World Gaelic Week – Seachdain na Gàidhlig – which runs from 23 February to 1 March, is an opportunity for communities across Dumfries and Galloway to come together to celebrate Gaelic heritage and culture, and to help keep Gaelic visible and heard in everyday life.
The local programme for World Gaelic Week is being delivered through a partnership approach, with community organisations and local venues leading activity, supported by Dumfries and Galloway Council working alongside Gàidhlig DumGal, Fèis an Iar Dheas and national partners including Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The focus is on enabling communities to take part in ways that feel welcoming, practical and rooted in local heritage.
A number of public events will take place over the weekend as part of the programme. On Saturday 28 February, Kirkcudbright Galleries will host a free public talk from 2pm to 3pm titled ‘Galloway Gaelic and Manx Gaelg’, similarities and differences. The talk will be delivered by Robby Ó Maolalaigh, Professor of Gaelic at the University of Glasgow, supported by Michael Ansell of Gàidhlig DumGal, and will explore the historical and linguistic connections between Gaelic in Galloway and Manx Gaelg. No booking is required.
Later that evening on Saturday 28 February, a Gaelic Family Ceilidh will take place at Locharbriggs Community Centre from 7pm, with doors opening at 6.30pm. Music will be provided by Shore Road Ceilidh Band, alongside local guest performers including Gaelic song group Gabh Òran and fiddlers from Wallace Hall Academy. The event will include a bar and raffle, with entry priced at £5, under-16s free, and payment on the door.
The programme continues on Sunday 1 March with Thig is Feuch! (Come and Try!), a free, drop-in family afternoon at Stranraer Millennium Centre from 1pm to 4pm. The event will feature Gaelic-themed activities, music and ceilidh dancing, and is designed to allow families to take part for as long or as little as they wish. The event is supported through Seachdain na Gàidhlig’s Small Grants Fund, with support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
Alongside the events programme, there are also quieter, everyday ways for people to take part during World Gaelic Week. To mark the week, Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Libraries Service is highlighting a range of Gaelic books for both adults and children, available through local libraries and digitally online. This offers an accessible way for people to explore Gaelic stories, culture and heritage in their own time, whether by borrowing a physical book locally or accessing digital titles via the BorrowBox app.
As part of the wider activity around World Gaelic Week, Gàidhlig DumGal also offers Gaelic language classes at a range of locations across the region, with options suitable for different levels and interests. These classes provide an opportunity for people who wish to engage more regularly with the language to do so in a supportive, community-based setting.
World Gaelic Week will also see the launch of a new pilot Gaelic and Scots parent and toddler group, Coorie intae Ceòl, offering songs and stories in Scotland’s native languages. The pilot will be held at 9.30am–10.30am on Tuesday mornings at The Bridge in Dumfries – providing a welcoming space for parents, carers and young children to enjoy shared language and culture.
Councillor Tracey Little, Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing Committee, said:
“World Gaelic Week is a chance for communities across Dumfries and Galloway to celebrate a living part of our shared heritage. It brings people together through music, stories and local events and reflects the strong partnership working that helps make these opportunities possible. We’re pleased to support activity that connects people with the history and culture of the places they live.”
Councillor George Jamieson, Vice-Chair, added:
“The council’s Gaelic Language Plan sets out how we support Gaelic locally, and World Gaelic Week is a positive example of that in practice – celebrating the language’s place in our region’s culture and identity.”
Eilidh Milroy, Chair of Gàidhlig DumGal, said:
“Although Dumfries and Galloway’s spoken Gaelic is long gone, it has left a substantial imprint on our landscape through place-names, from the names of hills such as Cairnsmore – Càrnas Mòr ‘big cairn place’ to the names of larger settlements such as Dumfries – Dùn Phris, ‘fort (amid) thickets’. The Scots language of course has many loanwords from Gaelic, with words like galore – gu leòr, ‘plentiful’ and knock – cnoc, ‘hillock’. Some of the Gaelic loanwords in the local Scots dialect are not found in other parts of Scotland. So, although we do not have Gaelic as a community language in the region today, it has influenced the places we live and the way we speak.”
“There is growing interest in learning Gaelic in the region today with classes running in Stranraer, Castle Douglas, Thornhill, Eastriggs and Dumfries. The last census has also shown an increase in the number of speakers in the region, which are all positive signs for the language's future in Dumfries and Galloway. World Gaelic Week – Seachdain na Gàidhlig aims to not just promote the language, but to give people the opportunity to engage with Gaelic that have never done so before.”
What’s happening during World Gaelic Week
A number of community-led events are taking place across Dumfries and Galloway during the week, including:
- public talk on Galloway Gaelic and Manx Gaelg (Saturday 28 February, Kirkcudbright Galleries, 2pm–3pm)
- Gaelic Family Ceilidh (Saturday 28 February, Locharbriggs Community Centre, from 7pm)
- "Thig is Feuch!" family event (Sunday 1 March, Stranraer Millennium Centre, 1pm–4pm)
- Gaelic books available through local libraries and the BorrowBox app throughout the week
- Gaelic classes running across the region (various locations and dates)
For further information about events taking place during World Gaelic Week, contact: [email protected].