Irish and others gear up for St. Patrick's Day

Czechs will have plenty of opportunities to reacquaint themselves with their ancient Celtic heritage, and expats will have plenty of chances to party, as a week of St. Patrick's Day events kicks off.

A weeklong Irish music festival is the headliner, running March 13-20 at Caffrey's Irish Bar and the recently reopened James Joyce pub. Acts for the festival include traditional bands like The Craic, Tog a Bog e and Celtic Whisperer and contemporary artist Dave Morrissey. Visitors who frequent the James Joyce may also stumble upon a traditional sessiun (session), informal gatherings in which musicians all join together to play spontaneous and traditional music in a relaxed informal setting.

Frank Haughton, a Hibernian expat who has been organizing the Irish music festival for the past 13 years, said his original motivation was to bring Irish and Czechs together. Haughton points to a similar pub culture as the tie binding the two nations.

"The hospoda and pub have always been the main meeting points of Czech and Irish society; in this sense, we are different from other Europeans," he said. "Traditionally, we both have had a great love of beer and alcohol. I also would say both Czechs and Irish don't know when to go home."

The Czech Irish Business Association (CIBA) will also host a St. Patrick's Day bash. CIBA was setup 15 years ago to foster stronger economic ties between two countries, said CIBA President Gareth Evers.

"As countries, we have a lot in common. We are from the same starting place, both small guns in Europe up against the big guys. Maybe deep down it's our Celtic roots, but I also think similarities exist due to the similar circumstances of the birth of our nations," he said.

This year, CIBA has decided to do away with the traditional black-tie ball, and a more casual ri-rá approach has been adopted "to get back into the spirit of Irishness," Evers said.

Besides plenty of food and drink, the event will feature traditional Irish games like ringboard and horseshoe throwing and a ceili (dancing) competition. A musician will give lessons to all on traditional Irish music instruments. Evers says he hopes to draw an assortment of nationalities "to come along and celebrate our day with us."

Wherever there are songs, there is usually dancing, and it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without some traditional Irish dancing. Václav Bernard, founder of the 140-member strong Rinnceoiri Irish dancing group, says he is looking forward to a "concentrated St. Patrick's week of Irish culture" and that visits of several famous professional Irish performances such as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance had made Irish dancing popular among young people in the Czech Republic.

Bernard is co-organizer of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations that take place March 19 in Prague 4. Other similar dancing celebrations will take place across the Czech Republic, including ones in Liberec, Karviná and Olomouc.

With Charles University's Center for Irish Studies continually offering Czech students the chance to study Irish culture, language and literature, the close cultural ties look set to remain. Whether these ties are based on common Celtic roots or just a common national affection of drink and dance, there is plenty to look forward to in the coming days.

Cillian O'Donoghue can be reached at
codonoghue@praguepost.com