, they really capture the dynamism of the day!

  2. med says:

    cheers! ;)

  3. med says:

    ohyeah….trying to take photos on the street hehehe…u really have very good memory lil :)

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