Flame festival lights up Slane for Easter weekend

There were spectacular scenes on the Hill of Slane on Saturday night as more than 2,000 people converged on the historic area for the inaugural Flame of Slane Festival. There was an amazing sight as local schoolchildren, carrying lanterns, made their way up the hill for a colourful celebration of flame and light, which included giant puppets, festoons, sky lanterns, light projections and live music. The event was performed in association with award-winning event organisers, LUXe. The children started to gather at the school at dusk and made their way to the hill, carrying lanterns they had made themselves. Following the colourful display on the hill, 12 local people lit the pascal fire, which was then brought down to St Patrick's Church by parish priest, Fr Joe Deegan, for the Easter Vigil Mass. The inaugural Flame of Slane Festival was made up of a weekend of events to celebrate the lighting of the Paschal Fire on the Hill of Slane by St Patrick. More than 100 local families took part in an Easter egg hunt on the streets of Slane on Saturday afternoon and other events included a photo exhibition of bygone days, a tea room for Senior Citizens and pop-up shops. On Sunday, the celebrations continued with a family-themed park in the centre of the village where activities includes art workshops, giant board games, kiddies' disco, music workshop, clowns, story-telling and balloon-sculpting. Thousands of visitors attended the events of the weekend and the long term aim of the festival is to re-establish Slane as the home of St Patrick and create an event which will become an iconic national festival. The organisers have acknowledged the help and support of Meath Partnership. Cllr Wayne Harding paid tribute to the organising committee for its work, saying its members deserved great credit for staging such an amazing event.