The Rio Grande Valley Celtic Festival and Highland Games brings to New Mexico a celebration of the lifeways, traditions, cultural heritage and contributions of the Celtic nations to our American life. The Irish, Welsh, Scots, Galicians, Britons and Bretons, all have and continue to significantly contribute to our lives today. The Festival assembles an ever shifting kaleidoscope of Celtic song, dan
ce, traditional clothing (aye, the kilt), foods, language revival, stories, poetry, humor, history, traditional and Celtic inspired music – from the famous Highland war pipes to incomparable delicacy of the harp – highland games, and other Celtic sports such as rugby, hurling and Gaelic football, to New Mexico. The renewal and celebration of these traditions on the field each year is the mission of the Festival Association. Competitions and demonstrations in Highland Country Dance, Highland Dance and Irish Step Dance complement the rousing sounds of pipes and drums. Clans and Celtic Societies gather to share stories and act as your gateway to family histories, common questions and Celtic heritage. The presentation of history (and whimsy) is at the heart of attending reenactment groups. The heaving of heavy objects - stones and logs and faux hay bales - is the visual and participant delight of the Highland Heavy Games. Celtic dog breeds and working dog harken to mind a pastoral way of life so prevalent in Celtic homelands as well as here in New Mexico.
