Celtic Hymn Night January 19

Celtic Cultural Alliance is sponsoring a free Celtic Hymn night on January 19, 2019. Local musicians will be performing, and the history of the music will be explained. It will be at Life in Christ Church, 51 E. Hillmond St., Bethlehem PA 18018 from 7:00 until 8:30 p.m.

"The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad,

For all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad."

-G.K. Chesterton

Celtic Classic Awards $7,500 in Scholarships

Elizabeth Anthony

Although we druids are known for a human sacrifice here and there, there really is such a thing as Celtic culture. The English and Scots have a few bards of lesser quality like Dickens and Shakespeare. We Irish can point to literary giants like W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw, to name a few. We've got more than bagpipes and haggis. We invented or perfected most literary forms. For example, long before the Japanese came up with the haiku, we had the fucku. It comes as no surprise to me that, once every year, Bethlehem celebrates the Celtic Classic. Mayor Bob Donchez, a Slovak, runs around in a kilt. I even taught him an Irish greeting -
póg mo thóin.

I might have slightly embellished my first paragraph. But the Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) wants you to know they are more than whisky tasting. This past year, $7000 in scholarships were awarded to students studying Celtic Art forms such as Celtic fiddle, bagpipes, literature, the fine arts, Irish Dance or Scottish Highland Dance.

Now, in the Christmas season, CCA has awarded a $500 volunteer scholarship to Elizabeth Anthony, a Liberty High School junior and daughter of Ed and Robin Anthony of Hanover Township. Elizabeth volunteered at the 2019 Celtic Classic Highland Games and Festival. She is a majorette in the LHSGB, plays lacrosse, is captain of the club cancer crushers and captain of the helping hands committee in BASD mini-thon. She is also a member of National Honor Society, Cops-n-Kids, G.R.A.S.S. club, and S.A.D.D, and Key Club. She is employed as a youth girls’ lacrosse official and as a cashier at Skyzone.

Elizabeth stated one of her highlights as a volunteer was speaking to a visitor using sign language that she learned from her ASL class at Liberty High School. Serving in three different areas of Celtic Classic, she stated she “loved being a volunteer at Celtic Classic because it brings the community together to celebrate and promote the Celtic culture, which is my heritage.”

For more information on the Celtic Classic Highland Games & Festival and other Celtic Cultural Alliance events, visit the organization’s website at www.celticfest.org.

Celtic Classic to Award $500 Scholarship to HS Volunteer

Celtic Cultural Alliance award a $500 scholarship to one of its high school volunteers at Celtic Classic Highland Games and Festival, held on September 28-30, 2018, in historic downtown Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Through this scholarship, CCA hopes to encourage high school students to learn about Celtic culture and gain useful volunteer experience in the community. Applicants must fill out an application that describes their volunteer experience and includes a photo of themselves volunteering at Celtic Classic. The $500 scholarship is to be applied towards higher education expenses.

The student must be in grades 9-12 during the 2018-2019 school year, register for volunteering through the volunteer data base, and volunteer for 12 hours at Celtic Classic on September 28-30, 2018 or in the past two years.

A winner will be chosen by December 15, 2018, by a committee comprised of members of the Board of Directors of Celtic Cultural Alliance.
For more information and a registration form, please visit http://www.celticfest.org/volunteer_scholarship

Celtic Classic runs from Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30, in downtown historic Bethlehem. For more information, directions, volunteering opportunities and the weekend’s schedule, log on to www.celticfest.org. For up-to-the-minute information and updates, follow Celtic Classic on Twitter (@CelticClassic) and friend them on Facebook (facebook.com/CelticClassic).

Celtic Classic Looking For a Few Good Poets

A seanchaí is an Irish storyteller. I consider myself a seanchaí of sorts, at least here in the blogosphere. I also like to tell stories at the courthouse, but I pale in comparison to others. The best seanchaí I know is Ron Angle. He can tell story after story for hours on end. Some of them are even mostly true, but that's not the point. A story can be 90% fiction and tell a much greater truth. The purest truth, however, come from poetry. If you consider yourself a bard, now's your chance to shine.

The Celtic Cultural Alliance has announced its annual poetry contest for writers of all ages. They need to be original and reflect Celtic culture, arts, history or literature. Personal anecdotes of family memories or travelling experiences are also encouraged.

Poems must be original in any style or length with one author. The three brackets are: 3rd through 6th grades, 7th through 12th grades, and adult. The entries must be neatly written or typed. Top poets in each category will be given a certificate, a major award and will be invited to read their poems on the stage at Celtic Heritage Hollow on September 30, 2018, smack dab in the middle of the Celtic Classic..

Writers should submit their entries to Marcie Mulligan at mmulligan@celticfest.org, subject: Poetry Contest or by mail to Celtic Cultural Alliance, Celtic Poetry Contest, 534 Main St., Bethlehem PA 18018 by the deadline of September 7, 2018. Only winners will be notified of the contest’s outcome before September 19, 2018.

For more information on the contest, please visit the http://www.celticfest.org/celtic_poetry_contest.

Celtic Classic runs from Friday, September 28rd through Sunday, September 30th in downtown historic Bethlehem. For more information, directions, volunteering opportunities and the weekend’s schedule, log on to www.celticfest.org. For up-to-the-minute information and updates, follow Celtic Classic on Twitter (@CelticClassic) and friend them on Facebook (facebook.com/CelticClassic).

Celtic Classic to Offer $7,000 in Scholarships

Celtic Cultural Alliance (CCA) will award up to $7000.00 in scholarships this year in Celtic dance, music, or art. They will be presented at Celtic Classic Highland Games and Festival on September 30, 2018.

