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 We want you to meet some of the most vibrant people in the Celtic world. Those who live their culture in a meaningful way from parents who raise their kids to speak Gaelic to the storytellers who keep the old stories alive. We'll be bringing you pipers and drummers, artists and musicians, writers and artisans.
Here, a young Highland dancer greets visitors during Tartan Day celebrations.
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 James Ussher, argumentative child prodigy, favourite of Oliver Cromwell, who determined the World began exactly the day before October 23, 4004 BCE.
Celtic Sports: A Dip into the World of Celtic Wrestling
Cornish Wrestling — Irish Collar-and-Elbow Wrestling — Scottish Backhold Wrestling — Breton Gouren or French Jacket Wrestling — Catch-as-Catch-Can Wrestling — Shin-Kicking
 Gaelic Storm: Titanic to Chucking Cabbages
Scottish Country Dancing, an Agreeable Addiction
Breton: A language struggling for survival
 Jigs, Reels and Metallica — The Stanfields!
Music and Book Reviews
Tom Wallace on Clan Societies and the Spread of Scottish Culture
 Will Millar: The nostalgic artwork of an Irish Rover
A Scottish Lass: The tragic story of Nurse Helen Wood
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Ena Pugh and Lily Milward from Powys, now 104-years old, are the oldest in the world, says the Guinness World Records. The other unique thing is that the 2 have seen their own names on a census record that, by law, had to be kept confidential for 100 years.
On the census of 27 March, 1911, the 2 sisters recognized their mother’s handwriting, listing their ages as 1, their 2 older brothers, Gwyn and Cyril, and their parents. Not many people live long enough to see their names on a census as they are kept locked up for 100 years.
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The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has been dissolved and voters will go to the polls on May 5 to elect the next Scottish Parliament. The former parliament managed to scrap through 2 last pieces of legislation (to protect young people from forced marriages and to reform laws on retrying suspects). It also paid tribute to the presiding officer Alex Ferguson.
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APRIL 6. Call it Tartan Day or Tartan Week (New York City) or even Scotland Week (Scotland), there is not a doubt that what started at a meeting of the Federation of Scots in Nova Scotia, proposed by Jean Watson of Lower Sackville, NS, has become a phenomena that not even she envisioned. She even has mention in Wikipedia. Look up Tartan Day; you’ll see what I mean.
Every province, every territory and even the Canadian Federal Government have recognized Tartan Day. In New York, kilt-clad fans line streets to watch Tartan Day parades and listen avidly to marching pipe bands. In Argentina, home to 100,000 of Scots descent, Argentinians will take part in a march in Buenos Aires. They celebrate in Australia, in New Zealand and in just about every corner of the world where Scots settled.
So dust off your kilts, bake a few Brechin Hecklers, raise a dram of whisky and enjoy Tartan Day 2011.
In Halifax where it all began there will be a ceremony on the steps of the Legislature. And at St. Francis Xavier University there will be a debate, at which I am participating, at 7 p.m. Check the St. F-X site for more details.
And if you are in New York City, don’t forget to watch for tartan fashion by designer Veronica MacIsaac at Sir Sean Connery’s Dressed to Kilt.
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15 intermediate Gaelic learners immersed themselves in a weeklong workshop at the home of Nona MacDermid on the shores of Sydney Mines. It was a no-English zone so that learners could work on their language skills while engaging in everyday household tasks, storytelling sessions, watching Gaelic movies and even going out to dinner, all while speaking Gaelic — although I’m guessing they ordered their dinner in English.
The hope is that these learners, who came from as far away as Pictou and Dartmouth, will be able to strengthen their own language skills and in turn help to support Gaelic culture in their own communities. It is a way of taking Gaelic learning out of the classroom and into the home.
The workshop was sponsored by the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia and it will be hosting more similar sessions during the year.
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