By Claire Corrigan
St Patrick’s Day Parades may be cancelled this year for the second time in a row but four Westmeath men will be representing the country for a huge virtual event that will run from 12-17 March to mark the celebration.
The festival theme is Dúisigh Éire, ‘Awaken Ireland’, “A clarion call to all our people across the world to throw off the long, dark months and rise to embrace the brighter days ahead.”
Showcased through St. Patrick’s Festival TV – SPF TV – a dedicated TV channel at www.stpatricksfestival.ie, it will feature more than 100 events, created by artists, performers, makers and dreamers across Ireland.
And not only that but two Mullingar ladies are on the team behind the major event- Julia Dalton is Head of Operations and Ali Morris is Programme Manager & Sustainability Officer.
Speaking to Topic this week, Ali, who has worked with the festival for the past three years, said the team only discovered that funding had been awarded for the event, before Christmas so it was a bit of scramble. “We’ve actually managed to do all this in six weeks which is pretty crazy. The Department are striving to push money out to artists and events crew who haven’t been able to work.”
She said that this year, all the pageant companies who normally make the floats for the Dublin parade were providing online workshops which will be broadcast on the five days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. “So it will show how to create your own float, your own costume and how to choreograph your own dance routine so everyone can do their own virtual parade at home.”
Four Westmeath
men feature
Niall Breslin’s spoken word piece,”Teen Spirit” brings him back back to his secondary school classroom where he thinks about what he would have said to his teenage self to help his own mental health and also to the time he found out his musical hero, Kurt Cobain, had died by suicide. Niall asks himself, knowing what he knows now, what he would do differently today so he can show this generation of teenagers how they can be the ones to stop the stigma around mental health. The video was produced by Mullingar’s Mark Bennett.
Niall has completed degrees in both Economics and Sociology, a Masters Degree in Mindfulness Based Interventions from University College Dublin, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College Of Surgeons.
He founder of mental health advocacy charity A Lust for Life, and has contributed significantly to his standing as a key figure in the evolving conversation around mental health in Ireland.
Science at Home with Dr. Dan Nickström & Midlands Science sees the popular scientific mysteries of the world in this video series from Midlands Science
In this series, Dr. Dan explains the physics behind some of the everyday objects we find at home, as well as looking at the natural world such how bees and pollinators contribute to our ecosystem.
Dr. Dan Nickström is a lecturer in the Experimental Physics Department at Maynooth University and a keen physics communicator. He has worked on outreach and education with a variety of organisations for several years.
As well as the “Science at Home” series he has also co-created an interactive physics experience in a caravan, taken outreach activities to schools across the country, worked with science summer camps and created art installations for the Electric Picnic music festival.
Produced in association with Midlands Science
Marty Mulligan’s tour of Ireland’s Sacred Centre was filmed this year on The Hill of Uisneach, which legend tells us was the Sacred Centre of Ireland, resting place of the Gods and seat of the High Kings, this film explores the ways that the Kings and their tribes would celebrate the upcoming season.
The entrance to The Royal Palace is aligned with the rising sun on the spring equinox which usually occurs around the 17th March. As this time of year was so enshrined in the people who had been celebrating in these ways for over five thousand years, from as far back as the Neolithic period, Christianity later adopted these times of assembly and celebrations as their own, and in time, spring equinox became St. Patrick’s day.
This film was made by producer Mark Bennett.
Sea Tamagotchi by Manchán Magan is the result of when, in February 2020 Manchán set out along the coast roads of Mayo, Donegal and Galway seeking out sea words, maritime terms and coastal customs as part of Galway 2020.
An illustrated handmade book of 40 sea words has been published by Redfoxpress, and over 250 of the most evocative words he gathered are on http://www.manchan.com/sea-tamagotchi
Now for St. Patrick’s Day Manchán has created 19 short films featuring the voices of the fishermen, intercut with film footage of the Irish coastline.
Each word offers rich insights into coastal practices, navigation systems, seasonal calendars, psychological aspects of sea life, migratory routes and fishing techniques.
The words make clear how ancient languages that have been spoken for thousands of years provide keys to unlocking the secrets of nature, because they arose from cultures that had learnt over millennia to live sustainably in their environments.
