"In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade,” Judy Garland famously sang with Fred Astaire in the 1940s musical, Easter Parade.
While the children of Dromore NS in Co Donegal probably have never heard of the Hollywood greats, that same spirit of Easter joie de vivre for the season ahead was certainly alive and well before the school finished up for the Easter break.
Over 200 students were excitedly putting the final touches to their own millinery creations ahead of the Easter Bonnet Parade around the school, a tradition that has being going on now for over 20 years.
And the creativity on display would have made the great hat designer Philip Treacy smile. Each classroom at the school, located between the villages of Killygordon and Crossroads, was a kaleidoscope of colour, artistic endeavour and excitement.
From lambs and chicks to a complete bird’s nest and flowers – the exuberance of the spring season was all present and correct. Then there was the entirely unique Peppa Pig-inspired bonnet and a a fetching hat covered in Easter jokes. Another had a tractor and quad on top and beamed from afar with flashing lights.
Creativity comes to life
Principal Mary McGranaghan says each student’s “creativity comes to life” every Easter for this much-loved event. Some years the hats would need planning permission, they are so tall, she quips.
The Mayo native, who has spent all her teaching life in the school, describes the annual event as an uplifting way of bringing the community together to celebrate an age-old custom.
“The Easter Bonnet Parade is a tradition that goes back for centuries, really. It was closely related to religion, but it was also the fact that people went to the cities for work, and for Lent, they might have saved a bit of money, so they came home with a nice bonnet for Easter Sunday mass,” she explains.
The parade started as a way to involve parents more in the school, which is 110 years old this year. In years gone by, the Easter bonnet was a symbol of hope, joy, and new beginnings, and it is in that spirit that the school continues the tradition.
Some hats are made in class and others at home. “They all put the energy into it, and it’s a fun thing to do,” adds Mary, who has seen the school grow with five major extensions over the last 20 years to bring enrolment to 228 this year, including over 30 students with autism.
“You see yourself there is tremendous work that every single family and home has put in to making the bonnets. I think they deserve great credit,” she says.
Hannah Wilson strikes a pose in her impressive Easter bonnet. \ Clive Wasson
Meeting the creators
Ducking into a classroom, the eye is immediately drawn to a towering creation by Ethan Sweeney from third class. He loves art, and that’s certainly clear when you look closely at his bonnet. Initially, he describes his eye-catching hat as “an Easter slide or a mountain”, but later revises that assessment to a “unicorn waterfall”.
“It took two days to make. I used lollipop sticks, paper, card, googly eyes, stickers, eggs, chickens, foam balls and straw,” he explains.
Adam Bradley (6) from nearby Crossroads only made his impressive tall homemade hat the previous night with straw from his grandad’s farm. He tells Irish Country Living that his granddad used to have cows, but now he has sheep, which he enjoys helping him feed.
In another corner, Hannah Wilson (7) from first class is promoting sustainability. She recycled her hat from last year, adding to it with new birds, eggs and cute chick lights beaming around the room.
“I love Easter because I get Easter eggs,” she says, smiling shyly.
“It was my mammy’s hat. She wore it too,” Alice Sammon (9) explains of following in the family tradition, before showing off the very wide brim and her tulle train to great effect.
Meanwhile, Eoghan Melaugh stands out from the crowd. He has a Claas tractor and farming scene perched on his head after some good work with a hot glue gun. But it is not his number one brand of tractor, he stresses: “My favourite is Massey Ferguson. It’s a good tractor.”
Eoghan’s dad is a sheep farmer some ten minutes away in the scenic countryside and hills of Donegal that surround the school. “I help feeding and moving the sheep. I’d like to be a farmer when I grow up,” he says.
Enya Gallagher (8) is holding a ‘Happy Easter from Dromore NS’ sign in her hand alongside her hat, inspired by an Easter egg hunt.
She is ready to wave and dance in the “fun parade” and can’t wait for her favourite purple chocolate eggs on Sunday.
“My birthday is Friday [the day of the holidays] so I’m going to have a party,” she excitedly tells Irish Country Living.
In another classroom Daniel Moss (11) from fifth class took the top off last year’s hat to make his lambing-inspired creation.
“I’ve made mine about lambing time because our sheep are lambing at the minute,” he says of his family farm. “I love to see the lambs playing in the fields.”
Before lining up for the parade, Sky Hamilton Penrose (12) explains that she made rabbits from loom bands, and her sister helped by painting the eggs.
“They snap sometimes, so you need lots of patience,” she smiles, showing off her colourful creation. “I like art. It’s so fun to be creative.”
And just like that they are off, produdly marching around the school to the lively music of Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake.
The colour and clapping as well as the proud waves and beaming smiles from the families and friends who have gathered would lift anyone’s spirits. And it could not be a better way to kickstart the renewal that Easter and spring brings to us all.
