Proudly Serving Celts in North America Since 1991 FEBRUARY 2016
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ISSUE 24 VOLUME 2 Proudly Serving Celts in North America Since 1991 FEBRUARY 2016 FANS FLEE in terror as gang drug war escalates in Dublin with brazen daylight shooting at boxing weigh-in. [More on page 17] MUSIC, SONG, AND DANCE will resound through the streets of Vancouver from March 10 to 17 during the 12th annual CelticFest Vancouver. See pages 3 & 4 for a listing of all the exciting events scheduled. Headline events include the Irish Rovers and Ireland’s chart-topping Damien Dempsey. INSIDE THIS ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS A WARM WELCOME FOR REFUGEES IN SCOTLAND ON THE ISLE OF BUTE Page 10 INTENSE discussions took place in London on January 30 to draft a proposal aimed at keeping Britain in the European Un- • ion. Pictured above: Prime Minister David Cameron (R) and CALGARY IRISH Donald Tusk (L), president of the European Council, at Down- ing Street following the negotiations. [Read more on page 23] THE1916 Easter Rising was a turning point in Ireland’s history. CULTURAL SOCIETY This year the 100th anniversary will be marked in Ireland and throughout the world with an extensive programme of events. Pic- CELEBRATES tured above is the General Post Office, a key site during the 30TH ANNIVERSARY Rising. Read more on pages 12, 13, and 20. Page 14 LEARN TO PLAY ONE • OF IRELAND’S NATIONAL GAMES JOHN HUME: WITH THE JP RYAN HURLING A MAN OF STATURE AND CAMOGIE A CADEMY IN IRELAND BOTH Dating back to legendary folkhero Cú Chulainn, hurling is considered NORTH AND SOUTH to be the world's fastest field sport Page 16 [READ MORE ON PAGE 15] • ENDA KENNY CELEBRATIONS are held around the world on March 1 to hon- WIN FREE TICKETS HAS ANNOUNCED our St. David — the patron saint of Wales. Many Welsh people Win a pair (2) tickets to Festival du Bois, winner will have a choice THE SHORTEST wear one or both of the National symbols of Wales to celebrate of tickets for either Saturday or Sunday, March 5 or 6. Maillardville’s St. David: the daffodil or the leek on this day. The leek arises Music Festival, Mackin Park, Coquitlam (See pages 5 & 7 for details). ELECTION CAMPAIGN from an occasion when a troop of Welsh were able to distinguish Entry by February 26. Mark your entry: Festival du Bois. IN IRISH HISTORY each other from a troop of English enemy dressed in similar Win a pair (2) tickets to John McDermott Traditionally Yours in fashion by wearing leeks. Younger girls sometimes wear a tradi- concert April 15, at North Vancouver Centennial Theatre. Calgary Jack Page 17 tional Welsh costume of a long woollen skirt, white blouse, wool- Singer Concert Hall, May 13. Edmonton Shoctor Theatre at the Cita- • len shawl and a Welsh hat. [Read more on page 24] del, May 15. (See pages 5 & 7 for details). Entry by March 25. Mark your entry: John McDermott, North Vancouver or John McDermott, MAKING PEACE Calgary or John McDermott, Edmonton. One entry per location. WITH Win author Kevin Dooley’s newest novel: A Dog’s Breakfast. A sur- real fiction based on family and social experience and one that en- NORTHERN compasses Irish racial memory. Entry February 29. Mark your entry: Kevin Dooley. IRELAND’S 40009398 Publication Entries by e-mail only. Mark the name of the event on your entry, VIOLENT PAST including your name and daytime telephone number. (Only one entry Agreement: Mail per person.) Send to: [email protected]. Page 19 PAGE 2 www.celtic-connection.com FEBRUARY 2016 St. Brigid’s Day: Nine A Wintered World things you may not know E have endured a long, dark and cold winter Turns to Spring but longer, brighter evenings are finally on the By CYNTHIA WALLENTINE Art, of mind or hand, requires a know- By the Celtic calendar, it is now ing that is bestowed only upon testing – way as of February 1 which marks the first at your craft, or at life. True knowing is day of spring, and is also known as Lá Fhéile Spring. Imbolg and St. Brigid’s an attitude that holds young and old, bit- W Day on February 1, assures us Bhríde, Saint Brigid’s Feast Day. ter and sweet, past and future. it is time to look forward. Here are a few facts you may not Most would avoid that kind of testing, know about St. Brigid’s Day and the Yet it is hard not to look back. Last year and they would not be wrong. But al- saint herself who is also known as in this space, I mourned the murder of most all are thrust to it, by circumstance, ‘Mary of the Gael’: Kenji Goto. How many have suffered