St Patrick's Parades across Ireland - the largest IYA social event on the planet in 2009?

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The Irish Node for the International Year of Astronomy is announcing that this year St Patrick’s Festival celebrations in all major cities in Ireland are endorsing an astronomy theme. 

image002In Dublin, this year’s theme for the festival Parade is ‘The Sky’s the Limit!’. Over 700,000 people are expected to line the Dublin streets and an estimated six million will be watching either live on RTE or through the internet. The programme is bursting with street theatre, Irish music, dance, spectacles, comedy, film, treasure hunt, Irish language events, family fun and the best St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the world. This year’s special pageant, Eudoxia, a visual feast of sumptuous Mongolian-inspired costume, explores the relationship between the imaginary city of Eudoxia and the mapping of the heavens, referencing the constellations and an orrery. 

MB 030309 STPATFEST 04
In Cork, the International Year of Astronomy is celebrated with the theme of ‘Cosmic Chaos’. Blackrock Castle Observatory is delighted to welcome back Dan Tani, NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer for the International Space Station. Dan will be Grand Marshal at the Parade, together with Prof Michael Redfern (NUI Galway, IYA2009-Ireland coordinator) dressed as Galileo Galilei.

In Downpatrick, the highlight of the festival is the famous St Patrick’s Cross Community Carnival Parade, which for 2009 is embracing the theme of ‘The Sun, the Moon and the Stars’, and already has a truly international feel with parade entrants from as far away as Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Romania.

Monday, 16 March 2009 00:49

 International Year of Astronomy, Ireland National Node