Patrick, Patrice or Pavlik
In reflecting the changing face of Ireland the Cork 2005 St Patrick's Day Festival is centred around the theme of 'Identity'. Brian O'Connell reports from the European Capital of Culture
As a race we have been successful in inventing or imagining notions of Irishness and nationhood since ancient times, often allowing for imagined Ireland to suppress and surpass the "real" Ireland.
As 70 million people worldwide who claim Irish ancestry inflate green plastic hammers and send their leprechaun outfits to the dry cleaners in advance of St Patrick's Day, a three-day festival in Cork is attempting to re-mould the festival as a family-centered carnival affair, taking it's cue more from Barcelona than Bundoran.
The recognition that alcohol-fuelled revellry has overshadowed our national holiday increasingly in recent times has meant a more outward-looking festival, perhaps fitting given Cork's designation as European Capital of Culture. In a sentence, the aim is to recycle a Guinness-soaked shamrock as garnish for a more European dish which can be consumed by the whole family.
Along with the traditional parade, this year will see the inclusion of a Caravan of Dreams project in Cork, involving hundreds of community participants who have been working with professional arts facilitators in the city over the past four months to create what promises to be a colourful outdoor extravaganza.
The theme for this year's parade is 'Identity' and planned events include a festival of food, street theatre, music acts from all over Europe including Groove Armada and Damien Dempsey, as well as circus acts and a grand ceilí.
Artistic Director, Moray Bresnihan, who has worked in festivals throughout Europe from Berlin to Glastonbury, has the unenviable job of putting together Cork's first ever three day festival.
As he explains, "My brief was to put together a three day programme revolving around the theme of identity in an attempt to better represent the emerging multicultural Ireland.
"Whereas before when we attended the parade and watched people walking past, this year we want people partying past. The key factor was to show people that there were other events available on St Patrick's Day. This is one reason that we have a food market during the day. Adults will always make their own decisions, but we are about presenting them with things to do that don't necessarily involve alcohol."
It's a tall order. For many of us St Patrick's Day is a national piss-up. Plain and simple. Traditionally, barely had the last battalion of FCA troops and the Massey Ferguson tractors filed past then we were wiping the cream from our beals. Yet as a society, the need to create a more family-orientated affair and incorporate sections of the society increasingly on the fringes is forcing us to re-examine our national festival.
Resident Corkonian Jan Diederen, who has worked on the city's Patrick's Day Parade for the best part of a decade, is putting the finishing touches to two projects which will be performed during the course of the festival and best represent the new focus in Cork.
The first, in association with the Irish Immigration Support Centre, will take place as part of the main parade and is bringing together locals and immigrants alike in an effort to recreate an African festival and incorporate it as part of the parade.
"The piece will be a dance-led performance," notes Jan, "and at the moment we have up to 12 people busy making costumes which will look stunningly beautiful on the day."
" We have been meeting twice a week for the past few months and the group includes people from all over the world including Germany, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and of course Cork. The idea was to look at the idea theme of fertility which figures a lot in African festivals so the central idea is a good fishing harvest."
Projects like this are vital if the festival is to truly represent modern Ireland. It also has obvious social benefits, projecting a positive image of sections of society often represented in a negative light.
Jan is also involved in another project, entitled 'Dali on Stilts', which is aiming to inject a consciously academic aesthetic into the day's festivities. Involving a group of four professional actors and dancers, the idea came about as a result of how identity has been represented throughout the ages through the work of people like Freud and Salvador Dali.
As Jan explains, "Dali used stilt-walking quite a lot in his paintings so the idea here will be for three performers to try and get the attentions of a female dancer in a macho manner. All the while the action will be presented in barbershop singing with original musical score by accomplished composer Eoin Horgan. The piece will be 25 minutes in duration and will be performed on the streets before and after the main parade."
Criticisms of previous St Patrick's Day parades' inability to capture the public imagination look set to be laid to rest with this year's festival, which has received increased funding and support from Cork 2005.
"I have been involved in parades for many years," says Jan, "and I'm genuinely excited by this year's plans. Upwards of 100,000 people are expected over the three days. I think now for the first time we have an infrastructure in place, with a staffed office and available funding to enable us produce a really special experience. With upwards of 20 community groups involved we expect to see a lot of excited faces present and at the end of the day a carnival is really all about excited happy faces. As regards the rain, all we can do is pray to St Finbarre."
It's a parade Mickeleen, but not as we know it!