Our second week at Harlaxton Manor was no less busy than the first. It started over the weekend with a cèilidh, which is a Scotts-Gaelic term (Irish Gaelic: céilí) for a social gathering that usually features live music and dance. It similar to square dances or barn dances in the western States. The ceilidh was the first event at Harlaxton, so everyone was quite excited for an evening of fun and dance, though many were equally as excited for the after party in the on-campus Bistro.
We gathered in the Great Hall, a long room with a marble facade entrance at one end and a raised wood dais at the other. Our footsteps and voices echoed off the marble tiled floor, bouncing off the cedar paneling up to the carved ceiling. This hall would be a common gathering place for events throughout the semester, as well as the location for choir practice. Though not quite akin to singing in a cathedral, it was certainly a more ethereal experience than in a typical choir practice room. On the evening of the ceilidh, the wooden dais has become a stage where a band featuring a traditional folk instruments, such as a bodhrán and bagpipes, played. Once in the hall, we donned name tags and found our friends.
Our chatter subsided as the evening began with the bagpipe player marching in. In the United States, we really only hear bagpipes at certain funeral processions, and I think many of us associate the sound with a sort of sad longing, but, as with any instrument, the bagpipes are not always so melancholy. Paired with our building excitement, it was instead a sort of climatic signal that not only was the party beginning but so was our "magical" semester across the pond.
With everyone now quieted from the bagpipe procession, we were given a brief welcome and introduction to what a ceilidh was, and then set about learning our first dance. More than a decade later, I don't recall which dances in particular we learned, but I do remember there being a jig, a reel, and a set dance, and an effort made to learn dances from Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales. Having grown up going to square dances every year at my elementary school, some of the dances were vaguely familiar, though do-si-doing with your father is a bit different than with college students you've never met.
All in all, we had a great time dancing and further getting to know each other. I am not usually a fan of first week meet-and-greet dances - the summer music camp I went to in high school started off every year with a mandatory dance filled with the highest level of teenage awkwardness - but this ceilidh was a nice, energetic, and memorable start to the term.
If you are interested in seeing a ceilidh in action, or learning some dances, you may want to check out the Youtube videos below:
Scottish Cèilidh:
Irish Céilí:
English Barn Dance/English Country Dancing:
Welsh Folk Dance: