NACHS Newsletter

The Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society

April 2007

Celtic Triad ... Three best friends and three worst enemies: fire, wind, and rain

The Festival's coming, the Festival's coming!

It's only three and a half months to the festival. Now is the time we have to really kick into gear. We need some key volunteers and loads of basic volunteers for all manner of jobs. If you or someone you know are interested PLEASE step forward! Call Jude at 928-556-3161.

Festival Perks for members.

Don't forget that we have a special gift bag for our members. When you go to the festival go to the NACHS Education tent and pick up a bag! Also, it's time to think about tickets. As we have done in the past we we'll do again. Members may purchase tickets at half price. Family memberships are allowed to purchase 12 tickets at half price and individual memberships are allowed to purchase 4 tickets at half price. Call Jude for details! 928-556-3161.

Upcoming Events Listed in Chronological Order – See Details Below

April 3 – NACHS monthly meeting, 6-8pm, Flagstaff Adult Center, 245 Thorpe Road, Flagstaff.

April 21 & 22 – Las Vegas Celtic Gathering and Highland Games

Apr 1, Sun: Tartan Day Celebration, 2pm, Charly's, Weatherford Hotel, Flagstaff.

May 1 – NACHS monthly meeting, 6-8pm, POSSIBLY a BBQ affair at Floxglenn Park. If not, then at Flagstaff Adult Center, 245 Thorpe Road, Flagstaff. See article below.

July 21 & 22 – 10^TH Annual Arizona Highland Celtic Festival, Foxglenn Park, Flagstaff

From Wales... Teisen (Cake) Galan Gaeaf

3/4 lb. plain flour

pinch salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 lb. butter

1/2 lb. sugar

4 eggs

1 1/4 lbs. mixed fruit (1 lb. fruit - 3/4 lb. nuts, blanched almonds and walnuts)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until fluffy. Add the sifted flour and salt. Fold in, and lastly, fold in the fruit and nuts. Bake in a lined and greased cake tin in a slow to moderate oven for about two hours. This cake may be iced if desired.

May Meeting

There is a plan afoot for the May meeting to be a barbeque at Foxglenn Park. If the weather is fine we will do just that. Since we cannot predict the weather please let Jude know if you will attend that meeting and she will keep you informed: 928-556-3161. NACHS will provide burgers and dogs, and we'll be asking everyone to bring a side dish to share. That day is also Beltane so we will definitely have some sort of Beltane activity in honor of our ancestors.

From the Irish Cultural Center

1106 North Central Avenue, Phoenix

Bloomsday meets Beerfest!

On Saturday, June 16, at 5pm, the Center will open its gates for Arizona’s First Annual Bloomin' Beerfest, a unique event that combines the fine old Irish tradition of Bloomsday with the fine new American tradition of a beer tasting. Co-sponsored by the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation and the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, the event will mark the 103rd anniversary of Leopold Bloom's fictional journey through the streets of Dublin in the James Joyce novel, Ulysses . Bloom's journey included stops at more than a few pubs. At Arizona’s first Bloomin' Beerfest the available brews will originate with twenty of Arizona’s top craft brewers, rather than with the brewers of Irish beers and ales.

Bloomsday is celebrated in Ireland and throughout the world by Irish people and Joyce fans alike. The name “Bloomsday” derives from Leopold Bloom, the novel's protagonist; June 16 was the day in 1904 on which the events in Ulysses were set. In the novel, Bloom travels around Dublin meeting fascinating characters and making full use of the city's pubs. To literary and Joyce lovers around the world, Bloom represents both the Everyman of modern society and the heroic Ulysses of Homer's great epic poem, The Odyssey.

Arizona’s 2007 Bloomsday celebration will feature the talents of the Arizona Readers Theater who will perform traditional readings from Ulysses, such as “Molly's Lament,” throughout the evening. Expect to see Molly's coffin enshrined in the stone cottage at the heart of the Irish Cultural Center. Live music will lighten the mood and traditional Irish and festival food will be available for purchase.

The price of Bloomin' Beerfest tickets includes admission to the event, 16 tickets which can be presented to taste the wares of participating craft brewers, and a souvenir beer mug. Presale tickets can be purchased online for $25 from May 24 through June 14 at www.azbrewguild.com ($35 at the door). Beer tasting ticket sales are limited to 750 persons. “Designated Driver” tickets for $5 and children under 12 are admitted free of charge. “Readings only” tickets are offered at $15 and can be purchased at the Irish Cultural Center and at the gate. The Proceeds of this event benefit the Irish Cultural and Learning Foundation (ICLF), the 501(c)3 corporation that operates the Irish Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix in partnership with the City of Phoenix . The ICLF operates the Center and its educational and cultural programs to preserve and showcase Irish culture for the education and enjoyment of the people of Arizona.

