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Celtic heritage goes back to St. Augustine’s earliest days as a Spanish city.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St Augustine Celtic Music and Heritage Festival is this weekend, and it just received some big news.
USA Today has named the event the No. 4 cultural festival in the nation.
Some people may scratch their heads, wondering how does Celtic culture factor into a place that was a Spanish colony for hundreds of years.
As one former mayor said, St. Augustine heritage is more connected to bagpipes than bullfights.
St. Augustine boasts it had the first documented St. Patrick Parade in 1601, and the first St. Patrick Festival in 1600.
St Augustine Celtic Music and Heritage Festival organizer Albert Syeles cites Dr. Michael Francis’ discovery in the Spanish archives for the colonists’ expenditure of gunpower in St. Augustine in 1600 to celebrate St. Patrick. He says the rest of the world had simply commemorated his death.
“But here in St. Augustine,” Syeles said, “they made St. Patrick the patron saint of their corn fields and they celebrated their corn harvest an their corn planting in March of every year.”
There were Celts all over St. Augustine during colonial days.
“Celts from Northern Spain,” he said.
Celtic heritage is hidden in plain sight all over St. Augustine. For instance, take the monument to the Constitution in Spain in the Plaza de la Constitution in the middle of downtown. When it was erected in the early 1800’s, it had the name of the governor of La Florida etched onto it: Don Sabastian Kindelan Caballero. Kindelan is Irish name.
Syeles said, “Both his parents were Irish.”
This week, there came a big feather in the Irish cap. USA TODAY has named the St. Augustine Celtic Festival the 4th best Cultural Festival in the United States in its Readers Choice awards.
“We’re very proud of that,” Syeles noted. “We put on a quality show and our audience recognizes that.”
A show in a city with a “wee bit” of green in its bloodline.
Another festival in St. Johns County ranked in the top ten. The Gullah Geechee Heritage Festival in Elkton, Florida placed 10th.
Number 1: Dublin Irish Festival (Dublin, Ohio)
Number 2: Rougarou Fest (Houma, Louisiana)
Number 3: World Championship Outhouse Races (Virginia City, Nevada)
