Fèis

We spent a lot of this weekend at the Fèis in Ullapool, which is pronounced “fesh.” Its full name  in Gaelic is the Fèis Rois nan Inbheach which means Ross-shire Adult Festival, and it is held annually during the first holiday weekend in May. It’s all about traditional Scottish music, with workshops for the musicians during the day and sessions in various pubs at night, as well as a few concerts. We were aware that it happens, but this is the first year that we have attended any of it. This was thanks to Ian and Iris; they mentioned it to us earlier this year so we invited them to spend the weekend with us in Ullapool. Ian hadn’t signed up for the workshops this time, but he took part in all of the sessions and we went along with Iris as his official fans! We weren’t the only spectators but most people at the sessions were participants, and very talented. Someone would start a tune and everyone else joined in. There were lots of fiddlers, also guitarists, Celtic bagpipers, a cellist, a harpist, flautists, and a few drummers who were playing bodhráns. I really loved it but what I hadn’t bargained on was the extremely late nights that were involved. The musicians love to play and they carried on until the Ceilidh Place finally asked them to leave after 1 am. Then we would walk back to the cottage where James dispensed whisky and eventually Iris and I went off to bed at about two, leaving James and Ian to party on. Except for Sunday that is. I had expected that to be an earlier night because it was the end of the festival, but oh no. It was the latest night of all and we didn’t get to bed until 3:30 in the morning!