Magic and monsters for City in Macnas parade

There was a time when the population of Galway turned out in force every July for the annual Macnas parade, but all things change and the Macnas parade has moved to the October Bank Holiday weekend.

This year’s event, Symphony for the Restless, will take place on Sunday. The story centres on Crom a 16-foot-high giant who will be “exorcising his rage on the streets of Galway . . . and he has a lot of rage”, according to Macnas’s Artistic Director, Noeline Kavanagh.

On Tuesday, members of the group were enjoying the usual hiccups that are synonymous with a major parade, wondering ‘why isn’t that working?’ and ‘why is there a storm outside?’ but by Sunday, those issues should have all be solved.

Macnas has a core ‘making team’ of 26 for Symphony for the Restless and these creative forces are being joined by 300 volunteers who have busily rehearsing for an event that will “explore shadow and light, and marvels and monsters”, according to Noeline.

“Halloween is a great time of year to release something like this,” she remarks about the parade. “In the pagan Celtic world, it’s the end of one season and the beginning of another, and the time when the membrane between the world of the living and the dead is porous. We are paying homage to that in a family and a community way.”

And while Crom is an angry giant, she firmly believes if he were to get a hug from Macnas’s Catalonian Sun Troupe, who will be sporting their colourful hats during Symphony for the Restless, his rage might ease a little.