Centenary breakfast rings in Bloomsday for the faithful

Louise Hogan

President Mary McAleese joined relatives, scholars and lovers of the travels that Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom took on June 16, 1904, through Joyce's novel Ulysses.

Dublin's North Great George's Street, where Joyce once lived, came alive as street performers, people in period dress and actors brought scenes from the acclaimed modern novel to life.

For hundreds of tourists it was an epic journey. For one it was a lengthy trek.

Philip Joyce, a grand-nephew of the author, walked more than 160 miles over five days to attend the famous breakfast gathering.

Mr Joyce walked around 30 miles a day in his journey to raise money for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.

"I decided to do it rather than stand around looking pretty. It is a little bit different and they are more than welcome to anything I can do," he said.

On his own writing skills, he joked: "I do write a small bit, but I'd better keep up the day job."

There are more than 80 official events to mark the 100th anniversary of Bloomsday in Dublin.

Around 1,300 people feasted at the James Joyce Centre in the style of Bloom who relishes "the inner organs of beasts and fowls" in the opening of episode four of Ulysses.

More than 160 people, including Mrs McAleese, sat down in the Georgian building to a traditional breakfast of sausage, bacon, egg, tomato and kidney.

Former TV host Gay Byrne, playwright Gerry Stembridge and The Dubliners musician Ronnie Drew were among those reading extracts, as tourists outside watched on a screen and enjoyed breakfast in the sunshine.

For a group of 14 teachers from Norway it was the perfect end to a journey.

Tone Lowe said: "For most of us this is our first year at Bloomsday. We spent three years reading Ulysses aloud and this was the ending of the reading.

"I think it has been a bit extraordinary for us the ending of a long journey and the fine weather has been with us on our trip," she said.

"We've recognised the street performances from the book."

One English couple, Martin and Trish Roscoe, flew to Dublin in traditional dress hired especially for the occasion.

"I'm a Ulysses nut and I've read it lots and lots of times," Mr Roscoe said. "Things have changed a lot since it was written. We travelled over from Southampton at 6am in our dress and one person wished us happy Bloomsday."

Joyce is reputed to have boasted that Dublin could be rebuilt from the descriptions in Ulysses if it was destroyed.

However, one onlooker said that the capital had changed radically since 1904 and much of it had improved.

Many of the run-down areas mentioned by the author in his novels, from the Army barracks to where Joyce's house of 'The Dead' stands and Smithfield, have been renovated.

Derek Joyce, aged 51, whose grandfather Charles was Joyce's brother, said the gathering had become a big family tradition.

"Over Bloomsday the family have been going to the centre for many years and were brought along as children," said Mr Joyce, from Portmarnock.

"People read the book with more feeling. It is hard to read on its own."

Bloomsday celebrations were taking place in at least 40 cities worldwide, including Chicago, Sydney, New York, Paris and Tokyo.