Celtic Recipes

Isle of Man: Resurgence of Interest in Manx Poet T. E. Brown

Submitted by Valerie Caine on May 4, 2014 - 11:53pm

Manx born poet Thomas Edward Brown (colloquially known as T. E. Brown), will be remembered by members of the World Manx Association as they gather in Glen Falcon Gardens, off Broadway in Douglas, for an annual garlanding ceremony on his birthday, 5th May.

Born in Douglas in 1830, T. E. Brown attended King William’s College before gaining a double first at Christ Church, Oxford, and entering the teaching profession, eventually retiring as Master of Clifton College in Bristol in 1892.

National Scottish Paper Backs Yes to Independence

Submitted by Douglas MacQueen on May 4, 2014 - 1:16pm

Scotland’s Sunday Herald has announced its support for a Yes vote for independence in the forthcoming Scottish referendum. It is the first of Scotland’s newspaper’s to do so in an industry that has fallen increasingly under non-Scottish control. On the front page is the headline “Sunday Herald says Yes” with a design of a thistle and Scottish flags by artist Alasdair Gray. The paper’s editorial states: 

Hospital Apologises After Doctor Insults Welsh Speakers

Submitted by Mair Williams on May 3, 2014 - 8:59pm

As reported in Welsh newspaper the Daily Post Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board were forced to apologise following insulting behaviour by a Doctor towards two Welsh speaking patients. The incident happened last Tuesday when a mother and daughter went to the emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan. As the mother was talking to her daughter in Welsh it is claimed that the Doctor told them she would take it as a “personal insult” if they continued speaking in their own language.

Happy Beltane From Transceltic

Emmett McIntyre's picture
Submitted by Emmett McIntyre on May 1, 2014 - 1:35pm

Today, the first day of May is the Festival of Beltane. This ancient Celtic Feast Day is the third Feast day of the Celtic year. Beltane celebrates the fertility and optimism associated with the beginning of the growing season. The other Celtic Festivals of the Celtic Year, which fall every three months, are Samhain (Halloween) celebrated on 1st November, Imbolg which is the Feast day of the Celtic Goddess Brigid celebrated on 1st February, Beltane and Lughnasa, the Celtic Feast of the harvest, celebrated on 1st August. 

‘The Funeral of Anne of Brittany Concert’ in Saint Malo Cathedral May 1st

Submitted by Dominique Corolleur on April 29, 2014 - 7:11pm

On May 1st at Saint Malo Cathedral in Brittany a concert will be held beginning at 20:30. Featuring the music of Antoine de Févin the funeral service and speeches made at the 1514 funeral of Anne of Brittany will be given. This comes after the highly successful concert given at Nantes Cathedral on 5 April. This year 2014 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Anne of Brittany.

Another Nail in BBC Scotland’s Coffin

Submitted by Douglas MacQueen on April 28, 2014 - 12:48pm

For some considerable time now there has been concerns raised about BBC Scotland’s lack of neutrality in regard to Scotland’s independence referendum campaign. Questions continue to be raised about the anti-independence stance that appears to underpin the public broadcaster’s coverage of the campaign. Given that the BBC is a publicly funded body that Scottish voters have to pay for in terms of a compulsory licence fee. It was hoped that news reporting leading up to the vote on Scottish independence would have been impartial.

Isle of Man: Getting Creative in Peel and the West for Annual Art Festival

Submitted by Valerie Caine on April 28, 2014 - 11:36am

There’ll be plenty of activity in Peel and the west during the early May Bank Holiday weekend (3rd – 5th May), with the third Western Open Studio Art Trail offering some new and colourful developments as part of their celebration of the visual arts.

This annual festival has proved a popular addition to the local events calendar, and will include more than forty artists from all over the Island who will be exhibiting and demonstrating their work in over eighteen venues.

The Druids of Calton Hill - Edinburgh Beltane Fire Festival 2014

Emmett McIntyre's picture
Submitted by Emmett McIntyre on April 27, 2014 - 9:13pm

Transceltic are honoured to have had the opportunity to interview Matthew Richardson, former Chair of the Beltane Fire Society and spokesman for the 2014 Festival. Richardson joined the festival as a student at the University of Edinburgh 16 years ago and brings a unique insight into Celtic roots and Druidical traditions that have flourished since the Festival’s founding over 25 years ago.

The Beltane Fire Festival follows some of the core Celtic traditions ... (and) features key events and characters from Celtic Mythology.  Many aspects...were originally inspired by the role of the Druid in Celtic society...and mirror the roles that would have been played in the Druidical tradition. The Neid fire (Beltane Bonfire) is very important to us, being one of the oldest traditions of Beltane that is known.

The Beltane Fire Festival to be held at Edinburgh’s Calton Hill is the premiere event celebrating the Celtic Festival of Beltane. The international prestige of Beltane Fire festival grows stronger every year.  The Beltane Fire festival was first held in 1988 and has developed its own traditions built on the legacy of 2,500 years of Beltane observances. The Beltane Fire Society is a Community Arts Performance Charity that hosts the Beltane Fire Festival as well as Halloween's Samhuinn (Samhain) Fire Festival.  The Beltane Fire Society Festival also celebrate the Celtic Cross-Quarter days of Imbolc and Lughnasadh as well as Solstices and Equinoxes.

Depiction of Beltane Fire Festivals in Edinburgh

Unique amongst the Four Celtic Feast days, Beltane observances have survived in essentially archaic form due in part to its simplicity in that the celebrations historically included the lighting of bonfires. Elements of the tradition have survived into modern times throughout the Six Nations with remnants of the ancient customs surviving into the 20th century in Ireland, Cornwall, Scotland and the Isle of Man (MacKillop).  As the Pan-Celtic movement continues to strengthen, Beltane is experiencing resurgence.

Recognition Of Cornwall Provokes Establishment Rant

Emmett McIntyre's picture
Submitted by Emmett McIntyre on April 26, 2014 - 7:13pm

Charles Moore, a columnist for The Telegraph and mouthpiece for the British establishment, has an opinion piece in The Telegraph in which he insults the Celtic nation of Cornwall and shares his animosity to the announcement by the UK government that Cornish will join the Irish, Scottish and Welsh as a Celtic national minority.  The rant is best captured by the following quote: “There is something unhealthy and divisive about this obsession with legally defining minorities.

Isle of Man: Manx Group Wins Pan Celtic International Song Contest!

Submitted by Valerie Caine on April 25, 2014 - 5:53pm

Manx group Shenn Scoill scored a win for the Isle of Man in last night’s Pan Celtic International Song Contest (the Island’s first victory in the competition’s history) with their evocative composition Tayrn Mee Thie (Drawing Me Home), winning €3,000.

Held as part of the 43rd Pan Celtic Festival, the annual event crossed the Irish border for the first time in its history this year, as the annual celebration moved to the city of Derry in Northern Ireland.

Pages