calling, and consequences unforeseen and died since then, in barbaric, theologic when choices were made. 1. St. Brigid’s Day, on February 1, of- wars? ficially marks the start of the pagan It is the real living of life, and it is what festival of spring. Bombs and battles spark waves of mi- allows the soul to mature into immor- gration that will change the face of his- tality, rather than perish in the mortal 2. It is also known as ‘Imbolc’, or the dust. Feast of Brigid. It celebrates the ar- tory for generations to come. rival of longer, warmer days and the From the long past come the rituals that Spring, the most beautiful season, in my early signs of spring. became the traditions of the Celtic year. mind, speaks of the unsettled nature of things. Not here or there, not then, but 3. ‘Imbolc’ literally means “in the Rising like dawn mist to us, Neolithic 7. According to tradition, Saint Brigid and Bronze Age observations about life, now. While the past holds weight, it is belly” in the old Irish Neolithic lan- was born at Fochart (or Fothairt), near passed, and there truly is no direction guage. death, and human nature ground our re- Dundalk in Co. Louth. spect for the cycle of the human soul, to go – except forward. 4. It is one of the four major “fire” 8. One of the most common traditions from birth to death and to the Blessed May you travel light and long, and may, festivals, referred to in Irish mythol- of the day is to make a Saint Brigid’s Otherworld. one day, your soul be wise and live for- ogy. The other three festivals are Cross. These crosses are relatively ever. Blessings of Brigit to you. Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. As days grow longer, and darker simple to make, and traditionally, weather recedes, it would be easy to 5. Brigid is one of Ireland’s patron Brigid’s crosses are made on Brigid’s set aside sorrow and worry as one gazes saints and was known also as a fer- Eve, January 31. They are usually upon Brigit, the maiden goddess of the ST. BRIGID – tility goddess in Celtic mythology. made from fresh rushes, but you can Celtic spring. But Brigit herself is also MARY OF THE GAEL also use straws if you don’t have them. a sooty, underground smithy, not far 6. She is often referred to as ‘Brigit O Brigid. Mary of the Gael, may thy They are made in a cross shape with removed from the crone Cailleach. protection never fail, spread thy man- of Kildare’, and was said to be the a square shape in the middle and then tle over me where’er I pass, founder of several monasteries of four arms coming along each side. As the patroness of craftspeople, and nuns, including that of Kildare. She is fertility, Brigit’s gaze is fixed up and where’er I be. In weather foul, or weather fair keep me in they loving also associated with perpetual, sacred 9. Some believe that the crosses have down, backward and forward – for no care ‘til I rest, my journey’s over, flames, and there is also a shrine dedi- the power to protect the owner’s artisan, nor wise soul – reaches that cated to her in Kildare. home from harm. realm untried. with God and thee for evermore. Storm Henry: Winds so strong waterfalls flowed upwards EDINBURGH – Scotland As winds reached upwards of 80 “It was about as strong as winds get O’Connell (35), said the sight was not was battered with strong miles per hour in some coastal around here and you sometimes see that unusual for the area. regions, the waterfalls on the these things and think it is quite spec- winds and rain by Storm tacular. “We see the waterfall being blown Ardmeanach Peninsula on Mull backwards occasionally, but this one Henry on February 1 but an were defying gravity. “That is what is nice about the island – was particularly dramatic,” he said. extraordinary video from the it is quite dramatic in this sort of weather. It was captured at around midday by Stunning views are commonplace on Isle of Mull shows that it Reuben O’Connell, who works for Isle “The impressive spectacle was in a part Mull in Argyll and Bute, most famous wasn’t all doom and gloom – of Mull Cottages, as he visited one of of the island known as The Wilderness for its colourful town of Tobermory. the company’s properties. and has clocked up more than 900,000 it shows the incredible sight views on the letting organisation’s Storm Henry is the third named storm of a waterfall flowing up- He told the Press Association, “I hap- Facebook page.” to hammer Britain in recent weeks, fol- pened to see that from the gardens of lowing Storm Frank and Storm wards.