Next week begins the four-day Boston Celtic Music Festival from 1/16 through 1/19 at four locations - Club Passim, The Sinclair, The Atrium, and The Harvard Campus Center all in Cambridge, MA. Check out all the details at https://www.passim.org/live-music/festivals_summer_series/bcmfest-2-2/
January 6th in Irish tradition is celebrated as Nollaig na Mban, or Women’s Christmas. Not usually listed as a holiday for this date outside of Ireland, Nollaig Na Mban is a humble recognition of work women do throughout the year, and particularly over the Christmas holiday, and a day they are released from it. As a vestige of the ancient Roman pagan holiday Saturnalia that allowed slaves and servants to be masters, Nollaig Na Mban, also known as “Little Christmas”, is time for Irish women to spend as they like. In the Gaeltacht where the holiday has persisted for ages, women will gather in the pubs and chat over stout, or arrange potluck brunches with lots of tea and cakes. Modern Ireland has seen a resurgence of the holiday in the urban areas where women are reinterpreting it as a celebration of female strength and solidarity. Nollaig na mban faoi mhaise dhaoibh!
Updated: Jan 28, 2020
Our good friend, loved by so many, Helen Foley, passed on Friday night. Among the countless good works she did for the central Mass Irish community, and sundry people she inspired, she also moderated the Fiddlers' Green Irish Seisiun for fifteen years. December 22nd was the last seisiun for 2019, but her pride and joy will continue on with good people leaning on each other for support. Our hearts go out to Helen's
family and all her friends. We remember Helen in her favorite seat at the seisiun and wish her slán abhaile.