Irish festival celebrates culture with music, film
The Irish Cultural Festival will also
feature arts and crafts as well as
activities for participants of all ages
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Eugene will indulge in the joys of Irish music,
dance, movies, crafts and stories at this weekend's
first Irish Cultural Festival.
Festival producer Mike Meyer said the celebra
tion's focus will be on Irish music, which has always
been an essential part of social gatherings in Ireland.
Today, Irish music blends centuries-old sounds of
jigs, reels and hornpipes with more modern ele
ments such as electronics. Providing the festival's
soundtrack will be Celtic Fiddle Festival, 'Hie Paper
boys, Tom's Kitchen, Laura Cortese and Village Green
Celtic Band, among others.
"Ihe festival will touch on contemporary areas,
but also connect people with the traditional music
that they long for," Meyer said.
The festival will be alcohol-free.
Dance troupes Ceili and The Comerford Dancers
will accompany the Irish musicmakers and show off
moves that Meyer calls "imitations of horse move
ments." Other distinctive aspects of Irish dance in
clude hopping, impeccable timing between dancers
and a lack of arm movements.
The festival will give an entertaining history lesson
via film with showings of 'The Secret of Roan Inish"
and "Under the Hawthorne Tree." The former film
tells a mythological tale of half-human, half-seal crea
tures known as "selkies" and the children who are fas
cinated by them. Festival steering committee member
Thomas Sharkey said "The Secret of Roan Inish"
Courtesy
The Celtic Fiddle Festival, made up of Kevin Burke, Johnny Cunningham and Christian Lemaitre, are one
of many groups that will bring traditional Irish music to the Eugene Irish Cultural Festival this weekend.
explores the role of myths in Irish life.
"Although (the story of the selkies) is an
actual myth, most Irish myths are real histo
ry," he said.
little-known independent film "Under the
Hawthorne Tree" depicts the struggle in 1840s
Ireland during the Great Potato Famine.
Sharkey said during this period of famine, the
Irish became like serfs to their British landlords,
who took over their land and shipped all the
remaining food out of the country.
"It was one of the biggest, most terrible
atrocities in Irish history," he said, adding
that the term "famine" has been miscon
strued and is more accurately described as
"hunger" due to a lack— not exhaustion —
of food supply.
The festival will host an assortment of ac
tivities that appeal to all ages. Children will
learn to create Irish crafts while also learning
w
the history behind them.
One project is constructing St. Brigid's crosses us
ing strands of thick grass from the Fern Ridge Reser
voir. Before she was a saint, Brigid was a key goddess
who symbolized spring and fertility in pre-Christian
Ireland, and she became St. Brigid when the country
adopted Christianity.
Family activities coordinator Peggy Hinsman said
the cross is traditionally used by the Irish to welcome
the coming of spring. It can also be hung on a
house's front door to keep away fire and disease.
rhe workshop will also include the growing of sev
eral species of shamrocks (which means "young
clover" in Irish). Hinsman said that three-leaved
shamrocks were used by St. Patrick to explain the
holy trinity to pre-Christian Ireland.
The family activity segment will wrap up with sto
rytelling. Topics include leprechaun folklore, the his
tory of pre-1700s Irish poets and singers known as
Bards and tales of foolish Irish people. Hinsman said
storytelling has been used as a vehicle to pass down
morals and knowledge in Irish culture.
"Stories show children how they should behave,
and they share history with them," she said. "They
were also entertainment for communities. Before ra
dio existed, people would get together to play live
music and tell stories. It was community building."
The festival will take place March 12,13 and 14 at
WOW Hall, located at 291 W. Eighth Ave.; Cozmic
Pizza, located at 199 W. Eighth Ave.; the Eugene Pub
lic Library, located at 100 W. 10th Ave. and The Atri
um, located at 99 W. 10th Ave. For a complete listing
of events, visit the festival's Web site at
http://www.eugeneirishfest.com.
Contact the Pulse reporter
atnatashachilingerian@dailyemerald.com.
VOID
continued from page 11
episode is played out for the audience in a truly
incredible sequence of re-creations. When I say "re
creations," I mean it in the most literal sense.
Director Kevin Macdonald and the other filmmak
ers pretty much just went to the mountain and did
the whole damn thing over again with different
climbers. It's an incredible technical achievement.
The film establishes right from the start what
kind of challenge the two climbers decided to take
on. Occasionally, the camera will pull back from
the two men to provide some perspective on what
they are doing, and it will continue to pull back un
til they are no longer visible. They just disappear
into the landscape they are trying to ascend.
So, why doesn't this film work? The problem
seems to be with the narrative, as the interviews
and re-creations don't play very well off of each
other. This is partly a problem with the editing,
which has the interviews overlap with the re-cre
ations when they don't need to. For example, after
Simpson falls into the crevice, the actor playing
him impotently pounds the ice and screams ob
scenities into the darkness. But the interview with
the real Simpson overlaps to tell us that he felt frus
r
trated and weak at this moment. This redundancy
draws away from the image on the screen, while
the interview also suffers, since we only hear Simp
son's words but don't see his emotional reaction.
There are too many moments like this in the
film, where the audience is told what the actors on
screen are thinking or doing when they can figure it
for themselves. The only time the combination
works for any extended period is near the end
when Simpson has become delirious from dehy
dration and blood loss. Here, the overlapping of
Simpson's thoughts with the re-creation allows the
audience to understand the existential state Simp
son was in. No longer believing he had any chance
of survival, he continued to move simply because
he couldn't make himself give up. This is not an
easy state for an actor to portray on his own, and
hearing it from Simpson's own mouth allows the
narrative to nm smoothly.
But despite its flaws, "Void" is still a remarkable
piece of documentary re-creation. Its technical as
pects alone make it more than worth seeing. It
opens Friday at the Bijou Ait Cinemas, located at
492 E. 13thAve.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
PASSION
continued from page 8
"Why?"
"It's unnecessary. There are better things to
believe in."
"Like what?"
"Love. Peace. Joy. Those things are just as
imaginary as God, and there's more to hope
for," she said.
I paid for the CDs and left. Such a peaceful
punk rocker, I thought. But she had a point.
Not everyone needs violent gods sending
themselves down to earth in human forms
to be beaten and slaughtered.
There must be something else happening.
Some of us need something richer and less an
gry. Maybe even a good joke could fill the void.
As I was driving home I saw another car, a
van this time, with that same bumper sticker:
"What would Jesus do?"
As I was unwrapping my CDs, the van
with the bumper sticker came within inch
es of smashing into another car. The car
that was nearly smashed had a bumper
sticker that read: "Nonjudgment Day is
here." Both of the men in the cars were
yelling and shaking their fists in rage at
each other.
As I laughed and drove around the two
angry drivers, I couldn't help but think I had
just seen something divine.
Contact the Pulse columnist
at carlsundberg@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
RHiiamEaniHinEiniinHiiiziiaiamira
Boaa aiiHiiBQs
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