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Kerry Homecoming Festival To Entice Diaspora To Come Home In October

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Into the Woods..Amano Miura, left, An Cailleach – goddess of the winter months and mythical hag, Julí Ní Mhaoileoin, Dingle Druid, Dee Tierney and Malachy Kelly, performers, with Patricia Greaney, Kerry County Council, and Eibhlis Maher, Fáilte Ireland, at the launch of Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween. The launch of the festival took place at Ballyseedy Wood, Tralee, on Monday. Photo: Valerie O’Sullivan

THE Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween is a county-wide initiative to bring home our Kerry Diaspora during the month of October this year.

It is presented by Kerry County Council as part of the Global Irish Festival Series, which is a joint initiative between Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Kerry Homecoming Festival is a call home from all aspects of Kerry business, tourism, sports and cultural organisations to come and enjoy close to 50 events and activities such as Samhain spectacles, storytelling, Jack-o-Lantern carving, genealogy workshops and heritage talks, star-gazing, a celebration of the centenary of the closing of the Lartigue Monorail, an American Wake at Kerry Writers Museum and much, much more.

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The legendary Cailleach (Hag / Witch), will be the centerpiece of a thrilling Samhain spectacle in Listowel, Dingle, Kenmare and Tralee.

The Cailleach is the goddess of the winter months. Her season begins on Samhain (the origin of Halloween), October 31st, when the Goddess Brigid hands her staff over.

In Kerry she has given her name to the Hag’s Glen in the MacGilliycuddy’s Reeks mountains where the Hag of Corrán Tuathail (Carrauntoohill) plunged to her death in the lake known as Hag’s Lake.

Into the Woods..Amano Miura, performing, An Cailleach – goddess of the winter months and mythical hag, being followed by Dee Tierney and Malachy Kelly, stilt performers, for the launch of Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween/ The launch of the festival took place at Ballyseedy Wood, Tralee, on Monday. Photo: Valerie O’Sullivan

The Samhain Spectacles will be supported by a series of family friendly workshops in 16 towns and villages, in the run up, led by Juli Ní Mhaoileoin, the Dingle Druid, in which people of all ages will learn how to make traditional Samhain masks and Jack-o-Lanterns and they in turn can take part in the spectacles wearing their masks or bearing their lanterns.

Genealogy and family research feature heavily in the programme with talks and workshops being presented by experts Kay Caball in the Killarney and Tralee libraries and Tom Dillon in Castleisland and Killorglin.

Kerry’s tradition of storytelling, particularly of the otherworldly kind at Halloween is also honoured through a number of storytelling sessions from Seán Ó’Laoghaire, Niall de Búrca and Tom Dillon throughout the county.

The programme also features the Global Gaelic Games Social Festival, in Killarney on October 18th and 19th.

Amano Miura, performing, An Cailleach – goddess of the winter months and mythical hag, at the launch of Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween. Included from left, Julí Ní Mhaoileoin, Dingle Druid, Kerry County Council, CEO, Martin O’Donoghue, Fáilte Ireland Head of Festivals and Events, Ciara Sugrue, Cathaoirleach Kerry County Council, Cllr., Breandán Fitzgerald, Kerry County Council Director of Economic and Community Development, Niamh O’Sullivan. Photo: Valerie O’Sullivan

This celebration will bring together Gaelic Football enthusiasts from all corners of the globe to take part in non-competitive 9-a-side Gaelic games that emphasise inclusiveness and integration.

All of the existing seasonal Kerry festivals and some new ones, including and Féile Eile in Killorglin will also be joining in the fun – Kenmare Halloween Howl, the Patrick O’Keeffe Music Festival in Castleisland, the Skellig Coast Archaeology Festival the Kerry International Film Festival celebrating its 25th anniversary and Oireachtas na Samhna, both taking place in Killarney, as well as Tralee’s annual National Circus Festival and The Tralee Half Marathon.

The Homecoming Festival provides a unique opportunity to deepen our linkages with the Kerry Diaspora, Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Breandán MacGearailt stated.

“Despite being a small country on the edge of Europe, on the edge of the Atlantic, we have, over many generations developed a global network of Irish-diaspora, who are embedded into business, culture and society across the world. This is our way of welcoming our first, second, third and fourth generation of Irish back home, and showing them our culture and history.”

Programme details are available on the Discover Kerry website www.discoverkerry.com/live/homecomingfestival/

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