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Sponsored by the Panama City Pipes and Drums Our Ceilidh, an informal evening of dancing and singing, will be held Saturday night during the festival. Bands of musicians will play live Scottish music and other traditional country dances. It is an opportunity to meet and dance with people in a relaxed atmosphere. You may stop for a chat and a drink between dances, or you can just watch the other dancers and enjoy the atmosphere. Ceilidh is a word from Gaelic - the ancient Scottish and Irish Language that survives today in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland and parts of rural Ireland. Translated into English, Ceilidh literally means a gathering of people in an informal social get-together. In times past neighbors would gather around the warmth of a peat fire in a thatched cottage and spend long winter nights in story and song. The ceilidh was primarily entertainment but at certain times during the troubled relationship between Scotland and England a ceilidh would have been an opportunity for the highlanders to meet and plan their campaigns against the English. It was an opportunity to discuss politics in their native Gaelic, a language that may have been disapproved of by the English speaking Lords. More generally it was a social gathering where through anecdote and folk-tale, the old people would tell the community's history, and the youngsters would listen and learn. More recently the word Ceilidh has centered around the idea of a party with a band playing traditional Scottish Country dances. For current information about the ceilidh visit the Pipe and Drums Website: http://www.pc-pipes.com/. |