Bloomsday

16 June 1904. Date when James Joyce had his first rendez-vous with Nora Barnacle. Date when Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922) is set. Date when many people all over the world read and perform Ulysses in public.

One of the first Bloomsday celebrations was a breakfast in June 1929 in France. It was organized by the novel's publisher, Sylvia Beach. Joyce found a hotel called Leopold where they decided to stage their breakfast.

The first big Bloomsday celebration took place on 16 June 1954 in Dublin, 50 years after Leopold Bloom wandered through the town in the novel. It was initiated by the Irish novelists Peter Kavanagh and Brian O'Nolan. As the day is named after the protagonist of Ulysses, the day was celebrated by visiting some places Joyce sent his main characters to, for example the Martello Tower at Sandycove (the place where Stephen Dedalus staid), Davy Byrne’s pub, and 7 Eccles Street in Dublin. The participants recited and staged parts of the novel while riding through town with old-fashioned cabs and drinking a great amount of alcohol. After a while, the participants decided to stay at a pub instead of following the Leopold Bloom tour.

The celebrations spread through all over the world. It is still celebrated today with recitations and performing parts of the novel. But, as Kevin Birmingham points out, Bloomsday should or could be every day: "If you ate a Gorgonzola sandwich today you were commemorating the power of the ordinary in Ulysses" (Birmingham n.p.).

Sources:

Birmingham, Kevin. "James Joyce's Ulysses. A Classic too Sexy for Censors". BBC Culture 16 June 2015. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150616-a-classic-too-sexy-for-censors

http://jamesjoyce.ie/

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~maelduin/firstbloom.html