Bloomsday
Tuesday, June 16, 2020 was "Bloomsday," named after Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses. The novel follows Bloom wandering around the city of Dublin on a single day - June 16, 1904. I haven't read it, nor have I even tried. It has a tough reputation due to its stream-of-consciousness style and experimental prose.
Bloomsday has evolved as a festival to celebrate Joyce’s life and Irish culture. It features Joyce readings, a run, period costume play including medieval Celtic warrior costume play, picnicking, parades, face painting, boat races, fireworks, bonfires, traditional Irish step dancing and Ceili dancing competitions, art shows, firearms discharge, pole dancing and drinking - lots and lots of drinking. Finally, it culminates in a midnight orgy in an offhand acknowledgment of the author’s infamously disparate lifestyle.