ICLF's partner in this event, the Arizona Craft Brewers Guild, is a statewide organization of small brewers dedicated to producing quality ales and lagers. They also produce events to familiarize the public with the fine brews produced by their members.

Cans for the Cause

If you drink beverages in aluminum cans, and you are willing to save them for a cause, do we have a proposition for you! One of our young pipers is trying to earn money to go to our own United States School of Piping. He is saving cans to help earn the money and we thought we could help. To help, just save your cans and when you get a bunch call Jim Thomson at Thomson and Son Bagpipes 928-522-8797 to arrange a time to drop them off. Thanks for your help.

Wanted: Pipers and Drummers

Interested in learning to play bagpipes and belonging to a small local pipe band? Call us! All levels of skill welcome and lessons are free!

Jim Thomson 928-522-8797.

THANKS to former NAIF members and NACHS members

We have had a whirlwind of events over the past two months and every event has been a success! Thanks to everyone who joined the parties! If not for you all these events wouldn't happen. A special thanks for everyone who joined the fun for Shenanigans, especially since it was our first time to host this event. The Knockabouts did a great job at hosting that one. And, thanks to the twenty plus members who marched and rode in the Sedona St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade committee gave us a stipend of three hundred dollars, which we’ll put to good use.

Introducing...the 2008 Kilt's Up Calendar

Get ‘em while they're hot. We have produced another Kilt's Up calendar! You will see members of our organization in season appropriate, PG rated poses - and all the proceeds will go to our scholarship program. Calendars are $15 each or $10 each if you buy 10 or more. They make great holiday gifts or birthday gifts. Call Jude to get yours now - 928-556-3161.

Las Vegas Celtic Gathering and Highland Games

April 21-22, 2007 9AM-6PM

Bagpipe Bands, Scottish Heavy Athletics, Highland Dancing, Children*s Games,

Scottish Clans, Scottish and Irish Food, Scottish/Irish Shopping

Desert Skye Pipes and Drums/LA Scots

Wicked Tinkers/Stand Easy

Floyd Lamb State Park

US 95 North, off at Durango, go East, Follow the signs

Tickets-

General: 2 Day...$16 advance/$20 at the gate, 1 Day...$10

Senior/Military: 2 Day...$14 advance/$16 at the gate, 1 Day...$8

Child: -2 Day...$8 advance/$10 at the gate, 1 Day...$5

www.LasVegasCelticSociety.org or call 702/596-9995 for advance tickets and info.

NACHS opportunity with SAMS

Sam's club has a deal we might want to take advantage of. If anyone is interested in joining Sam's Club (the discount store) under a NACHS membership, please call Jude 928-556-3161. If we get enough people to join as part of our group we can qualify for a 25% discount on the membership.

Library Nook

Todd Barnell

This Human Season

by Louise Dean, 2005 (US edition published in 2007)

New book section, fiction, DEAN, Louise

I spent a good portion of early March following the latest round of elections in Northern Ireland. As I read through numerous articles and manifestos, followed the build up and then the early vote tallies, I was at first rather depressed by the vitriol and animosity which still permeates that society. But, upon reflection, I couldn't help but feel cautiously hopeful. I thought back to some of the darkest days of Northern Ireland's recent history, commonly referred to as "The Troubles". Change may come slowly, perhaps even glacially, but progress is being made.

A few days after the election was over I came across a book in the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library's new book section. This Human Season is the second book by Louise Dean, a new British writer who has amazed readers and critics on both sides of the Atlantic. This book is set in the last few months of 1979, at the height of The Troubles and during the climactic days of the "Dirty Protest", when Irish Republican prisoners in the British jail known as Long Kesh fought back at the loss of their "political status" in prison, which included a refusal to wear prison clothes. Instead they wrapped themselves in prison towels. Thus began a terrible battle of wills between the prison guards and the prisoners, culminating in the prisoners refusing to leave their cells, instead smearing their excrement on the walls.

A great many books have been written about this painful time - usually strongly rooted in either the Nationalist or Loyalist camp. What Dean has created though is an impartial examination of the lives of two people - a Catholic mother whose oldest child is in Long Kesh and a prison guard who came to Belfast as a British solider and stayed for his own deeply personal reasons - set against the horror and desperation of that time. Many novels have used the technique of telling a complicated story through the eyes of two characters on opposite sides of some chasm. Unfortunately, these types of novels can often come across as preachy, or leave the reader confused. Dean masterfully avoids these pitfalls by slowly building up all the everyday minutia that permeates everyone's life, in the lives of her two characters. The reader feels as if they are sitting at a creaking kitchen table, wreathed in cigarette smoke, hearing the sausages spit in a pan as the mother wonders what is to become of her children. When the guard climbs into his car at 3:30 am, cautiously watching the road to see if he is being followed, feeling the cold and exhaustion seeping into his bones, we feel we are sitting on the cracked vinyl right next to him.

