National Lottery/Cork 2005 Awakening Ceremony & Fireworks

Credit Michael MacSweeney, Provision

For the grand finale to Cork’s day-long celebrations of the start of its tenure 26,000 people descended on Cork’s quays as the spectacular National Lottery/Cork 2005 Awakening Ceremony and Fireworks unfolded, while big screens in the City Centre carried the spectacle to the carnival revellers. RTÉ One Television broadcast the event live at 5pm, and Chorus Sports also carried the broadcast.

Inspired by Legend
Legend relates that upon his arrival in Gougane Barra, St. Credit Daragh MacSweeney, Provision Finbarr found a giant serpent in residence. He banished the creature, flinging it through the air. As the beast crashed to earth the impact of its body formed the origins of Lough Allua, while its crashing tail gorged the valley of the River Lee into the ancient earth. For the Cork 2005 opening celebrations, street theatre company Spraoi breathed fresh life into the ancient legend.

Woven with Symbolism
Myth and legend exists only because generations of ordinary people give them life. The stories constantly evolve and grow. At their heart is the spoken word passed down and elaborated on by successive generations. In a very real sense people become part of the stories they tell, legend and reality intertwined as one.
Like artists they sculpt and create, adding their own form and texture to each twist and turn, a skill that people of Cork are renowned for. Through sound, performance and imagery ‘Awakening’ reflected this heritage of the Cork people, as echoes of their voices and skills created a new vision of an old tale. National Lottery/Cork 2005 Awakening Ceremony revived knowledge of an ancient local legend and injected new life in it for future generations by creating a spectacle that became legendary in its own right.

Forged from Spectacle
During an intensive performance period Spraoi brought to life a huge serpent, stretching over 600 hundred meters of the River Lee from Christy Ring Bridge to Brian Ború Bridge. A vivid extravaganza of light and fire, combining physical theatre, visual spectacle, pulsating music, spoken word, projection, pyrotechnics and special effects, the production was the most daring of its kind attempted in Ireland and on a grand scale even by European standards.

The performers represented the people of Cork, the “builders and makers”. Through their actions they created a new version of an old story, a story that was a visual representation of a legend, a legend that exists only because of the life breathed in to it by generations of Cork people.

Fireworks
Following ‘Awakening’, Merlin Fireworks staged the biggest fireworks display ever witnessed in Ireland. 3,500 of the world’s most spectacular effects including shells, flares, roman candles and mines were computer choreographed to a custom-made soundtrack. Fired from six separate sites around the city, including Patrick’s Hill, the light-show was visible throughout Cork city and the surrounds.