Dubliners enjoy a dreamtime day under dark skies

It was the proverbial soft day for the Dublin parade, in which the Latin exuberance of the pageantry and the traditional Irish weather fought out an honourable draw.

A fair result, and one that the Grand Marshal, Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, would probably have settled for after a tense 90-minute contest in which both sides had the upper hand for periods.

The dark skies did not deter the crowds, however. An estimated 550,000 people turned out to watch, and for most it was a gripping experience.

This was especially true of those who were on step ladders, a growing if precarious minority at the annual event, which sees all naturally-occurring vantage points taken early.

The St Patrick's Day parade has shown Ireland's changing face in recent years. But pageantry apart, the change is apparent in smaller things, too.

Regular overseas visitors may have been startled to hear traders offering chocolate bars at "two for a euro" yesterday, instead of the traditional three-for-a-pound (a clear example, incidentally, of inflation caused by the currency transition).

This was also the first parade since a latter-day St Patrick banished the plastic bags from Ireland.

Already the move seemed to be having an effect, with litter falling short of the epic levels of previous years.

In another development, alongside the flags and snakes the biggest selling accessories this year were whistles.

We have become a nation of whistle-blowers on yesterday's evidence, no doubt because of the tribunals. Other developments are less welcome. Some spectators returned from the parade yesterday to find their cars clamped, on what they may have considered a holy day of abstinence from legal parking.

For many modern Irish Christians, clampers have taken over the role once occupied by snakes.

The parade itself is now a multicultural and multi-ethnic affair, and perhaps the organisers might consider making David Trimble grand marshal next year.

The 2002 theme was "Dream", and appropriately, the first of 10 specially-commissioned pageants, "Joe's Dream Parade" by Macnas, was sponsored by Luas.

According to the programme, Luas represents "the dream of a modern public transport system". But as is often the case with dreams, some people are having difficulty believing it.

And as the Luas advertisement passed Christ Church yesterday, one women commented: "That's the last we'll see of that until 2010."

St Patrick's Day is all about faith, however, and after that sceptical start the parade carried most of the crowd with it on a sustained flight of fantasy.

The South West Inner City Network presented the dream of Mick McCarthy's team winning the World Cup in June.

And while there is probably a better chance of the first Luas arriving in June, the SWINC pageant seemed relatively realistic compared with the offering of Bui Bolg of Wexford, which presented a "fantastic voyage between the Sea of Misery, where human life floats aimlessly, and Avonia, the Persian Palace where the Wizard of If lives".

Between Captain Fantastic and the Wizard of If, the pageant had no shortage of magic. But the magic didn't all work.

Among the regular entries was a giant inflateable sun - in the words of the organisers, "an unofficial good luck charm for the weather since it made its debut in 1999".

It didn't do the trick this time. A watery version of the real thing appeared briefly just after 1 p.m. but was quickly overwhelmed by the forces of darkness.

At least the rain held off for most of the parade. But by the middle of the afternoon the shamrock was well drowned throughout the city.

In the competitions, the well-named Inspired group from Dublin won best overall pageant with their "Dreamtime Awakening," based on Australian aboriginal myth.

Waterford's Spraoi won the "spirit of the festival" prize for "Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite".

The best overall musical entry was the Tennessee High School Mighty Viking Band, while the pipe band award went to New Jersey favourites, The Order of the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh.