St. Paul’s Ruins to ‘go green’ again for third Irish parade

The Hong Kong and Macau Irish Festival kicks off today, starting a series of events bringing a taste of Irish culture to the region.

Building on a tradition founded just two years ago, the festival’s flagship event, the St. Patrick’s Day parade, will be held on the afternoon of March 17. In previous years, the parade has attracted hundreds of residents and expats to join the revelry; many dressed in green, the unofficial national color of the ‘Emerald Isle’.

Peter Ryan, Consul General of Ireland to Hong Kong and Macau, told the Times yesterday that the parade is celebrated in a unique way in the MSAR, reflecting the cross-cultural history of the city.

“This is not just a cultural event,” he said, “the Macau [parade] is truly unique with a mix of Irish, Portuguese and Chinese dancing. […] This reflects the diversity in culture and heritage on offer in Macau.”

According to organizers, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam has approved the ‘greening’ of the Ruins of St. Paul’s on the evening of March 17. Macau’s most famous landmark will join more than 200 other iconic buildings around the world that turn green after dark.

A business round table will be held later today at the University of Macau. Organized in collaboration with the Consulate General of Ireland, the roundtable will invite Alan Dukes, chairman of Ireland’s Asia think tank, Asia Matters, to share his thoughts on a number of topics.

Also today, a “craft yard” event will be held at the Macau Design Center, where Irish designers and craftsmen will demonstrate how they work with materials such as wood, slate and copper. The event will also feature an introduction to the ancient Ogham script, an Early Medieval alphabet used in Ireland between the sixth and ninth centuries.

Visual artist Oonagh Latchford, who hails from Wexford, Ireland, will join participants at Creative Macau on March 15 and 16 to showcase her paintings. Latchford’s work is concerned with the effects of high contrasts and over-saturation, produced by both strong sunlight and by artificial lighting at night.

A series of parallel events will be held in the neighboring SAR of Hong Kong, many of which will be hosted at Tiffany’s New York Bar, located in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Among them are two Wednesday nights (March 7 and March 14) at the Hong Kong Jockey Club when the facility and its surroundings will ‘go green’ and patrons will have the chance to experience Irish music and dancing, as well as food and beverages.

The “Treasure Ireland Hunt” will also return this year, according to organizers, with parallel hunts to be held in Hong Kong and Macau on March 10 and 17 respectively. Last year, more than 80 children from local schools joined the treasure hunt, which was held across Taipa village a day prior to the parade.

Peter Ryan said that organizers want the festival to be as open and welcoming as possible, attracting many “culturally-curious” visitors. For that reason, all events are free admission, he said.

“This [festival] is a sharing experience; we are sharing our culture,” he said. “This is not only a wonderful experience for [Macau locals] but also for our visiting guests from Ireland, many of whom have never been to Macau or Hong Kong before.”

The Irish Festival month coincides with March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, one of the most important holidays in the country’s calendar.

The festival is a cultural and religious occasion that commemorates the death of Ireland’s foremost patron saint, Saint Patrick. The Roman-British missionary is thought to have heralded the arrival of Christianity in the Emerald Isle during the fifth century.