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BBC

North gears up for St Patrick’s Day

Thousands enjoyed last year’s open air concert in Belfast

St Patrick’s Day is to be celebrated in colourful style with parades across the North of Ireland.

Three parades will converge in Belfast city centre at a free open air concert which will be compered by Coronation Street and Boyzone star Keith Duffy.

Later on Thursday, a concert at the Waterfront Hall will feature a host of stars including Clannad singer Moya Brennan and the Ulster Orchestra.

The largest cross-community carnival will be held in Downpatrick.

Up to 1,500 people will take part in the parade which will include dancers, steel and pipe bands.

Traditional ceili bands will perform at venues across Derry as the city celebrates with its largest parade in 10 years.

A street theatre puppet inspired by the Notting Hill carnival is one of the highlights of the parade, which will also feature a Chinese lion dance and a samba band.

Over 20,000 people are expected to attend the Enniskillen parade in which St Patrick will be celebrated as “a saint for all”.

Flags and emblems are banned from the parade which will feature floats, bands and a troup of tribal dancers.

The Archbishop of Armagh will bless shamrock at a special Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in the city before distributing it to local scouts and girl guides.

An outdoor music concert and parade are just some of the family entertainment on offer while the “shamrock walk” tour of Armagh city combines humour and history to tell the story of St Patrick’s links with the area.

Up to 2,000 people are expected to brave the elements to take part in the annual climb of Slemish Mountain in County Antrim.

Children’s artwork will be displayed on the approaches to the County Antrim hilltop which is reputed to be the place where St Patrick herded animals as a boy slave.

In the Irish Republic, the highlight of a five day programme of events is Thursday’s traditional parade through Dublin.

And in Cork, currently the European city of Culture, organisers say their festival will be the biggest the city has ever seen.

Meanwhile, researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are preparing to publish the results of a web survey into the variety of St Patrick’s celebrations around the world.

The survey invited opinions from people in countries as far away as Japan and Russia to have their say on what celebrating St Patrick’s Day means to them.

“Traditions of celebrating St Patrick’s Day have been developing over the last decade in Belfast, Dublin, London, New York and further afield,” said Dr Dominic Bryan of the Institute of Irish Studies at the university.

“St Patrick’s Day is enthusiastically celebrated by many outside Ireland, north and south, who adopt an Irish state of mind for the day, donning green wigs, drinking green beer and playing Irish music.

“This research will lead to improved understanding of the reasons behind the celebrations and create a valuable research resource.”