Mácnas Mania for Halloween

I can't speak from personal viewing, but there is this bizarre Halloween parade in Ireland that seems to be where Day of the Dead collides with Mardis Gras and a bit of Macy's Thanksgiving thrown in for sparkle.

 

Here in Minneapolis we have a puppet theater company called Barebones that does something community on a much smaller scale. When I first started digging into this, I couldn't quite grasp what Mácnas was? They began back in 1986 as a performance company that put its effort into creating public events in open & undefined spaces. The term itself is an Irish slang term meaning "frolicking." They attempt to make theater that is pioneering, inventive and radical. Their arenas branch internationally into so many tangents, including touring with U2 in 1993 and also anchoring at the SXSW Music Festival.

 

Their parades became a staple at the turn of the century. Again, they were community based events and all had an element of storytelling & folk tales, usually during a summer Festival in Galway where they are located. At some point they landed onto the calendar during Halloween which has roots as an Irish Pagan festival in itself. The Parade has been an off/ on happening in recent years but this year has returned in full regalia. So much so, that it is occurring in both Galway and Dublin on consecutive nights. The parade is an hour and a half in length, but because the story unfolds in real time, every spectator along the route takes in a different part of the telling.

Mácnas offices are spread across two locations in the city. Administration and rehearsals mainly take place in Fisheries Field. Large-scale construction primarily takes place at a warehouse in Liosban. The cast consists of company members and expands to engage community members with various talents. I cannot even imagine the designers and visual artists that create the elements of the puppets and floats.

For 2023 they are drawing on a Mexican Folk tale of La Lobo who is a half-wolf woman who ravages the streets on the eve of Halloween to collect bones of the dead. At midnight she sings to the bones of these lost souls and brings them back to life for a brief moment to reflect on their past.

So this magical team of 200 creates music, soundscapes, costumes and live art to weave this magical dark tale as the parade watchers join in the revelry and frolicking. Wanna go next year?!