One color already dominates the subway on Sunday mornings: green. The color scheme on the escalator at Münchner Freiheit is only broken by a medieval group. “Is that a real sword?” asks a ten-year-old boy, looking wide-eyed at a bearded man who has a real fox skin spread over his shoulders. “Sure,” says Bulway, that’s what the man calls himself when he wears fur and a sword. “For us, the year only starts with St. Patrick’s Day in Munich,” he says. He reaches the surface with about twenty other people in outfits from a century ago. They shout, one blows a horn, then they line up comfortably between the other clubs.
Green was the dominant color in Munich this Sunday.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Men with furs and swords also marched in the parade.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
65 groups with a total of 1,400 people have registered for the 26th St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Munich. Among them are bagpipers in kilts, the smoking pipe association from Salzburg and a music troupe from the Allgäu, whose members wear large green hats on orange-curly wigs and flower chains in the Irish national colors of green, white and orange. They painted shamrocks on their cheeks. A man dressed as a green goblin jumps in place, keeping warm with a few Irish tap dance steps. Shortly before the train sets off at twelve o’clock, six Irish wolfhounds, one just under a meter tall, are barked at by two dachshunds. And these little dogs also wear green jackets.
Siobhán Freidank led the way as Grand Marshal, while amateur actor Wolfgang Schramm took on the role of the Irish saint.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
This year the pageant will be led by Siobhán Freidank. She is one of the first women to lead parades. “It was wonderful because the sun was shining and so many nice people came from Ireland and Munich,” says Freidank. Is it an important sign that a woman has taken on the role of “Grand Marshal” in 2024, or even a green revolution? “In our club we are all equal. This year I have the honor because I have been there since the very first parade. I have never missed one. Normally I am in the background and today I am a VIP myself,” says Freidank. “I hope the other volunteers on the team are seen too.”
Tens of thousands came to the parade on Leopoldstrasse and Ludwigstrasse.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held for the first time in Munich in 1996. Back then the event was planned for 200 people, but 3,000 came. This year there are around 50,000 people who peacefully and sometimes cheerfully watch the parade from Münchner Freiheit to Odeonsplatz. “We Bavarians have a lot in common with the Irish, we like to party, we like to drink,” says patron of the event, Mayor Dieter Reiter. To celebrate Ireland’s national day, he wore a green scarf around his neck. He is an avowed Ireland fan. “Finally a country where the weather is worse than here,” he says. But when Reiter vacationed in Ireland last year, it didn’t rain a single day.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter is an avowed Ireland fan.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Next to Reiter is Ireland’s ESC hero Johnny Logan. The musician is wearing a green T-shirt under his black jacket. Many in the audience probably came because of him. After an appearance by Mayor Reiter with the Paul Daly Band Johnny Logan’s concert is planned.
Behind the stage, the parade princess sits at a beer bench, a little tired. The parade was a first for 19-year-old music student Orla Geary as a princess today, but she had already been in the middle of it as a child. Because at that time she was with an Irish dance club. “Now my cheeks hurt from all the smiling,” she says and continues to smile bravely as she says the words.
One cannot speak of a premiere with Wolfgang Schramm. The amateur actor has been taking on the role of the Irish saint in a green bishop’s gown for three decades. The 73-year-old grows his beard every year. Schramm says he lets it sprout in October: “And tomorrow it’ll come off again.”