Celtic Stories Inspire Modern Celebration of Winter
The days are growing longer. Soon the longest night of the year will be upon us. The winter solstice, which falls around Dec. 21, like its summer counterpoint, is celebrated the world over. Long before there was a Christmas, ancient peoples marked this time of deepening gloom with stories, songs and festivals.
Now a local group is trying to recapture the flavor of this special time. "The Winter Solstice: A Celtic Celebration in Story and Song," which runs at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Friday at Lindsay's On Liberty, promises to be pretty much what its title suggests: a look at the meaning of the winter solstice through stories and songs.
"The idea is not to re-enact some ancient ceremony but to reignite a modern celebration of the changing of the seasons," said Brian "Fox" Ellis, who is helping organize the show.
"It's based on Celtic stories and songs. It really fascinates me that every culture at this time of year celebrates the change in seasons. Usually, in the northern hemisphere, it's a celebration of light within the darkness--the candles of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the birth of Jesus."
Famed for the wit, courage and love of freedom, the ancient Celts ranged throughout Europe hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. Thanks in part to Roman military might, they soon were reduced to dwelling in Brittany, Britain and Ireland.
Some of the songs set to be performed next weekend go back eight centuries, Ellis said.
One of these is "The Witch of Westmoreland," arranged by Celtic performer Stan Rogers, which tells the story of a knight who is wounded in battle. Under the care of a beautiful, mysterious maiden, he is healed when he drinks from a sacred spring.
This spring becomes the focus of the next story. "The Salmon of Knowledge," where an ancient Irish king eats fish from the spring and receives the gift of tongues and prophecy. He goes on to defeat an evil giant.
Another number, "The Puka and the Piper," based on a William Butler Yeats story, is the tale of a man who travels to fairy land on the solstice to receive the gift of song. ("Puka" is the literary ancestor of "Puck," the mischievous sprite of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream.")
Besides music and storytelling, the show also contains tidbits about the origins of many Christmas traditions. Mistletoe, for instance, which grows on the trunks nd branches of many different kinds of trees, including oaks, was seen by the Celts as a symbolic link between heaven and earth, according to Ellis.
"Mistletoe is very fertile," Ellis said. "Kissing under the mistletoe is an old Celtic fertility rite.So today what do we do at Christmas and New Year's parties? We try to kiss somebody under the mistletoe."
Besides Ellis, the performance features local storyteller Mary Shallbetter, singer Barry Cloyd and local musicians Bob Moore and Peggy Anderson. Admission is $10, with a $2 discount for patrons who decide to have dinner at Lindsay's.
"Our primary goal is for people to have a really good time celebrating the longest night," Ellis said. "Through stories and songs we can enter into other worlds and connect with our culture and our ancestors."
Article written by
Gary Panetta
Peoria Journal Star
December 16, 2001
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