Celtfest Gaelic Day Information

Gaelic Day 2007

Sharron Gunn and Marlene MacDonald Cheng will be leading a day of Scottish Gaelic Song and Language instruction at CeltFest, at Tigh-na-Mara in Parksville on July 12th.
Click here for Instructors' biographies.

Gaelic Day Program:

1. Pipers and Singers 1: the clan system revealed by the songs of the Scottish Gaels.

2. Pipers and Singers 2: the lives of the poets and musicians as revealed by their songs.

3. Basic Scottish Gaelic: for those with a little or without Gaelic, with a view to giving them an idea of pronunciation and easy phrases.

4. Gaelic Songs 1: Puirt-a-beul (Mouth music--for dancing), Orain Luaidh (milling/waulking songs), love songs. songs of homeland, etc. --easy songs with staff notation (where available), Gaelic words and English translation.

5. Gaelic Songs 2: A different selection of the song categories from the other session.

ALL CELTFEST full-time registrants are invited to attend any or all courses of Gaelic Day (Thursday) in lieu of classes you had signed up for for the week. Your instructors, at their discretion, may be bringing your class into select courses Gaelic Day courses where they see fit.
If you are a full time student, you needn't sign up for these courses in advance; you can simply drop in. A schedule for Gaelic Day will be provided in your registration kit when you arrive on campus.

For those who are not full time CeltFest students,
cost for the full day is $69.00 plus GST= $73.83 Includes refreshments

To enroll for Gaelic Day and purchase reduced rate Gala tickets:
call the CeltFest office at (250) 758-0208 or 1(866)-301-2358
or register online at: (link the registration page)

Note: Gaelic Day registrants are entitled to reduced rate tickets for the Gala.
If you would like to buy lunch at the resort, you can preorder the buffet:
click here for Meals Order Form

Sharron Gunn, BC

Sharron Gunn has taught French in public school and Gaelic in Continuing Studies for many years. French earned her enough to eat and stay warm, but Gaelic is her true love and avocation.

She was born on the east coast of Canada where many people are of Scottish origin, and learned Scottish Gaelic from her grandfather who may have been descended from a dynasty of Gaelic poets. In the Scottish Highlands a few centuries ago you could earn very good money writing poetry. Imagine that, all you struggling poet-songwriters!

When she went to Scotland for the first time at the age of 15, she bought a Gaelic grammar book and taught herself how to read and write the language. Her parents, children of the jazz generation, thought she was crazy.

She has been interested in the language and history of the Scottish Highlands ever since and now has a degree in Scottish History and Celtic Studies from the University of Glasgow. She lives in Sidney, BC and is a member of the Victoria Gaelic Choir.

Marlene MacDonald Cheng, BC

Born and raised in Eastern Nova Scotia, Marlene has fond memories of an upbringing that provided her with a strong sense of her Scottish Gaelic-speaking oral traditions, culture, and music. Marlene's parents - a MacDonald and a MacEachern - come from a long line of Gaelic-speaking Scots.

Marlene began Highland Dancing lessons at the age of four, competed in her first Highland Games at age 5, and continued competing until she was in her late teens.

Every summer from an early age she was sent to St. Ann's Gaelic College in Cape Breton for two months of tutelage in Highland Dancing, Gaelic language and song. There she was exposed to other aspects of the Gaelic culture such as pageants, Highland Games, concerts, ceilidhs, history, weaving, waulking of cloth, and so on.

Marlene's adult life has been spent as a teacher of Mathematics and Computer Science, both in secondary school and at the university level. She has taught with CUSO in Nigeria, West Africa, and was Principal of a Secondary School in Hong Kong.

Marlene's 3 passions are her grandchildren, promoting the Gaelic language and genealogy.

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