Celebrating identity: Halifax Celtic Cultural Festival in full swing

The 12th annual Halifax Celtic Cultural Festival saw people eager to learn more about the culture from the Celtic nations.

“I think we’re so used to our Nova Scotian culture that we don’t always remember that it is a Scottish culture, it is an Irish culture, because it’s been so ingrained,” says Beth Anne MacEachen, the chair of the Celtic Cultural Society of Nova Scotia.

While many Gaels came from Scotland to Nova Scotia about 250 years ago, language is one thing that has largely been lost.

“My grandfather’s generation, they lost their language. They weren’t allowed speaking Gaelic in schools,” she says. “So, it’s a reclamation as well to be able to be out speaking Gaelic with kids, be speaking Gaelic with our elders, and to show the importance of intergenerational learning.”

That’s why she’s a Gaelic language teacher and enjoys making a festival like this available to anyone who wants to pop by.

“Every year I try to come out and support the Scottish culture,” says Joy MacLachlan, who attended the event on Saturday. “I’m just all into that culture and stuff, and it’s pretty amazing as my ancestors came from Scotland as well.”

The event celebrates Celtic heritages through the cultural expressions of music, song, dance, languages, genealogy, arts and crafts, and histories.

That means language lessons and music weren’t hard to find at Citadel High School on Saturday.

“My impression is that people are quite interested in learning more about the history of the Scottish and other Celtic groups in Nova Scotia,” says Ian MacVicar, a director with the Federation for Scottish Culture in Nova Scotia.

“I think it’s great that people are showing that interest and taking the time out of their busy schedules to come to the festival and to learn a bit more about the presence of all these groups.”

But it’s not just language being passed down.

“I find it interesting from our very first festival, when I see some of the people that performed that were young, especially the dancers, I now see them teaching others,” says Rick Grant, the festival’s founder and the president emeritus of the Celtic Cultural Society of Nova Scotia.

“We’re here and we still have our culture,” he says. “So, for the newer immigrants, they should realize coming in, after 400 years, you can still have your language, the culture, and allow other people to share it with you to appreciate it.”

Admission to the event is free.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page