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THE CELTIC CONNECTION • OCTOBER 1992
Letter from the Publisher
We're Reminded of Our Oneness with Nature
By MAURA McCAY
S
UMMER is fading once again and I welcome the coming autumn with anticipation. This
is my favourite season; I always feel life so much more intensely at this time of year. The crisp days and long winter nights closing in, a time to turn inwards. The completion of the circle.
In this month's issue we celebrate the Celtic festival of Samhain. November 1 is the most important date on the Celtic calendar. It is the celebration of the Celtic New Year. Our cover and several related articles provide an overview of this festival. Both Carol Read and Lydia Langstaff offer their perspectives and insights into Samnain.
Each Celtic festival is related to the agricultural cycle and reminds us of our oneness with nature. Our connection with the earth, our source of survival, is brought home through the festivals. They are celeorations of life. Both the light and the darkness. There is a time to sing and dance, and a time to withdraw and reflect.
Traditionally, Samhain was a time to draw closer to the hearth fire and close out the darkness. It was a time of storytelling, music and song. The tribe prepared to enter into a 'dream-time' of the imagination. Candles were lit in windows to assure wandering souls of a welcome. As with any season, it is time of transition. Not the end but merely a time to sleep until the Winter Solstice, when the light of the sun penetrates the darkness on the mid-winter day of December 21.
The death of a human being was viewed with much the same philosophy. The dropping away of the physical body released the soul to its own natural element to bloom again in another life. The Celts believed that it was at the point of twilight or at the point of waking or sleeping that contact was made between the souls of the living and the dead, and at Samhain the two worlds were said to be closest.
During this past month, I have been very touched by the number of people who contacted me about my last column. Many told me of their own challenges and experiences dealing with grief and mourning. We are living in a fascinating time of transition for the world. I believe that our degree of pain is directly associated with our attachment to the familiar and our ability to let go and have faith.
In last month's columun, I neglected to mention two persons without whom The Celtic Connection would still be a dream. They are Carollyne Rousseau and my mother, Catholine Egan. Both of these women have given guidance, direction and concrete assistance to bring this voice to the Celtic communities.
Remember that on Saturday, October 24, you can turn back the clock 2,000 years and revive your favourite Celtic personality. No matter who you are, or who you think you are, the Elephant and Castle in Vancouver will be full of your friends. Come out and celebrate with us, have some fun and support The Celtic Connection.
See pageiy for details of Celebration
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A POIGNANT LETTER
You rve Touched My Life
Dear Maura McCay: Upon reading your most recent column I was deeply moved. Thank you for sharing such deep feelings.
I write this because I have lived much of what you spoke of. Two years ago, I was not expected to live. When I began to recover, I returned to a civil service job which drained me of soul.
I had a relapse and was fortunate enough to recover again and be told that my job was too stressful for me. What was so stressful? The lack of creativity — the stifling of my very being.
Thank you for allowing me to contribute to your most won-
derful periodical. For every time I write, I respect what I lost of myself in my former job.
I understand what dreaming is and how short life really is (my heart stopped and I had a most beautiful experience).
Know that by sharing your pain and your dreams, you have touched my life. God bless you. — The writer's name is withheld to protect her privacy -- The Editor
MARIE BRUCE
Accounting, Distribution Classified Advertising
RICHARD CARRICK
Display Advertising Account Representative
BRIDGET BIRD
Celtic Connection Subscription Representative
Making the Celtic Connection
We are proud and pleased to introduce these three new members of the team that brings you The Celtic Connection 10 times a year.
"I GREW UP ON A FARM in County Kildare" says Marie. "After school in Celbridge and Dublin, I spent five exciting years in a flat in Ranelagh, living on a pittance but managing to go racing every Saturday. During that time, I worked on Dawson Street for the renowned Dublin Lawyer, Herman Good. Curiosity and a love of travel brought me to Vancouver in the late Sixties and I eventually spent two seasons at the fledgling Whistler Mountain.
"I met my husband George there and we now have three teenagers and live in West Vancouver. I love the outdoors, bridge, gardening and travelling. I maintain close ties with Ireland, where all my family still live. "I am an avid newspaper reader and am very excited about the arrival of The Celtic Connection here. I am delighted to volunteer my services in the accounting department."
RICHARD CARRICK, a native of Dublin, emigrated to Toronto in April, 1989. He moved to Vancouver in August 1992. "I had heard good things about Vancouver, that it was more like
'home'. I absolutely love it here."
While in Toronto, Richard worked in radio advertising and window sales. He was involved with the Toronto Irish community and helped out at the Irish Canadian Centre.
In Dublin, Richard sold ads for a construction magazine and also worked in radio, selling commericals and working as a disk jockey and announcer. He has extensive experience in the hospitality industry having worked in some of Dublin's finest restaurants.
Richard's hobbies include listening toCeltic music, cycling and playing tennis. He will play a role in Stage Eireann's fall production.
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BRIDGET HAS EXPERIENCE with newspapers going as far back to elementary school, working on her father's paper the 'Alaska Highway News' in Fort St. John in the editorial, advertising and circulation departments.
She has been involved in many volunteer activities in recent years, including membership chairman for the B.C. Scotch
Club. This Vancouver group meets monthly in the Arts Club Lounge on Granville Island to taste single malts.
Bridget is also a Master Gardener with the VanDusen Botanical Garden and acts as the membership secretary there, as well. Subscriptions and databases are familiar territory in her other volunteer activities.
Bridget lives in Vancouver with her husband and three children. She works part-time for the Trans-Himalayan Aid Society.
Can You Spare 3 Hours a Month?
Reliable drivers with own vehicle are needed to deliver The Celtic Connection to our distribution outlets in the areas listed below. This task would suit a housewife or pensioner with a little time to spare and an interest in the Celtic community. Please call Marie Bruce at either (604) 681-5562 during the day or (604) 926-9843 after 6 PM. North and West Van UBC - West Side
Downtown Kitsilano Kerrisdale East Vancouver Richmond
Burnaby Coquilam Surrey Langley White Rock
COME BACK HEREI A young boy tries to restrain his dog, who has scampered onto the Tsawwassen Senior Centre's Track in South Delta, B.C. This picture, taken by Taras Kovaliv, a professional photographer, won the clip contest (in the feature category) spon-
sored jointly by the Western Canada News Photographers Association and the Ontario News Photographers Association. Taras, who now takes pictures for the Delta Optimist, will soon marry writer Angela Dillon. Both contribute to The Celtic Connection.