March festivals (part 3)
March is almost upon us, so we’ll take one last look at a couple of the major festivals that you can visit somewhere around the globe.
Saint Patrick’s Day Festival – Dublin, Ireland
Of course Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated in other places around the globe as well, but this is where it all started, this is the focal point of the celebrations.
Everybody’s decked out in green, wearing green leprechaun hats, drinking green beer and just generally having a merry old time. The capital of Ireland hosts the mother of all parties, with hundreds of thousands gathering in the streets and in all sorts of venues to honor the saint who drove the snakes out of Ireland – allegedly. The parade is held on the 17th of March and rounds out the festivities, it starts at midday.
One other way of spending a traditional Saint Pat’s Day is to spend the day among Temple Bar eateries and watering holes.
Nyepi – Balinese New Year – everywhere throughout Bali
According to the Balinese saka calendar – which is a Lunar calendar – the New Year falls on the first new mood after mid-March.
This major Balinese festival makes it its goal to push the old year noisily out the door and to quietly welcome in the new one.
The preparations start three days before the New Year, when all the statues of the various gods are removed from their temples and paraded to rivers where they are washed and bathed before being returned to the temples.
The day just before the New Year is when you should be here absolutely, as this is the “Day of Great Sacrifice” in which ceremonies are held at town squares and sports grounds all throughout the island. This is when locals dress in their traditional garb and gather in town centres, playing music and offering gifts of food and flowers the ogoh-ogoh – huge monsters dolls with menacing fingers and bulging eyes.
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