Jul
17
2008
Cerreg Cennen Castle
Pic: Ammanford Website |
Ammanford will be stepping back in time this weekend as the local history society teams up with Dyfed Archaeological Trust to celebrate National Archaeology Week. The Castle and Conquest in Wales will be a free admission, all-day event on Saturday, July 12, between 10.30am and 4.30pm at the remains of Ammanford castle in Tirydail.
Richard Jones, heritage management archaeologist for Dyfed Archaeology Trust, said:
The open day at Ammanford castle will be our major event for National Archaeology Week. We have other events taking place at Llandeilo and Carmarthen, but Ammanford will have a huge range of activities and demonstrations.
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Jun
27
2008
Pic: gary |
The first part of the Midsummer Special is available for download and is on the feed. We celebrate the Midsummer Festival with a massive offering of goodies. So we’ve divided the episode into two parts. The first part contains a reading from The Religion of the Ancient Celts, another from a modern book called Fairy Healing, some music, and a story by Willie Meikle called The First Silkie.
Part 2 of the Midsummer Special will be available in the middle of next week. |
The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.
Jun
20
2008
Pic: Haggis hurling |
The Chicago Daily Herald tells us that on June 20-21 the Highland Games will be in full fling in Chicago. When it comes to celebrating Celtic culture around Chicago, people of Scottish descent always seem to be overshadowed by the Irish.
There’s no national holiday like St. Patrick’s Day when “everyone is Scottish for one day.” It would also be impossible to dye the Chicago River plaid.
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Yet Scottish culture and traditions strongly persevere locally, thanks to efforts of the Illinois St. Andrew Society, a nonprofit charity organization dating back to 1854. The society’s biggest and highest-profile event is the annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games, now celebrating its 22nd year.
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Jun
16
2008
Pic: 3 Wishes Fairy Fest |
The 3 Wishes Fairy Fest is being held this year on Bodmin Moor at the traditional time of the faeries, Midsummer. If only we could get down there and attend! It takes place on three days - from the 20th to the 21st of June at Colliford Lake Park, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall.
Welcome one and all - To the gathering of the faery clans on the ancient site of Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor. For three fairytastic days where humans and faerie folk can walk (or fly!) side-by-side in harmony, in celebration of the magical time of midsummer and share in a midsummer night’s dream!. The fairy ring is opening at this time, a mystical gateway into the realms of fae, an opportunity to glimpse into fairyland, and to experience how our fae friends celebrate their love of the sacred land. For they are the guardians and carers of our earth - welcome to those who come in peace and love, and may the blessings of the faeries lighten your earthly journey with infinite wishes, love, health, abundance, laughter and joy |
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Jun
15
2008
Pic: fjorukrain |
Our Viking cousins are holding an annual Viking festival in Hafnafjordur that kicked off on the 12th June with the opening of the Viking craft market at 5pm.The festival has been held since 1995 and is the oldest, largest and most important event of its kind in Iceland. Activities include battle demonstrations, storytelling, wrestling, archery, music, dancing and plenty of eating and drinking. |
The organisers behind the event, the Viking restaurant and hotel Fjorukrain, have arranged for almost two hundred Vikings to attend, both foreign and domestic, often arriving by boat with an exotic cargo of goods to sell. There are also troops of jesters and dancing girls, filling the centre of this normally quiet coastal town with music and merriment.
The event is not all peaceful, however, as the organisers promise a good Viking battle with mock deaths, just as visitors least expect it.
The Viking festival is held from 12th to 18th of June in Hafnafjordur, a town just outside Reykjavik.
Source
Jun
05
2008
Pic: CeltFest |
CeltFest 2008 brings an international Celtic music and dance summer school and concert series to Nanaimo for the eighth time on July 6-11.
The school, which offers classes in music, dance, singing and visual arts, will be held at Malaspina University-College.
Instructors Mac Morin, Mairi Rankin and Wendy MacIsaac will join Toronto’s champion piper Bob Worrall and his group Scantily Plaid. |
CeltFest provides a unique opportunity for us to share traditions in which entire families, individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds come together to learn and enjoy an age-old art form.
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May
31
2008
Halystorm’s Head |
The Daily Pilot reports about the 76th Annual Highland Gathering and Festival at the OC Fair and Expo on Sunday, along with many other clans. What a day this must have been!
Daniel Telford, the correspondent says:
The weekend festival invited a number of the major Scottish clans that have representatives in the U.S. to have booths and inform the public about their heritage. The booths lined the streets of the expo, offering information, T-shirts, trinkets and the chance for some to trace their genealogy.
There were also Scottish bands and music, as well as boutiques and kilt stores. |
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May
22
2008
T J Michaels |
On the 24th May an event is taking place at Tailors Hall, Back Lane, Dublin to highlight the destruction caused by the new M3 Motorway through the Valley of Tara. This event hopes to reconnect people to the History, Mythology and beauty of the Tara Valley. Hope it will be a fun day out for the kids as well. Discussions, forums on the future effects of Environment and Ecology. Up-to-date information presentations, documentaries, discussions on M3 issues, video, photography and speakers.
During the day: Children/Family main audience open 12 to 18:00. E5.00 per
person with light refreshments and during the evening: Traditional Music Session:19:00 -00:30 Sunday. Entrance E10 (E5 concession
with day token). |
Daytime Family Entertainment includes
- Children’s entertainment: Face painters, Jugglers, trad musicians,
treasure hunt throughout the day. Starting at 12 noon until 6pm.
- Heritage films detailing the Tara valley, history and mythology and
recent footage/images in Meeting room indoors.
- Storytelling, poetry reading, crafts, weaving
- Dual-Lingual event as much as possible, information room with
projector, presentations with speakers from historical, archaeological,
academic background.
- Light refreshments (non-alcoholic) and finger food.
- DJ playing also
Evening Entertainment includes
- Trad session.
- Indoor bar.
- Wine and Beer, small spirit bar
- DJ
More details can be found here and you can sign the M3 petition here.
May
22
2008
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Situated on the shores of Ramsey Lake, the Grace Hartman Amphitheater at Bell Park, Sudbury, Canada will host Greater Sudbury Celtic Festival and Highland Games on Saturday 24th.
Census data from 2006 shows there are 60,000 people with ties to the British Isles living in Sudbury, so there should be a strong audience for the festival, Derek Young, festival director said. |
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May
06
2008
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Penny, from Crane’s Nest Creations, hosts a blog site in which she exhibits her Etsy bed-dolls, other art and talks about her beliefs, has hosted a superb piece about some of the fey traditions of Beltane which she has graciously granted us permission to reprint here for you. About herself, she says:
Spirit guides me to create, I believe that art is the expression of the soul which has evolved to the point of reaching out to others with common interest in acceptance and there is a searching or attraction to those who are inspired to do the same.
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