Celtic Festival theme is multi-cultural this year

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

Illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898) created this famous illustration of the Lady of the Lake for London publisher J.M. Dent's "Birth Life and Acts of King Arthur" (London, 1893 - 1894). The theme for Gallup's Ninth Annual Celtic Festival, "Sacred Water: Lady of the Lake to White Shell Woman," blends Celtic traditions with Native American cultural teachings. [Courtesy Photo]

GALLUP — The Ninth Annual Celtic Festival will be this weekend, and this year the annual celebration will join Celtic traditions and Native American cultural teachings around a common theme.

The two-day festival, which begins on Friday evening at the First United Mehodist Church, 1800 Red Rock Drive in Gallup, has the theme of "Sacred Water: Lady of the Lake to White Shell Woman." The festival will celebrate the Celtic and Native American understanding of the precious and sacred nature of water.

Lady of the Lake refers to Vivian, the mythological guardian of the Excalibur in the Arthurian tales, and White Shell Woman refers to the mythological female figure in traditional Navajo emergence stories.

The following is an outline of festival events:

Friday, March 9

• 6:30 p.m: Doors open Vendor tables open, child care open, workshop registration, refreshments, and Celtic harp music
  
  
• 7 p.m: Traditional Opening Flag ceremony, readings and blessings, piper and other music
  
  
• 7:40 p.m: Dramatic Presentation of "Sacred Water: Lady of the Lake to White Shell Woman"
  
  
• 8:10 to 9 p.m: Music and dance

Saturday, March 10

• 9:30 a.m. to noon: Workshops will be offered throughout the morning for a fee of $3 each "Celtic Spirituality," "The Journey of a Water Drop," "Scones," "Irish Step Dancing," and "Rainsticks"; workshops have varying recommended age levels, from older elementary school children, youth, adult, and all ages; Registration Information: 722-9257 or 722-5411.
  
  
• Noon: Traditional Opening Flag ceremony, readings and blessings, piper and other music
  
  
• Noon to 8 p.m: Vendor tables open, child care open, Celtic Caf open, musical entertainment, and more:

  Vendors' wares include books, jewelry, teas, art, soaps, candles, aprons, handcrafts, and ice cream
  
  Celtic Café fare includes Celtic tacos, potato soup, zucchini soup, Ploughman's Lunch, Welsh Rarebit aka Celtic Nachos
  
  Musicians and dancers include the Desert Highlanders, dancers Gillian and Greg Collison, Michele Forlines, Patrick and Michelle Moore, Dragon's Breath, Sandy Webb, Red Rock Revelers, Cathy McCarthy's Irish dancers and dance leader Joan Brown

• 3:15 p.m: Celts in Costume Fashion Show
  
  
• 5-7 p.m: Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner served
  
  
• 8 p.m: Festival closes

Festival Information: Martin Link at (505) 863-6459 or Betsy Windisch at (505) 863-4512 or 722-9257.