Why do we do it every year?

The Queen’s Birthday long weekend is celebrated, in Victoria, over the second weekend of June and for all but one of the last 17(?) years I have been heading to the little Bellarine Penninsula town of Portarlington to attend the National Celtic Festival. I am not Irish, Scottish or Welsh, though my ancestry has strong Irish leanings, however we are talking four generations back, if not further, and nobody in my family has a musical bent.

I only attended my first festival because my boyfriend at the time was a roadie for one of the bands, yet I find myself returning year after year. It is permanently marked on my calendar. I organise my Saturday work shift months in advance so that I am free that weekend and I have been a volunteer for a number of years now.

I’m not the only one who returns to this festival every year. There are dozens of us who, even if it is just for one day, make the annual pilgrimage to Portarlington.

Why do I do it? Why do we do it? Why does this festival have such meaning to so many people?

As I edited a selection of the 1500 photos I took over the weekend (I’m a volunteer and an official photographer) the meaning of the festival became clear.

It means friendship.

It means dancing.

It means fun.

It means music.

It means singing.

It means sore feet and losing your voice.

It means learning that you can attend a festival on your own and not be alone.

It means magical moments such as watching strangers lose themselves in movement.

It means a room full of people of all ages and abilities dancing a jig or a reel with joyous abandon.

It means men in kilts and women in hand knitted beanies.

It means fiddles and bagpipes and guitars and flutes and harps and pianos and banjos…..

It means seeing four generations of the one family enjoying a weekend together.

It means finding your ‘tribe’.

It means hearing ‘Whiskey in the jar’ a dozen times and loving every rendition.

It means discovering new artists from Australia and overseas and becoming fans for life.

It means seeing cultures that seem to have no connection come together in music and love.

It means seeing the same faces from last year and being so delighted that they are there again.

It means having bands you know stop their set mid-song to have you take their photo.

It means watching craftsmen in action, passing on their knowledge of the old arts.

It means watching young musicians flourish and develop.

It means witnessing a room of adults sit in silent weeping as a gifted singer/story-teller hypnotises them with words.

It means knowing that we have history and traditions and stories and songs that mean something.

It means that I will be back there again next June.

 

 

Finally…… a reason to go to church

I am NOT a religious person, therefore, there are only certain things that will cause me to set foot, willingly, inside a place of religious worship. Those things are weddings, christenings, funerals and photo opportunities.

I can now add one more item to this list. Music!!

This year the organisers of the National Celtic Festival, in the gorgeous bayside town of Portarlington, managed to secure the use of St Patrick’s Church as an added music venue. And in their wisdom they scheduled one of my favourite voices to sing there….Gallie.

To be honest, I’d happily sit there all day listening to the man talk because I do have a fondness for the Irish accent, (I’d almost listen to him quote bible passages if he so desired.) but when he starts to sing……………

If one was to describe a premium Whisky would one use terms along the lines of ‘smooth and warming’ or ‘mellow and rich with a woody vibrancy’? I have no idea what a good whisky (or even a bad whisky) tastes like, but this man’s singing voice is ……………….

Ok…..I’ll try to describe it in terms I understand…… A good hot chocolate. Rich, but not overpoweringly so, warm, smooth, comforting, soothing, warming to the soul.

I think all churches should become good music venues. The acoustics are generally pretty good, there’s usually a little podium/stage to allow height for the performers, they have good lighting…………….

Take all the religious crap out of churches and I might set foot inside them more often.

How do you choose that ONE picture?

You may, or may not, have noticed that I have been a bit quiet the last few days. However, it has only been on the social media scene that my silence has been noticeable because I have been incredibly social over the past few days.

Victoria has been enjoying a long weekend courtesy of our reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II. And the June Queen’s Birthday weekend means National Celtic Festival for me. (FYI….it’s incredibly ironic that this festival is held on this particular weekend, considering the animosity Scotland and Ireland have for the British Empire)

I had my volunteer hat on again. This was #14 out of 15 National Celtic Festivals that I have been to and I have been a volunteer for the last 8(?).

I love it.

The people. The music. The wonderful atmosphere. The unpredictable weather.

And this year I had an extra role. ………. as a festival photographer!!!!! Yay!!!!! So this year I got to play photographer with a real purpose. Not just for my own fun and enjoyment.

I wanted to tell you what I’d been up to, but I really had to think about the photo that encapsulated the festival, or at least a good part of it. I didn’t want to single out any band, musician or person. I wanted to create a feeling of the event.

Bloody difficult decision to make when you’re really tired after three late nights, three nights of unsettled sleep, four ling days, a long drive home and have over 1400 images to choose from.

But good golly gosh I’m happy with the images I took this year.

I hope you like this one.