What a feast it was!
Starting in 2020, Air Chéilidh hosted 26 online gatherings featuring 54 guest story-tellers and hundreds of participants, from near and far. Together we went deep into conversations about hospitality, music, land, humour, community, death, learning, memory, creativity and so much more.
We are grateful to everyone who attended Air Chéilidh, and especially to the hosts and guests who joined us at the feasting tables. Thanks also to the Office of Gaelic Affairs for your generous funding support.
Tapadh leibh uile is tha sinn an dòchas gum faic sinn an ceann ùine gun a bhith ro fhada! | Thank you so much and we hope to see you again before too long!
Harvest booklet
Whether you are reminiscing on sessions you attended or learning about Air Chéilidh for the first time, we hope the booklet below brings you into the cagailt | hearth, with friends around you celebrating, laughing, singing and dreaming.
This booklet was compiled by Màiri Britton, who gathered stories from all four seasons of Air Chéilidh, weaving together themes and adding her own reflections.
Is sona gach cuid an comadh | Happy is that which is shared.
Just click the square in the bottom right corner of the book to expand it to full-screen for easier reading. And do feel welcome to share it with anyone who might enjoy connecting with these stories.
Online celebration
On May 2, we came together to share what had stayed with us from four seasons of Air Chéilidh, and reflect on how our Gaelic language and culture might guide us through the times ahead.
Watch the recording.
Revisiting season 4
From January 19 to March 1 2024, the Air Chéilidh team hosted six online visits around the theme Féisd a’ Gheamhraidh | A “Winter’s Feast.”
We celebrated creativity and the passing on of tradition, whether through music, dance and customs or the Gaelic language itself. We explored humour and death, and realized how often these two cultural strands are woven together. We listened to guests and each other in the breakout rooms. We learned, shared and carried forward the stories we want more of.
Many of us left feeling inspired to learn more songs, visit our neighbours, listen to archive recordings, remember our ancestors and bring more fun into our lives!
Thank you to our guests
The 2024 Air Chéilidh team
Watch the recordings, read the summaries of 2024 visits
Featured
What is Air Chéilidh?
Experiencing Gaelic hospitality. Re-discovering and re-authoring what Gaelic language and culture mean to us.
For many English speakers, céilidh conjures up images of a musical gathering in a hall or pub where you pay to be entertained. But in Scottish Gaelic, a céilidh is a visit, where news is exchanged, stories and maybe some tunes or songs are shared, accompanied by tea and a bite to eat. A céilidh is a participatory affair, where you leave a bit more knowledgeable and uplifted than when you arrived. It is time well spent.
For four seasons of Air Cheilidh, we came together online and explored the many ways that our Gaelic traditions nourish and sustain us throughout our lives.
Nach tig sibh air chéilidh? Won’t you come for a visit? Ur beath’ a-staigh. You are welcome in the house.
Thanks to our sponsor!
Air Chéilidh is supported by the Office of Gaelic Affairs, Province of Nova Scotia, through the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage and the Support4Culture program.
March 1, 2024. Jean MacNeil and Shamus MacDonald share stories of the old ways of death-care in Gaelic communities, and Cassandra Yonder talks about a revival of community-based practices. Host: Frances MacEachen.