By Roy Mabasa The 15,000-strong Filipino community in Ireland joined the Irish’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day by integrating different Philippine festivals in the grand parades held in the key cities of Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Galway. Filipinos in Cork, in particular, performed a simulation of the Masskara Festival, a mardi gras-like event that features men and women wearing combinations of brightly colored dresses along with masks, in the simultaneous parades held on March 17. Masskara Festival is an annual festivity that originates from Bacolod. Street dancers from the Galway Filipino Irish Community are decked in green, white, and orange as they wave the Philippine flag high during the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Galway. (PHOTO BY JOE O'SHAUGHNESSY / VIA DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS / MANILA BULLETIN) Many Filipino community members have also joined the thousands of Irish crowds waving Philippine flags as the parade passed through. Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Antonio Lagdameo said the participation of Filipinos in the treasured Irish tradition “means so much more than simply sharing our culture with the Irish people.” “Our Filipino community’s participation in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities shows how well Filipinos have integrated in Irish society and how deeply we have enriched each other’s cultures,” Lagdameo said. St. Patrick’s Day is an annual event in observance of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Over the years, the holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green.