St. Leonard, MD – Just about everybody has a little bit of Celt in them.
According to Carla Jackson, president of the Celtic Society of Southern Maryland for the past four years, that’s the reason why the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, held Saturday, April 28 at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard, is one of the most popular such events on the East Coast.
“It’s the oldest Celtic festival in Maryland and the largest single day event in Southern Maryland,” Jackson said proudly. “We generally pull in between 8,000 and 10,000. The biggest gate we’ve ever had was 12,000.
“I think particularly in the United States, everybody has a lit bit of Celt in them,” she added. “Not just Scotch and Irish. In fact, there are the Welsh, and then there are Spanish Celts who traveled to Brazil and South America and colonized the country. Everyone, regardless of current race, creed, religion, whatever, has a little bit of Celt in them. I think just that probably is a big draw.”
There is something for everyone at the Celtic Festival, including highland dancing, piping, two performance stages, one for Celtic rock and another stage for traditional Celtic music. Dancing is a huge part of the festival, which featured a dance stage with dancing from all seven of the Celtic nations plus dancing from traditional America which was brought over with the Celts. Also featured was a very proper Catillian dance like they would do in the 1700s.
“That is all developed from Scottish country dancing,” Jackson explained.
“That variety of things really gives you a pan-world look at the world and Celtic music in particular has links to so many different cultures,” she added.
While many think of the bagpipes as being a Scottish invention, the pipes originated in ancient Egypt and expanded into the Mediterranean. “We call the Spanish pipe, ‘Gata,’ the mother pipes,” Jackson said.“Most people think of the great highland pipes from Scotland, but really if you dive into Celtic culture, you realize the mother pipe is the Gata to northern Spain.
“A few years ago we started having a Latino band playing here and I overheard someone say, ‘Why are we having a Latin band at the Celtic Festival?’” she explained. “The Latin music we think of today started when Spanish Celts went to South America and colonized Brazil and that area and mixed with the indigenous drums of the indigenous people, and that became what we think of is the Latin beat. So we felt that music was very appropriate for our event.”
The Celtic Society of Southern Maryland also offers grants for workshops and camps as well as sometimes for learning trips overseas.
“It’s not a huge number of dollars,” she noted. “It can be anywhere from $250 to 900, depending. It can be someone from high school, college, or somebody who wants to brush up on their fiddle playing. Some go to institutions. Just last week, we donated $500 to the Calvert Marine Museum to sponsor a group called the Fiddle Festival in their concert series.”
More information can be found at www.cssm.com
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com
