Living the Celtic life
Gallupians kick up their heels at annual festival

Carla Dyorak-lash plays theme appropriate music alongside others during the 10th annual Celtic Festival at the First United Methodist Church-Gallup. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

A celtic cross at the 10th Annual Celtic Festival held at the First United Methodist Church-Gallup. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

GALLUP — The 10th Annual Celtic Festival of the Arts and Spirituality lived up to its theme of “A Gathering of the Clans, A Celebration of Family and Kinship” with many local people of Celtic descent and their friends joining together for two days to celebrate their rich Celtic heritage.

Activities were held Friday evening and all day Saturday at the First United Methodist Church, including historical and cultural presentations, vendors, children’s activities and live performances.

The real attraction, many of the festival goers said, was the dancing and the food. Entertainment throughout the two days included Pete Covitz, JUBALation from Albuquerque , Michelle Moore, the Waves of Innisfree Dancers, and the Celtic bands from both Gallup and Albuquerque — The Desert Highlanders and Blarneystone, respectively.

At the Celtic Café, such items as potato soup, zucchini soup, Welsh Rarebit or “Celtic Nachos,” and ploughman’s lunch with bread, cheese and fruits were available all day Saturday. One of the most popular items was the Celtic taco, which organizer Martin Link said was invented during the second festival and consists of potatoes, corned beef, cabbage, Scottish cheese and leeks on fry bread. Even more popular than the Celtic tacos was the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner Saturday evening.

“I like the music and the dancing, and the food is delicious,” Paris Martin said. Martin has been going to the festival for at least five years.

In addition to enjoying the food and music, Martin also participated in the genealogy workshop offered Saturday morning.

The three-hour genealogy workshop called “Seek and Find Your Family Tree” with Lynna Davis was held to emphasize this year’s theme of celebrating family.

Also participating in the genealogy workshop was Madeline Jennings, who was enjoying some of the potato soup Saturday afternoon.

Her favorite part of the festival was the food and music.

“Tonight I’m going to come back for the beef and cabbage,” she said.

Jennings has Irish and Scottish heritage.

Bertha Menini said she doesn’t have any Celtic ancestry she knows about but was there enjoying the festivities.

Asked about her favorite part of the festival, she answered “The music and the dancing.”

Ethel Hill agreed about the music as she ate one of the trademark Celtic tacos.

“It’s lively music. It makes you want to dance,” she said.
Hill, who wore a traditional tartan, said her ancestors were from Scotland .

“For five to six years, I didn’t know I belonged,” she said.

After her daughter made a trip to Scotland and did research, the family found out about their Scottish heritage.

Hill’s favorite part of the festival was getting to wear the tartan that her daughter brought back from Scotland. Many other people were also wore traditional clothing as they mingled in the crowd. Several presentations were done on tartans, including one by Hill on Saturday afternoon.

“People come and just want to know what we’re about. This is what it’s all about, teaching other people,” she said.

A prominent part of this year’s festival was the availability of the official New Mexico tartan which is registered with Scottish tartan organizations. The woven wool tartan was designed by New Mexican Ralph L. Stevenson and includes the color blue to symbolize the sky, green for the state’s plant life, red for “the original providers,” and gold for the state’s resources.

Each day began with a traditional opening of a flag ceremony which included eight flags. Link said that most of the area’s Celtic descendants are from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man. Each of the countries, as well as the United States, was represented with a flag.

“We figure one weekend a year is kind of nice for us to recognize where our ancestors came from and what they accomplished, what they had to go through,” Link said.
Links favorite part of the festival?

“Eating,” he said with a laugh. He added, “I think just being Welsh for a couple days and proud of it. We’re also very, very proud to be Americans. We’re proud of our ancestry. I think the proudest thing is at one point in time my ancestors decided they wanted a better life.”

Children had an opportunity to see what it was like to go through the immigration process with The Ellis Island Experience.

Part of the ceremonies each day was also a Navajo blessing and a Celtic blessing. Link noted that there are many similarities between the two groups and the blessings were done to highlight those similarities. Link said both groups eat mutton and have had to struggle with retaining their languages.

Other activities that local Celtic descendants plan are a midsummer ceremony on June 21 and a medieval dinner on Jan. 6.