Bringing them all back home for festival fun

Don’t look behind: Dee Tierney and Amano Miura performing, An Cailleach – goddess of the winter months and mythical hag – ahead of the Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween.
Pictures: Valerie O’Sullivan

The Kerry Homecoming Festival at Halloween is a novel and highly creative countywide initiative to encourage the diaspora to return home during the month of October.

The event 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.

A mythical ancestor or divine hag: Performer Amano Miura in the role of An Cailleach, goddess of the winter months and mythical hag

The Samhain Spectacles will be supported by a series of family friendly workshops in 16 towns and villages. They will be led by Juli Ní Mhaoileoin, the Dingle Druid, and 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 spectacle, 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 other-worldly 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 18/19. This truly unique celebration will bring together Gaelic football enthusiasts from all corners of the globe to take part in non-competitive nine-a-side games that emphasise inclusiveness and integration.

The full programme details are available on the Discover Kerry website: www.discoverkerry.com/live/homecomingfestival/.

Julí Ní Mhaoileoin, The Dingle Druid, (left) with Amano Miura, An Cailleach, goddess of the winter months at the launch of the Kerry Homecoming Festival

The Global Irish Festivals Series

Launched in 2018 as a joint initiative of Fáilte Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs and as a legacy of The Gathering 2013, the Global Irish Festival Series offers a truly unique opportunity for the thousands of Irish people around the world to reconnect with Ireland and, particularly, their counties of affiliation.

The series fund offers an opportunity for selected counties to devise a coherent programme of events that truly connects with their diaspora, with a view to building relationships for all involved that are beneficial from a socio-economic point of view and that delivers a direct economic impact through tourism to that area.

Be afraid…be very afraid: Dee Tierney and Malachy Kelly, stilt performers, at the launch of Kerry Homecoming Festival

The key objective is to re-energise the Irish diaspora, new and old, so that they feel affirmed and valued, as well as connected to the county of their heritage by inviting them to visit and re-connect, especially post-Covid, when connection was so difficult.

It is also hoped to drive tourism to specific locations, including non-hotspots, in the off-shoulder seasons, therefore dispersing tourism benefits to a wider base and to galvanise and mobilise communities and places at a county level, to create meaningful events programs that can re-connect them with their Irish diaspora worldwide.

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