Age Advisory: Recommended 16+

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in more countries globally than any other national festival. But how did this come to be and what does it mean to celebrate it today? Join our Executive Director, Mark Traynor, on a special tour of Dalnavert exploring how the very concept of Irishness evolved into a powerful political and cultural force during the Victorian period. Using the spaces of this beautiful middle-class Victorian house, we’ll examine how generations of Irish immigrants fleeing persecution and poverty at home reshaped Irish identity and helped to forge the tools that would come to dismantle the British Empire in the twentieth century. Discover how atrocities like an Gorta Mór (the Great Famine), colonial policies of ethnocide, and the rise of cultural nationalism irrevocably changed Irish society and the very idea of what it meant to be Irish during this time. Encompassing a patchwork of history, humour, politics, personal memory, language and song, this is the incredible story of the people of a small island who used imagination and storytelling to reinvent themselves in a changing world.

This tour will last approximately 45 minutes. Strong Irish tea and homemade soda bread will be served afterwards.

Content Warning: This is a history tour that includes facts, descriptions and images of death, destruction, and other atrocities, as well as historic racist imagery. Opinions may also be given! If that isn’t for you but you'd like to learn more about Irish history, the Irish History Podcast, produced by Fin Dwyer, is an excellent starting point.

Tickets are pay what you can, starting from $5.00.

Accessibility

This event takes place in the historic house and is not wheelchair accessible. For further information, see our Accessibility page (link opens in a new window) and the access guide for this event (link opens in a new window).