Early in the 17th century, the Catholic Church declared March 17th as a day to honor Ireland’s foremost patron Saint, St. Patrick. As a day of celebration that falls within the period of Lent, the church lifted restrictions for that day. This break in Lent has led to St. Patrick’s Day becoming a raucously celebrated day filled with parades, hearty traditional Irish meals, and quite a bit of alcohol indulgence. In Ireland and parts of Canada St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday. With the diaspora of the Irish people, the holiday has spread throughout the world to be observed in more countries than any other national festival. Astronauts on the International Space Station have even marked St. Patrick’s day from orbit to share with the world.

St. Patrick’s Day 2020 was a far cry from years before. It was the beginning of the world entering into a period of quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It was an unsettling time headed with fear of being out of the safety of your home. People were not yet sure of how to behave in public, what staying six feet apart and wearing masks would entail. Across the world, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations were canceled. There were no parades, pub crawls, parties, or feasts. The global community has learned a lot over the last year. For the most part, we have come to an understanding and acceptance of a world struggling to overcome a global pandemic. That doesn’t mean that the world has lost the ability to celebrate in small and grand ways.

This year to commemorate St. Patrick’s day, Ireland’s official board of St. Patrick’s Festival, Tourism Ireland, and Dublin City Council organized a spectacular drone light show over the River Liffey in Dublin. The goal was to spread some joy and hope without holding traditional celebrations. The drone show, titled Orchestra of Light was filmed earlier in March to be live streamed on St. Patrick’s Day. And as stated in a press release for the event, “Although St. Patrick’s Day public celebrations in Ireland and around the world will not take place this year, Orchestra of Light invites audiences to enjoy a spectacular world-class event from the comfort and safety of their kitchens and living rooms.” Drone shows have become the go-to entertainment that embraces social distancing while wowing audiences, and Orchestra of Light did not disappoint.

Orchestra of Light was not just a drone show, but a short film complete with cinematography and soundtrack. Using drones with cameras, Irish television production company ShinAwiL captured every second of the drone show from multiple angles along with the surrounding landmarks of Dublin. ShinAwiL even got up close images of individual drones, then panned out showing how the drones work as a whole to make up a cohesive result. It was a reminder of how we as individuals are working together to strengthen our larger communities. Irish composer Eimear Noone and her husband Craig Stuart Garfinkle scored the accompanying music. The press release went on to state that “Along with RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the duo has collaborated with Irish band Picture This on the score, which features an orchestral remix of the band’s latest single ‘Things Are Different.”

The combined music and production from ShinAwiL were perfectly paired with Intel drones choreographed to meet Dublin’s Actavo Events vision. And for sure, the star of the show was the 500 Intel Shooting Star drones that gracefully danced across the Dublin night sky. The show opened with the drones lifting from the ground to form the words This Is Ireland alongside a rotating Celtic swirl. The drones went on to animate several images including traditional Irish symbols like Celtic knots in different configurations and musicians playing Irish instruments. The drones spelled out words like Hope, Love, and Home and animated images of the world, Ireland, shamrocks, and even a couple performing a traditional Irish stepdance. One of the most fascinating images was of a Celtic knot that swirled and undulated its interlocking bands, breaking apart into a flurry of glittering spangles before moving onto the next animation.

All together, Orchestra of Light was a beautiful way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 2021. It brought joy to a world that has been through so much and still needs to find moments of light. The refrain from Picture This’s new single “Things Are Different” perfectly summarized the ideas behind the creation of this drone show. The lyrics are “Just ’cause things are different don’t mean anything has changed. And I know the world’s on fire, but there’s beauty in the flame. And we don’t know how much longer, but we know we’re gonna come back stronger. Ohh, just ’cause things are different don’t mean anything, anything has changed.”