DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) - Grey and misty weather in Dublin failed to dampen the spirits of fans from Ireland and around the world joining in the festivities to celebrate James Joyce's famed, fictitious "Bloomsday".

Every year the clock in the Irish capital goes back to June 16, 1904, so famously depicted in the epic day-in-a-life novel "Ulysses", written by the city's most celebrated author.

In the 700-page book, Joyce wrote about the adventures of Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertising salesman, and young poet Stephen Dedalus as they wander the streets of Dublin.

Devoted fans were marking the day by dressing up in period costume, following the duo's fictional trail and listening to readings from the book -- including parts of the celebrated earthy monologue by Bloom's wife, Molly, one of the main reasons Ireland long banned "Ulysses".

There is no official programme for the day, but afficionados eat a breakfast of the "inner organs of beasts and fowls", swim at the Forty Foot in the south city, lunch on Burgundy and Gorgonzola cheese and buy lemon soap.

Last year, tens of thousands took part in the centenary celebrations, but the toasting of Bloomsday is more low-key this year.

Robert Nicholson, curator of Dublin's James Joyce Museum, said there had been a steady stream of visitors as rain cleared to mist.

"We have had people in from Japan, North and South America, Australia, Japan and several European countries," he told AFP.

"We have just had someone arrive in an open-top horse and carriage. After the sunshine and the centenary last year it is back to being a more normal year. We are doing readings and some people stand up and read on their own."

Apart from the weather, another reason for the more muted celebrations this year is a cash crisis which one of the main organisers, the James Joyce Centre, says threatens its future.

"We have been surviving without any government support for about two years now. We are really struggling to keep the place open," Helen Monaghan, director of the centre in Dublin's North Great George's Street, told AFP.

Monaghan, whose grandmother was Joyce's sister, said it was ironic the centre had received no official assistance considering the tourism boost and huge international publicity the centenary celebrations attracted.

"We are being e-mailed by people celebrating Bloomsday all over the world, from Sao Paulo in Brazil to Melbourne in Australia. It has spread and taken root everywhere."

She said the centre was managing to stay open on a month-to-month basis with the help of volunteers.

"It's difficult to make any plans beyond that. It would be a dreadful shame if we are forced to close but at this stage we really can't keep going any longer without some official support.

"We are the only education and cultural centre devoted to Joyce in the city with our schools' programmes and everything we do during the year. Bloomsday is only the public face of it."

The centre had to lay off staff earlier this year.

Joyce, who spent most of his life in exile, might not be surprised by the lack of cash support for the centre bearing his name, given the love-hate relationship with the city of his birth.

"How sick, sick, sick I am of Dublin!" he wrote in 1909. "It is the city of failure, of rancour and of unhappiness."