Celtic script and writing looks very decorative.
Spring into the Celtic Festival!
Contributed by Jocelyn Paine
Spring belongs to everyone, but some people have the best time celebrating the season! The Celtic Community of Alaska puts on a Spring Festival. The day will feature many activities for adults and children, from Making a Sporran (a man’s large “pocket” worn with a kilt) to a Beginning Clog Dancing Lesson (no special shoes needed) to Creating a Fairy House (tiny creatures not included).
Make-and-take classes have the bennies of the take-homes you’ve created all by yourself—with a little help from an instructor. There’s even a cookie class. There are hopes they will share the results. Learning Old-fashioned Ribbon Arts will produce a wearable flower, a cockade, or a rich, satiny decoration. Lecture discussions will take you back to Celtic History in Canada or to Discovering Myths in Daily Life.
Write your name in Celtic-style medieval calligraphy, strum a Celtic Harp. Did you know that Bodhran is the name of the Celtic Drum? Some bodhrans and tippers will be available to play in the Beginning Bodhran class. Or you can kick back and let the performances of Celtic dancers or jugglers or musicians entertain you. Looking for a solid and substantial experience? Nothing could be more foundational than learning to make the very best oats porridge fit for competition at the upcoming Alaska Scottish Highland Games.
You don’t have to have Celtic blood or heritage to love the Celtic culture. CCA has members with Irish or Scottish connections, but Wales and Brittany are also Celtic. Other Celtic locations are the Isle of Man, Cornwall, Galicia, and Asturias in Spain. A real “Celtic person” is stirred by the sounds of bagpipes, moved by stories of heroes and their fortunes, drawn to stewardship of the land expressed in traditional Druid legends, or who gets lost in stories from centuries of history. Or anyone who believes, even secretly, in leprechauns and fairies.
Take a break from mud and melting snow and join the sparkling, heart-lifting, fun atmosphere on Saturday, April 20th, at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2824 East 18th Avenue, 10 AM - 5 PM.
And if you can’t make Spring Festival, you can always drop in for their autumn celebration of Samhain at the end of October.