People are getting ready to go green this weekend as Northern Ireland celebrates St Patrick’s Day.
From colourful floats to traditional music and energetic dancers, towns and cities will mark Ireland’s patron saint in traditional style.
The Met Office is forecasting a mixed weather front for the day with some cloudy areas and spells of sunshine — with a small chance of seeing rain.
Ahead of Monday’s celebrations, well-wishes came from unexpected quarters, including a senior Orangeman, who sent greeting cards to Irish embassies and diplomatic stations around the world.
Edward Stevenson said the organisation acknowledges that some may view the move as “surprising” but said people need to be reminded that “Patrick is not the sole preserve of Irish nationalism”.
Separately, DUP MP Jim Shannon wants a discussion around the merits of making St Patrick’s Day a UK-wide holiday.
The main parades on Monday include Belfast, Armagh and Newry. But one of the most fitting venues is Downpatrick, his reputed burial place.
Dr Tim Campbell, director of the St Patrick Centre in Downpatrick — the only permanent exhibition of St Patrick in the world — said it is a special day in the calendar.
“We are right beside where he is buried and many people call this place St Patrick’s country; everything in Downpatrick — including the town itself — is named after him from schools, streets and even the local golf club.
“Hundreds of coaches arrive here each year and last year alone we welcomed 150,000 visitors through our doors.”
Mr Stevenson, the Grand Master of the Orange Institution, also spoke of the day’s significance.
He said: “First and foremost, Patrick was a Christian, who brought the good news of the Gospel to Ireland — a large part of that story is of course centred in Ulster. For too long, many St Patrick’s Day events at home and abroad have been dominated by the nationalist/republican tradition, are not inclusive, and make little effort to recognise the Protestant/unionist tradition in Ireland.”
He added: “The legacy of St Patrick, the man who brought Christianity to Ireland and has been described as the ‘Apostle of Ulster,’ should not solely be about green beer, leprechauns or the flag of the Republic of Ireland.”
Meanwhile, Mr Shannon, the Strangford MP, has tabled a motion for an adjournment debate at Westminster around the benefits of making St Patrick’s Day a UK-wide holiday. It is due to be discussed at Parliament on Tuesday.
St Patrick Centre
The celebrations are already underway in some places, and step up a gear over the Bank Holiday weekend, culminating in Monday’s festivities.
Belfast TradFest’s four-day music festival runs over the weekend, featuring concerts, céilís, displays, pilgrimages, taster sessions and workshops.
Landmarks home and abroad will also go green in honour of the big day.
World sites due to light up in green include Niagara Falls, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Empire State Building, Sydney Opera House, the Sky Tower in Auckland and the Sacré-Coeur in Paris.
The Chicago River in the US is also famously dyed green for the day — a tradition dating back to 1962.
Elsewhere in the States, a Co Down man has been selected as Grand Marshal of the famous Philadelphia St Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday.
Philadelphia St Patrick’s Day Parade Grand Marshal Paddy Rooney
Paddy Rooney is originally from Castlewellan but moved across the Atlantic in 1984 aged 23.
He was part of the Queen’s University GAA team which toured Philadelphia, New York and Boston at the time.
Paddy is well known in the city’s Irish community for his charity work — raising millions of dollars for different causes — and ran his successful ‘Paddy Rooney’s Pub’ since 1997, known as one of the “true Irish pubs” in Philadelphia.
“I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like the limelight. But when I saw the theme this year, I thought this would be a good opportunity to promote benefits,” he told CBS News Philadelphia.
“My attitude is when the many come together it lessens the burden on the few.”
Meanwhile, the Met Office is predicting the rain will mostly stay away.
A spokesperson said: “The further north you go the likelihood of enjoying drier weather increases, with a few more spots of rain forecast for the southern half of the region.
“These spots of rain will, however, be fairly light and fleeting. Temperature-wise the day will still be on the cool side with highs on Monday reaching around 8C or 9C.
“The average for this time of year is 9C or 10C. This weekend will be cooler than last weekend with temperatures around 10C or 11C on Sunday with Monday a bit cooler.”