2011s St Patricks Day parade in Dublin
I have to say i am very impressed by the parade this year. I really like that to celebrate our title they actually lived up to our UNESCO City of Literature award and tried to embrace Irish literature. So they got Roddy Doyle, one of the great modern Irish authors to write a story and the different pageants of the parade would act out the different chapters. Brilliant by Roddy Doyle is basically a hugely imaginative story about childrens reactions to the dark times we find ourselves in, evident as he wrote the story while watching the IMF and the EU seemingly take away our identity. So a darkness, a depression has descended over Dublin in the form of a Black Dog and two kids, with the help of the other kids of the city, tired of hearing the adults of Dublin complain about the current state of affairs, dream up a brighter future and set of to chase down and rid Dublin of the Black Dog. I really love the sense of structure this idea has brought to the parade, and the way it has challenged the different groups around the country to be creative. So many elements of the story are dark and they are disturbing, and this has lead to some absolutely fantastic pageants, incorporating these dark elements with a flare and an Irish sense of humour. It really is absolutely stunning. It really is an fantastic story and definitely worth a read, its definitively Irish and the imagery and creativity and joy it has spawned in this parade is something to behold, a real testament to Roddy Doyle, Irish literature, Irish people, our creativity and our ability to rise up above even the darkest times using our ingenuity and our humour and our sense of national identity, truly being Irish is something to be proud of. |
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