Recipients will be determined on the basis of commitment to Celtic dance, music, and/or the fine arts. No audition or proof of financial need is necessary. The intent of the scholarship is to apply the funds for future classes, instruments, or other costs.

For more information about scholarship program, go to http://www.celticfest.org/cca_scholarships.

Application deadline is June 15, 2018, at 5:00 p.m.

Celtic Classic runs from Friday, September 28, through Sunday, September 30, in downtown historic Bethlehem. For more information, directions, volunteering opportunities and the weekend’s schedule, log on to www.celticfest.org.

Celtic Classic Bagpiper Fixes Wheelchairs, Too!

From Agent 99: Yesterday I went to Celtic Classic for a couple of hours with a friend. We stopped to listen to a bagpiper who was practicing (and was well worth listening to). He stopped mid-song, laid his bagpipes in the road, and walked over to a young man in a wheelchair who had been crossing the road. We then saw the front wheel of the wheelchair had fallen off into the road. The bagpiper knelt down on the dusty road and, with the help of a couple of other men who came over to help when they saw what was happening, put the wheel back on, wiped off his hands, picked up his pipes and rejoined his band (who had already started to play). I was impressed at his matter-of-fact attitude, and how he just saw that something needed to be done, and did it without fanfare. He is the piper to the left in the picture, I have no idea who he is or even which band he belongs to.

Blogger's Note: I missed this year's Celtic Classic because I pulled my back. But it is my favorite festival.

Celtic Classic Infects Becahi Liberty Football Rivalry

This unidentified Bethlehem police officer, who insists he really was trying to smile, is technically out of uniform. But nobody challenged him at the Becahi-Liberty game.

Sean Barry, Aileen Meier, Matt McGrath, Danny McGrath, Erin McGrath and Tom Stapleton, of Ling Island's Róisín Dubh (Black Rose) pipe band, enjoy a playground at Sand Island. "We love it here," said Erin. Shane Stapleton, age 12, is out of uniform.

Theo's gyrons, Italian sausage and Pennsylvania Dutch funnel cakes are standard fare at the Celtic Classic

Celtic Classic Gets Technical, But Will Still Serve Haggis

It's a lot smaller than Musikfest, and lasts only three days. But if you like the smell of haggis in the morning, or the strains of bagpipes in the afternoon, Celtic Classic is the place for you. This year's event, which will run at the bottom of Main Street from September 23 to 25, 2011, features something new - a free iPad and iPhone application.

"This is our gift to Celtic Fest and the Bethlehem community," explained Doug Pelletier, President of Trifecta Technologies, at a September 14 news conference. It will include all the vendors, bands, video clips, a map and updated schedules. It can be downloaded either from the iTunes app store or by scanning QR codes that will be located throughout the festival.

Fest organizers will incorporate Twitter and Facebook contests. "All of these new social media features are designed to keep our guests informed with up-to-the minute festival happenings," explained Executive Director Jayne Recker.

"How do you fit the iPad in a kilt?" asked one reporter. "The Ipad's a little hard to fit in a kilt, but the iPhone is not so bad," answered Pelletier. He added, "The Irish are pretty smart. They'll figure out a way to do it."

Northampton County Council: Haggis For Everyone!

Tiny Nazareth is home to six different Italian restaurants. We also have two Chinese restaurants, a Japanese sushi bar that replaces a taco house, a bakery that specializes in Moravian sugarcake and a Brazilian steakhouse. On the outskirts, we even have an Indian grocery. But one thing you won't see, here or anywhere else in the Lehigh Valley, is a good Irish-British-Scottish restaurant. Sure, we've got a lock on pubs like Braveheart, where a seven course meal consists of a six pack and a potato, but that's about it.

And that's as it should be. Have you ever eaten authentic British food? It might explain why they fancy French restaurants. I'm firmly convinced that pretty much all British cuisine was invented on a dare. One of the most revolting of these foods, of course, is haggis, in which a sheep's heart, liver and lungs are stuffed inside its stomach and then boiled for about three weeks. I'd rather eat vomit. Is it any wonder we drink?

Now we do have our good points, like kilts, Irish whiskey, caber-tossing, Scotch, bagpipes, Bass Ale, the Book of Kells, porter, bards and Guinness Stout. We still produce the occasional Druid, persons like Jim Hickey, who can still blow flaming monkeys out of his ass at will. So it's no surprise that Celts will conduct occasional celebrations of their superiority at events like Bethlehem's annual Celtic Classic.

But that festival has fallen on hard times, thanks to lousy weather. Luck of the Irish. Hickey has suggested a few human sacrifices, but only Northampton County Bulldog Ron Angle would go along with that idea. So last night, instead of throwing hotel tax money at the LV Iron Pigs, Northampton County Council decided to give the Celtic Classic $5,000.

Jerry Seyfried: "What is the money being used for?"

McAngle: "Haggis."

McHale, a board member who recused herself from voting, said the money would be used for educational programs, including how to cook haggis.

O'Dertinger: "And to teach kids they don't want that."

McAngle: "Isn't that sheep's stomach or something?"

McHale: "Yes."

Mike Dowd: "And that's the upside."

McHale: "Do you like scrapple? I mean, I like scrapple, but I can't get haggis down. It just comes back up. I tried it once. Once was enough. Sorry. Let's change the subject."

When your kids come home from school, hurling sheep's liver and hearts, give them a Guinness Stout and they'll be fine. It's for medicinal purposes.