Highland Village Museum Celebrates Celtic Colours
Cape Breton Island is home to a unique celebration of music and culture Oct. 10 to 18, and Highland Village Museum will offer workshops, concerts and other events as part of the internationally acclaimed event.
Highland Village Museum/An Clachan Gàidhealach in Iona, Victoria Co., will begin its celebration of the 12th annual Celtic Colours International Festival with its annual Gaelic film series.
Hallaig, which explores the poetry of Sorley MacLean, originally composed in Gaelic, will kick off the series on Friday, Oct. 10.
The Gaelic Cape Breton Show will be shown Wednesday, Oct. 15. The glance back to the Gaelic Cape Breton Show at the Little Theatre UCCB in 1989 showcases some of Cape Breton's most recognizable performers like Dave MacIsaac, Willie Kennedy, Willie Fraser, Natalie MacMaster, the late John Morris Rankin, and traditional Gaelic singers.
On Thursday, Oct. 16, the series will feature Fagail Bharraidh, which profiles a tour group of Scottish Gaels, originally hailing from the Isle of Barra, who toured Cape Breton Island in October 2006 in search of Nova Scotia's Gaelic language traditions and relatives.
The 44-minute production was broadcast nationally in Scotland.
All shows start at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
A textile workshop, Am Breacan Màiri Uisdein: Mary's Bonnie Plaid, will be offered on Monday, Oct. 13. Textile specialist Vicki Quimby will teach the skills of 19th-century Gaelic-speaking pioneer women who created dyes from natural ingredients to colour homespun materials and yarns in a wide range of hues. Participants will have a chance to dye their own wool. The workshop, in the historic Centre Chimney House, costs $10 for adults or $5 for students.
A Gaelic song workshop is set for Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Calum Alex and Seonaidh Beag MacMillan will lead the Gaelic song session. Admission is free.
Cainnt Mo Mhathar/My Mother's Language Photo Exhibit, a visual art series by photographer Ryan MacDonald, features Nova Scotia's native Gaelic speakers in their home environments. The exhibit will open Tuesday, Oct. 14. with a tea and ceilidh at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free.
The exhibit will be open daily to Oct. 19. Regular museum admission fees apply.
The Waters of Iona concert will be held Thursday, Oct. 16 in the Malagawatch Church at the top of the Highland Village hill. The concert will feature pipers Ryan MacDonald of Cape Breton's North Shore and Ryan MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils, brothers Kenneth and Calum MacKenzie, with the pipes and fiddle, Gaelic singer Joanne MacIntyre and fiddler Bryan Gear of the Scottish Isle of Shetland. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20.
Highland Village's popular children's living history program will be offered Oct. 11 and 18. Children eight to 12 years old dress up for the Saturday program, which offers a sense of what life was like for young Gaels. Costumes are provided. The program runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $30 per child and prepaid reservations are required.
For more information on events, contact Highland Village at 902-725-2272, e-mail highlandvillage@gov.ns.ca or visit http://museum.gov.ns.ca/hv/.