Beyond all the sizzling turkey legs, the energetic notes of music in the air and the Viking re-enactments, there pulsed a single motivation that drew in such large crowds to Fiesta Gardens on Nov. 5 and 6 at the Austin Celtic Festival: a pride in the Celtic culture. In recent years, the Celtic culture’s increased presence in the Austin lifestyle has been a testament to its importance.
“I think that’s what’s great about Austin and this part of Texas: not just the Celtic heritage but other heritages are celebrated so well,” said Austin Energy chemist and UT alumnus Michael Schiller, who traces his lineage from the Scottish and Irish with a distinct tartan kilt from Things Celtic. Schiller also noted the increase in popularity and vibrancy of events such as the Austin Celtic Festival.
Lanora Davidson, owner of Things Celtic, a Celtic goods shop, said the late 1990s and early 2000s marked a sort of “Celtic Renaissance,” when movies such as “Braveheart” were released, musical groups like Riverdance were popular and the dot-com boom padded pocketbooks with the cash to indulge in a Celtic obsession.
“We just couldn’t stock shelves fast enough,” Davidson said. “ We were reordering every week.”
Davidson, whose great-grandmother is from the Isle of Man and who also has Scottish ancestry, discovered the thriving Austin Celtic community shortly before opening her shop, when she and her then-husband made Celtic beaded jewelry near the UT campus. One day, someone invited them to go to the first ever Austin Celtic Festival.
“I was like, that sounds fun…and there was this whole community that we didn’t even know existed,” Davidson said.
Davidson said that the community also provides those of Celtic heritage a means to continue valuable traditions, pointing to a sharp jump in the sale of kilts in the past few years.
Michael Sweet, a member of the Viking re-enactment at the festival and a professor in the School of Natural Sciences, found a means to connect with his Irish roots within the Celtic community.
“I think all Americans desire to claim some kind of heritage,” Sweet said. “Because we’re such an open society that we don’t have nearby extended families…we’re all missing a place that our earlier generations grew up in. So the Gaelic and the Celtic traditions — because of the people, because of the drama in the history, because of the flamboyance of the personalities — I think people like to see some of that in themselves.”