"In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade,” Judy Garland famously sang with Fred Astaire in the 1940s musical, Easter Parade.
While the children of Dromore NS in Co Donegal probably have never heard of the Hollywood greats, that same spirit of Easter joie de vivre for the season ahead was certainly alive and well before the school finished up for the Easter break.
Over 200 students were excitedly putting the final touches to their own millinery creations ahead of the Easter Bonnet Parade around the school, a tradition that has being going on now for over 20 years.
And the creativity on display would have made the great hat designer Philip Treacy smile. Each classroom at the school, located between the villages of Killygordon and Crossroads, was a kaleidoscope of colour, artistic endeavour and excitement.
From lambs and chicks to a complete bird’s nest and flowers – the exuberance of the spring season was all present and correct. Then there was the entirely unique Peppa Pig-inspired bonnet and a a fetching hat covered in Easter jokes. Another had a tractor and quad on top and beamed from afar with flashing lights.
Creativity comes to life
Principal Mary McGranaghan says each student’s “creativity comes to life” every Easter for this much-loved event. Some years the hats would need planning permission, they are so tall, she quips.
The Mayo native, who has spent all her teaching life in the school, describes the annual event as an uplifting way of bringing the community together to celebrate an age-old custom.
“The Easter Bonnet Parade is a tradition that goes back for centuries, really. It was closely related to religion, but it was also the fact that people went to the cities for work, and for Lent, they might have saved a bit of money, so they came home with a nice bonnet for Easter Sunday mass,” she explains.
The parade started as a way to involve parents more in the school, which is 110 years old this year. In years gone by, the Easter bonnet was a symbol of hope, joy, and new beginnings, and it is in that spirit that the school continues the tradition.
Some hats are made in class and others at home. “They all put the energy into it, and it’s a fun thing to do,” adds Mary, who has seen the school grow with five major extensions over the last 20 years to bring enrolment to 228 this year, including over 30 students with autism.
“You see yourself there is tremendous work that every single family and home has put in to making the bonnets. I think they deserve great credit,” she says.
Hannah Wilson strikes a pose in her impressive Easter bonnet. \ Clive Wasson
Meeting the creators
Ducking into a classroom, the eye is immediately drawn to a towering creation by Ethan Sweeney from third class. He loves art, and that’s certainly clear when you look closely at his bonnet. Initially, he describes his eye-catching hat as “an Easter slide or a mountain”, but later revises that assessment to a “unicorn waterfall”.
“It took two days to make. I used lollipop sticks, paper, card, googly eyes, stickers, eggs, chickens, foam balls and straw,” he explains.
Adam Bradley (6) from nearby Crossroads only made his impressive tall homemade hat the previous night with straw from his grandad’s farm. He tells Irish Country Living that his granddad used to have cows, but now he has sheep, which he enjoys helping him feed.
In another corner, Hannah Wilson (7) from first class is promoting sustainability. She recycled her hat from last year, adding to it with new birds, eggs and cute chick lights beaming around the room.
“I love Easter because I get Easter eggs,” she says, smiling shyly.
“It was my mammy’s hat. She wore it too,” Alice Sammon (9) explains of following in the family tradition, before showing off the very wide brim and her tulle train to great effect.
Meanwhile, Eoghan Melaugh stands out from the crowd. He has a Claas tractor and farming scene perched on his head after some good work with a hot glue gun. But it is not his number one brand of tractor, he stresses: “My favourite is Massey Ferguson. It’s a good tractor.”
Eoghan’s dad is a sheep farmer some ten minutes away in the scenic countryside and hills of Donegal that surround the school. “I help feeding and moving the sheep. I’d like to be a farmer when I grow up,” he says.
Enya Gallagher (8) is holding a ‘Happy Easter from Dromore NS’ sign in her hand alongside her hat, inspired by an Easter egg hunt.
She is ready to wave and dance in the “fun parade” and can’t wait for her favourite purple chocolate eggs on Sunday.
“My birthday is Friday [the day of the holidays] so I’m going to have a party,” she excitedly tells Irish Country Living.
In another classroom Daniel Moss (11) from fifth class took the top off last year’s hat to make his lambing-inspired creation.
“I’ve made mine about lambing time because our sheep are lambing at the minute,” he says of his family farm. “I love to see the lambs playing in the fields.”
Before lining up for the parade, Sky Hamilton Penrose (12) explains that she made rabbits from loom bands, and her sister helped by painting the eggs.
“They snap sometimes, so you need lots of patience,” she smiles, showing off her colourful creation. “I like art. It’s so fun to be creative.”
And just like that they are off, produdly marching around the school to the lively music of Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake.
The colour and clapping as well as the proud waves and beaming smiles from the families and friends who have gathered would lift anyone’s spirits. And it could not be a better way to kickstart the renewal that Easter and spring brings to us all.
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