This week Madrid is dyed green as bagpipes are heard in the streets and the excuses to drink more than one pint of Guinness grow. St. Patrick’ s Day is celebrated in honor of the patron saint of the Emerald Isle, St. Patrick, a missionary considered the introducer of Catholicism in the area. However, this holiday is no longer so much a religious event as a celebration of Irish heritage and culture, popularized around the world by the Irish diaspora (and the desire to party in the spring).
This popular celebration is now also coming to the capital from March 11 to 17. For the second year in a row, Madrid is celebrating Ireland Week, a festival in honor of the green country to bring Irish cinema, dance, literature, history and music to the people of Madrid. In addition, this year, Brittany Ferries, Visit Wexford and Tourism Ireland will raffle a 7-day trip to Ireland for two people.
Concerts and Irish dancing
Irish music and dance will flood the city through a series of recitals, concerts and free performances. The Teatro Monumental will also pay tribute to Irish culture by offering a show that fuses Irish folk and rock by the band The Green Tones. The event will be held on March 15 at 10 p.m. and will be later broadcast by RTVE.
Asturian Bras Rodrigo will give a concert at the Fitz Hall on March 16 at 7 pm, featuring both guest artists and the winning group of the Battle of the Bands St. Patrick’s 2024. For dance lovers, the Irish Treble group will perform a traditional Irish dance recital on March 17 in the Galileo Galilei hall.
In addition to all these activities, the green line of the Madrid metro (line 5) will be flooded with Irish music and dance by the musicians and dancers of the University College Dublin Dance Society. Their dancers will perform in different stations of the line every day of the week: Ópera (Monday and Tuesday), Callao (Wednesday and Thursday) and Gran Vía (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). At the same time, during the week, the lights of Gran Vía station will change from blue to green, and the large screen that presides over the station lobby will show the most emblematic landscapes and corners of the island.
Cultural and sports activities
This celebration seeks to raise awareness of the country’s culture and society, so throughout the week different cultural events will be held to bring Spain and Ireland closer together.
The letraheridos have an appointment with Irish literature on Thursday, March 14 at 19h. That evening, the English-speaking bookstore Desperate Literature (C/ Campomanes, 13) will host an interesting talk dedicated to literature made in Ireland by Shane Tivenan, Irish author.
In addition, the association Spanish Armada Ireland will delve into the historical links between the two countries through a common episode: the sinking of the “Invincible Armada” in 1588 off the Irish coast. This event will be revisited through the presentation on March 12 of the documentary film Armada 1588: Shipwreck and Survival, which will be screened at 12:00 noon at the Institute of Naval History and Culture (C/ Juan de Mena, 7). A second screening of the film will take place the same day at 19:00h at the Casa de Vacas Cultural Center (El Retiro Park), organized by the Embassy of Ireland.
For those sports fans, the Spanish-Irish Business Network will organize a mini-tournament of Gaelic sports in the municipality of Las Rozas. This event will take place on Saturday, March 16th between 11:00h and 14:00h, and will be accompanied by typical Irish music and food.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Madrid
For the second consecutive year, the St. Patrick’s Day parade will be held in the city. It will take place on Saturday, March 16 at 16:30h and will feature more than 600 pipers from all over Spain, doubling the number of the previous edition. It is an initiative of the Asturian musician Bras Rodrigo and the Fundación Banda de Gaitas de Corvera with the collaboration of Tourism Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland. The place? La Gran Vía in Madrid.