Baile Nan Gàidheal | Highland Village, Iona

Traditional céilidh in the kitchen. Céilidh means a visit where people share a snack, tea, and maybe a drop of something stronger. Of significant importance in the transmission of Gaelic cultural material was the taigh-céilidh or céilidh-house, a place for impromptu gatherings. Each community had at least one, if not several, of these communal gathering places where the exchange of cultivated oral culture, music, song and/or dance could take place. This practice of visiting made for close-knit communities. The taigh-céilidh would be ‘the’ place to go, especially on long winter nights. There was not much outdoor work that could be done in winter and, in a time before newspapers, films, radio, television, and the internet, making a céilidh or a visit was a great way to pass the long evenings.

Topic: Sharing musical traditions

Date: 2012

Reference:  Highland Village Museum H2012.33.11

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