Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Lá na Gaeilge and Rebirth of An Gael Magazine

I had the good fortune to be teaching at the Lá na Gaeilge hosted by the Irish Cultural Center (ICC) at Elms College (Chicopee, MA) on Saturday, June 6th. An excellent program was put together by Elms former president Kathleen Keating, SSJ and Elms Professor Emeritus Thomas Moriarty. The setting was very inspirational in a Romanesque Manor house called Berchmans Hall with its stone fireplaces and stained glass windows. The members of the ICC ran a language program at 4 levels, workshops for dance, computer, drama and a film selection from Bibeanna. Bibeanna is a series of interviews of Irish women who have spent their entire lives in the Dingle Peninsula area. Filmed in Irish. The day ended with a fine seisiún. A Lá worth attending each year.

Last Friday I attended the second launch of the Irish Language magazine An Gael at the Irish Consulate in Manhattan. The first launch was in the 1800's and the magazine ceased publication in 1904. Now with the growing interest in an Ghaeilge and a resurgent Cumann Carad na Gaeilge (The Philo-Celtic Society), the first edition of the reborn An Gael was published in June. A beautiful magazine with good articles, poetry and photography and all in Irish. The magazine will be published quarterly and is available at http://angael.magcloud.com or www.litriocht.com. The website is: www.angaelmagazine.com.

Slán go fóill