A Catholic mass, lots of parties in Irish pubs and a phat parade – there’s a lot going on in Munich on the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day. While the parade had to be reduced to a live stream last year due to the pandemic, this year the Irish holiday will be celebrated all the bigger, namely as a two-day festival. With a record 50,000 people celebrating in 2019, the Munich event is considered the largest on the European mainland. This should be proven again at the 25th parade on Sunday, March 12th.
But why are Munich’s St. Patrick celebrating so? This is due to the Irish community and the long tradition. According to the district administration department, around 1000 people with only Irish citizenship have their main residence in the Bavarian state capital and just as many have dual citizenship. Irish monks came to Bavaria in the 7th and 8th centuries with the aim of spreading the Catholic faith and built monasteries, churches and schools. Later, many Irish came to Munich as summer workers. Today, Germans and Irish are connected above all by their sociability and passion for beer. The celebrations in Munich are traditionally held on the weekend before the Irish public holiday on March 17th.
Saturday: From trade fair to party
The green weekend will open on Saturday, March 11th at 12 noon with a food festival at Odeonsplatz. You can hear live performances by Irish folk bands hot asphalt, sequels and Larun, to taste plenty of Guinness beer. At 6 p.m. we continue with a Catholic mass in English, German and Gaelic in the Ludwigskirche – accompanied by opera singers, harp and Irish bagpipes. Afterwards there will be live music and dance performances at the pre-parade party in the America House (ticket 25 euros). It’s no coincidence that the program ranges from mass to party: In the middle of Lent, the church allowed the faithful to consume alcohol and meat on St. Patrick’s Day. Finally, Ireland’s national saint is celebrated, the country’s first Christian missionary.
Sunday: Anniversary parade and party again
The big spectacle, the 25th Munich St. Patrick’s Day Parade, will take place on Sunday, March 12th. In addition to Irish dance and music groups, there are also samba dancers and flag-wavers. The parade begins at 12pm at Münchner Freiheit, continues through Leopoldstrasse and ends at Odeonsplatz with an after-parade party that lasts until 6pm. “The parade has now become a piece of Munich culture and also stands for a colorful and cosmopolitan Munich,” says Grand Marshal Paul Daly. He also helped organize the first parade in 1996, not least for his children: “Even if they were smaller then: it was important for their Bavarian-Irish identity.”
Paul Daly is also an Irish folk singer. The Paul Daly Band provides the finale of the St. Patrick’s Day Festival a week later (Saturday, March 18, 8 p.m.): Together with other bands, she plays in the Wirtshaus im Schlachthof – and there is a special guest: Mayor and hobby rock guitarist Dieter Reiter sings with the Paul Daly Band. Those who still haven’t had enough can move on to one of Munich’s Irish Pubs, such as Kilian’s Irish Pub (Frauenplatz 11) or Kennedy’s Bar & Restaurant (Sendlinger-Tor-Platz 11). The latter also offers a decent program on the evening before, the actual St. Patrick’s Day: Under the motto “Feeling Lucky?” is there a party with live music from the hush.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Munich, Sunday, March 12, 12 p.m., Münchner Freiheit to Odeonsplatz, www.stpatricksday.de