Australian Celtic Festival Glen Innes Honours the Isle of Man in 2016

News From the The Australian Celtic Festival of Glen Inness.  See link below for additional information.

The Australian Celtic Festival in Glen Innes, Northern NSW is unique for its colour, spectacle and range of entertainment and history. An opportunity to meet with friends and experience our country hospitality.

The 2016 Australian Celtic Festival will honour the Isle of Man.

The festival’s main venue is the Australian Standing Stones, an array of spectacular granite monoliths like those around which the ancient Celts danced. To be there at dawn to listen to the eerie skirl of pipes in the autumn mists at the Standing Stones is an experience not to be missed.

The four day festival provides non-stop entertainment including the street parade, spectacular ceremonial roles performed by re-enactment groups, kirking of the tartan, massed bands, children’s entertainment, dancing, flat raising ceremonies, poets’ breakfast, yard dog trials, market stalls, fun run and Celtic foods.

The festival in 2016 will again draw clans, national groups, dancers and artists from across Australia and overseas. You can partake in Celtic music and dance at one of the four stages at the Standing Stones or in one of the many concert venues in the town of Glen Innes.

If you intend going to the 2016 Celtic Festival at Glen Innes to help celebrate the year of the Isle of Man, then now is the time to consider your accommodation and what activities you will attend.

There’s a new twist to next year’s Australian Celtic Festival and it’s all about “tying the knot”.  On Saturday 30th April 2016, at the Australian Celtic Festival at Glen Innes, one lucky couple will win the opportunity to ‘tie the knot’ in a traditional Celtic style, 100% legal wedding. Couples have been getting married from the beginning of time. Early marriage was borne of ancient societies’ need to secure a safe environment in which to breed, handle the granting of property rights, and protect bloodlines. However, even in these early times, marriage was as much about love and desire as it was about social and economic stability. Marriage was an integral part of Celtic life and the Celtic Festival Committee are excited to bring this tradition to the festival for the very first time. ‘We think visitors will enjoy learning about another aspect of Celtic life’ said Navanka Fletcher.

Local celebrant, Mel Lindsay, will lead the ceremony, ensuring that the couple not only have a unique Celtic marriage ceremony, but also one that meets the legal requirements in Australia. ‘Many of our modern day marriage traditions have their origins in ancient times. This ceremony will be brimming with traditional Celtic rituals such as hand-fasting.’ said Ms Lindsay, ‘I hope the festival visitors will embrace this new aspect to the festival and will join us to watch a lovely couple on their very special day’.

http://www.australiancelticfestival.com/