The mother, Kathleen Moran, has not only seen her oldest child end up in prison. She struggles with a dying relationship with her boozy husband who wallows in his glory days of helping the IRA in the early sixties; a ten-year old son whose only desire is to join the IRA's youth group; an older daughter who has fled to the peace of England and has no desire to return; and a younger daughter who is slowly sinking into a deeper melancholy, watching her family slowly crumble as neighborhood children are shot dead in the street. The author does not build Kathleen into a stereotypical suffering mother or a saint. She is a frustrated, exhausted woman doing her best in horrible circumstances to keep both her family, and herself, from shattering completely.

John Dunn, who at 39 is the same age as Kathleen, spent 22 years in the British Army. He did three tours in Northern Ireland and when he left the service he chose to move to Belfast. At first he comes off as a man who, brutalized by his own past, simply seeks solace in following others' orders. But as the tale unwinds his shrewdness and passion slowly captivate the reader, creating one of the most compelling underdogs I have encountered.

These two characters never meet and their lives are filled with some of the most interesting, and non-stereotypical, secondary characters. They both attempt to live up to others' expectations of them, falling short but trying again in their own distinctive ways. As they both move toward their own climactic scenes at Christmas, the twin narratives seem to become almost painfully close as differences fade to the background. Their stories not only put a human face onto the enormous pain and suffering the people of Northern Ireland have endured, but they also illustrated the tragedies and comedies we all share in our everyday struggles.

When I closed this book I admit I felt fairly drained and even a little shaky. But then I realized that the primary emotion I had was cautious hope. In the end, this book is really a tale of survival and maybe even a little redemption. We rarely get the opportunity in our lives to achieve full-scale pardons for our actions, but we can always strive for it.

Note: Most people know that NACHS runs an outstanding scholarship program which provides financial assistance to people interested in delving deeper into their Celtic roots, whether that be through learning a new musical instrument, investigating a Celtic language, mastering a dance style, and so on. What many do not know is that our Society also donates a substantial number of books, videos, and DVDs to our local library. If you have a suggestion for materials you feel should be donated, please send your suggestion to NACHS.

Celtic Music radio program on KJZA 89.5 FM

- Hosted by NACH's own David McNabb

- Live on Saturdays, 6-7 pm

- Broadcast repeated on Sundays, 1-2 pm

Directory of Celtic Arts

For Lessons:

Bagpipe, Prescott	Denise Robinson: 928.443.5191
Bagpipe and Drums, Flagstaff	Jim Thomson: 928.522.8797
Bodhran	Ron Barton: 928.774.7261
Fiddle	Kari Barton: 928.600.1365
Harp	Laurie Riley: 928.204.0013
Highland Dance	Jim Thomson: 928.522.8797
Irish Dance	Sharon Judd: 602.253.1978

For Performance and Music:

AZ Highlanders Pipe Band, or to hire bagpipers	Jim Thomson: 928.522.8797
Bagpiping in Cottonwood/Verde Valley area	Lloyd McCaffery: 928.634.3672
The Knockabouts	John McGregor: 928.863.0188
Celtic Harp	Laurie Riley: 928.204.0013
Wild Thyme	Sherri Bermeister: 928.636.1207

Note: It’s Time for Membership Renewal

Please go to the website, www.nachs.info. You can download, print, fill in the membership form, then mail it, along with your check, to NACHS, PO Box 187, Flagstaff, AZ 86002. Your support of the society is crucial to continuing our “preserving, promoting, and preserving” Celtic culture.

YOU can be part of

An Uplifting Experience …

… buy copies of our

Kilts Up! 2008 Calendar

All net proceeds go to the Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society’s Scholarship Fund. (We have donated over $32,000 in cash to scholarship recipients over the last ten years.)

Our calendar is educational, as well as fun:

• Major American holidays

• At least one holiday from each Celtic region

• Dates of seasonal solstices

• Dates of Full and New Moons

• Dates of Waning and Waxing Moons

• Dates of major Pagan holidays

• Names and color photos of 12 Scottish tartans

$15. each, tax included

The Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society is dedicated to

“ … presenting, promoting, preserving Celtic culture …”

Asturias Brittany Cornwall Galicia Ireland Isle of Man Scotland Wales