St. Patrick's Day Weekend of Celebration

St. Patrick's Day has long been a holiday near and dear to my heart, though not for the reasons most people enjoy it.  Mostly, my love of the holiday stems from my deep appreciation for Irish/Celtic culture.  I love the music, dancing, fairy tales, history, and also the landscape of Ireland as well.  It's one of the places in the world I am most eager to visit.  Because I love all things Celtic year-round, I make it a special point to enjoy March, when Irish activities and events are much easier to find.  For me, the celebration lasts all month, but I've especially enjoyed various Celtic activities over this last weekend.

On Saturday, I decided to go check out the annual St. Patrick's Day parade that is held through the Gateway in Salt Lake.  The parade was supposed to run from 10:00 AM to 10:45, after which a siasma (party) featuring various music and dance groups would be held.  I was somewhat interested in the parade, but mostly was going because I really like live Celtic music and also wanted to see a bit of the dancing.  Because the parade wasn't my main focus, I showed up at about 10:30.  I got lucky with parking, so even though it was pretty crazy crowded, I managed to find a spot on a side street not far from the main Gateway plaza.

There really were a ton of people there, but I managed to find a decent spot to watch from after just a bit of walking.  Unfortunately, it was in the shade, which wouldn't have been a problem, but I hadn't dressed warmly enough as I'd failed to factor in that there would be a chilling northern wind blowing through.  Without the help of the sun, I was getting quite cold in my light sweater pretty quickly.

I saw a few things of interest during the parade.  There was a roller derby group that was doing jumps over 3 people laying on the ground.  That was kind of interesting.  There was one beer distributor that had a bunch of people dressed in beer bottle costumes that were pretty well done.  In the back of their float there was a giant six-pack filled with one of these individuals in each slot.  The effect was pretty cool, and I had to concede that though it's a beer company, they were much more interesting than the many school groups, local organizations, etc. that were simply walking along.  Shortly thereafter, a bunch of union groups started coming along one after another.  Not only were they super boring, I was also quite tempted to boo them, so I decided to split at that point.

Since it was almost 10:45 at that point, I decided to go in and see what was going on with the siasma and try to get a better spot since most were still watching the parade.  They had various tables set up that displayed a schedule for the groups that would be playing and dancing at three different stages that were set up.  About 5 minutes after the scheduled start time, the first dance group did indeed start at the stage I was waiting at.  It was one of the seeming dozens of Irish dance groups that have cropped up here in Utah.  I'm pleased that such groups exist here, but it does greatly puzzle me that there should be SO many.  My theory is that they are targeted toward girls who like dance, but are not coordinated or graceful enough to cut it in regular dance studios that teach ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, etc.  I watched this group for a while, but they weren't especially wonderful, so I decided to wander off and check out the music at the other stages.

This group of standing stones was the only Celtic thing I got a picture of at the Gateway

Unfortunately, the scheduled musicians were not playing at the other stages.  In fact, nothing was going on.  I was disappointed by this, as honestly, live Celtic music was the main reason I had come.  I figured the musicians weren't started because the parade wasn't over yet.  I figured I'd get some lunch while I was waiting and walked down to the other end along the parade route.  There were a few other interesting things in the parade that I saw as I went.  One that was fun was a group of kilted Stormtroopers lead by a kilted Darth Vader that were marching to promote ComicCon.  They were entertaining.  There were also a few shelters that were marching with a bunch of cute dogs.  The best was definitely the pipe band.  While I saw a few groups with a couple pipers earlier, this group had over 20 pipers as well as the drum corps.  It was awesome.  They were my favorite part of the whole event in the end, and I walked along almost the entire route with them because I liked hearing them so much.

I ate lunch and then walked back to see if the music had started yet.  This was around 12:00, and the parade was just finishing.  I was pretty cold and tired of walking and standing at this point, but didn't want to leave without getting what I came for.  I did get to catch a small music group on one of the stages, fortunately.  It was just a couple of whistlers with a guitarist, though, so I only stayed long enough to hear a handful of numbers from them.  It was helpful to me to see other whistlers play so I could observe their technique.  These whistlers and others I have seen seem to play their tin whistles with pretty much entirely straight fingers.  I don't really understand how this works.  I always play with my longer middle fingers fairly bent so the pads of all my fingers are hitting the holes, as you would with a recorder, but this doesn't appear to be how professionals do it.  I probably need to experiment with it more, as I can see how it could increase your playing speed.

I soon left the Gateway, as I knew that I wanted to do a session at the Salt Lake temple while I was there.  It's been close to 7 years since I was last there on my mission.  I have never been since, so I was eager to find a chance to go there as I haven't been able to return on past occasions, though I always wanted to.  It was a pretty potent experience for me.  My mind was flooded with many memories of my days attending there as a missionary also coupled with reflections on how much everything is the same there, and yet, how much I have personally changed.

I am certainly not where I hoped and imagined I would be by now the last time I sat in those chairs, but I feel like I have learned so much since those days.  I learned a lot on my mission, and in many ways that experience has defined me as a person.  Yet I truly feel that while the mission taught me a lot about the world in general and solidified my character and convictions in many ways, I have learned more about myself in the years since I have come home.  I've faced more of my personal demons and have had to more actively choose who I will be and how I will view myself than ever before.  I now have what I mostly lacked on my mission: that is, the conviction borne of experience that I will choose the God's plan no matter how much it contradicts my own, and even when I can't see the progress and blessings I desire.  There have been many tender mercies from the Lord along the way.  What I fully believed and taught about how the gospel blesses us in all circumstances as a missionary, I have now also experienced in my own life.  I have been more strenuously tested, and my confidence in myself as well as the Lord as grown as I've seen that I can actually do what is required.

The Salt Lake Temple will always be special to me.  From the familiar figures of the murals to the live session, each element serves as a reminder to me of both my personal and my family history.  It is a place that I think will always make me feel grateful.  I have been blessed beyond measure, and the Salt Lake Temple is a personal reminder of that.

When I got home after dinner and a bit of shopping in Salt Lake, I watched The Secret of Kells, which I've had on my watchlist for awhile.  I highly recommend it.  The story is not what you would typically expect for a kid's movie, and neither is the animation, for that matter.  In fact, while it's no doubt marketed for children, I think adults will be able to appreciate it much more.  Basically, it imagines the endeavors of  Irish Illuminators to create the Book of Kells around 1000 AD in the face of Viking invasions in the country.  What makes the movie special is the animation and styling, which is based off of early Irish art, especially in the Book of Kells itself.  It's beautifully done and quite an engaging, though sad tale.  I liked the moral of the story, and also how it showed a nature fairy/goddess character becoming invested in helping the monks produce this sacred text to enrich the future.  It was a wonderful way to represent the pagan age willingly yielding before Christianity's spread.

My St. Patrick's weekend of celebration was much more subdued on Sunday.  I listened to Celtic music throughout the day and of course wore largely green as I did each of the three days.  I also read a few of my favorite Irish folk tales from William Butler Yeats' Fairy and Folk Tales from the Irish Peasantry (also sold under other names).  You can get this version as a free ebook.  My favorite tale is probably "Teig O'Kane and the Corpse".  It's certainly the one I return to most often, though the collection as many other wonderful stories.  The rest of the day was occupied with more normal activities like church, attending the dedication of our new stake center, and talking to my parents.

On Monday, I was able to fit in some additional Irish-themed celebrations.  I made rainbow treats for my roommates, Gerrit and Elisabeth's family, and Joel and Emily while I watched Brave.  Okay, I fully realize that Brave is Scottish and not Irish, but it's still a Celtic group and I felt like watching it!  This picture is actually from the ones I did last year, but I basically did the same thing, except I attempted to freehand write the message in a Celtic font I found online.  That came out with moderate success, I suppose.  I also played my tin whistle for awhile and watched part of a documentary I started a while ago called The Celts.  This last was a substitute for the movie I had intended to watch, which was a period movie about the Irish War of Independence, but I pitched that idea after a group of Black and Tans dropped the f-bomb about 10 times in the first 5 minutes or so.  That didn't seem to bode too well for the rest of the movie to me!  The rest of the evening was pretty well filled by running the stuff over to Gerrit and Elisabeth's and FHE afterwards.

It was a pretty low-key celebration weekend overall, but I had fun.  I wish I had gotten to hear a great Celtic band live, but you can't have everything, I suppose.  It was simply nice to get to share my love of all things Celtic with others for a few days at least!