'Bloomsday' is coming in Utica. What the holiday is, and why it's celebrated
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Utica's Irish Cultural Center will transform into Dublin for the day as the organization hosts its fifth annual "Bloomsday" celebration this month, according to the center.
The nod to the protagonist of James Joyce's "Ulysses" will be held 7 p.m. Friday, June 17, at the center's HARP Museum. Those interested can register online to attend.
The celebration will take place June 17, one day after what is known internationally as "Bloomsday" for "Ulysses" character Leopold Bloom and his journey through Dublin on June, 16, 1904.
The museum will present the sites visited by Bloom in the book. Local actors and scholars will hold dramatic readings of "Ulysses," known for its use stream of consciousness storytelling. Music will be provided by the Craobh Dugan-O'Looney of the Irish music organization Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and themed refreshments also be will available.
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How to attend 'Bloomsday'
When: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 17
Where: HARP Museum at the Irish Cultural Center, 623 Columbia St., Utica
Cost: Free. Register online at eventbrite.com
Why Joyce fans celebrate June 16
"Bloomsday" was first celebrated in 1954 when writers Patrick Kavanagh and Flann O'Brien made their own drunken odyssey to some of the books landmarks, such as Martello Tower and Bloom's address at 7 Eccles St.
Here are some other things to know about "Bloomsday" and the book that inspired it.
The date was also significant to Joyce: June 16, 1904, is reportedly when James Joyce had his first romantic tryst with future wife and muse Nora Barnacle.
It is celebrated worldwide: "Bloomsday" celebrations are as far-ranging as Hungary, Italy, Australia and the Czech Republic, though Dublin may offer the most intense celebration — with period dress, walking tours, street performances and workshops offered throughout the "Ulysses" home city.
"Ulysses" was originally serialized: The book was released in parts in Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap's magazine The Little Review, though the editors and their magazine faced legal backlash for its publication.
The print edition turned 100 this year: Sylvia Beach, owner of the Parisian bookshop Shakespeare and Company, first published and sold printed copies of "Ulysses" in February 1922.
The book went to court: Notably banned in the United States and United Kingdom for its sexual imagery, a court case was held to determine whether publishing agency Random House could import copies into the United States. It was ruled in federal court in December 1933 and later in an appeal in August 1934 that the book should be allowed in the country, with Judge John M. Woolsey going as far as describing it as a "sincere and serious attempt to devise a new literary method for the observation and description of mankind."
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H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: 'Bloomsday' is coming in Utica NY. What it is, why it's celebrated
