- The biggest Gaelic festival in the world is set to return to Glasgow in October
- This year’s Mòd makes history by introducing its first women’s football match
- To celebrate the success of Gaelic Literature, a new bard will be appointed annually
- Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail (The Royal National Mòd) will
return to Glasgow next month (Friday 11 October – Saturday 19 October) for
the 13th time – with an outstanding number of individual
participants set to take to the competition stage. This success is attributed
to the fantastic work that An Comunn
Gàidhealach and the Royal National Mòd do with Feisgoil and Glasgow Language Provision
Schools, helping to encourage the learning of Gaelic in the early development
phase. Over 600 sessions have been delivered so far and this has had a direct
impact on the number of entrants for this year.
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- The nine-day spectacular of Gaelic music, arts and sport will take place
in Glasgow for the first time since 1990, with a host of activities and competitions
on throughout the week. This year will welcome representatives from all over
the world with the London Gaelic Choir returning to the stage after a long
absence from the Royal National Mòd.
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- This year’s Mòd is making history with the introduction of a womans
football match, to be held alongside the male tournament at Glasgow Green – a nod to
the popularity of women’s football in recent years. This competition is part of
a wider day of sport, which will see both senior and junior football and shinty
competitions.
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- Last year’s
event generated around £2m for host location Dunoon and organisers are
confident they’ll see a similar impact in Glasgow. The festivities begin on
Friday 11th October with a joint reception being held between
CalMac and the Lord Provost. Following this, the Deputy First Minister and
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney, will officially
launch the Royal National Mòd with a
speech at the Opening Ceremony, hosted by An Comunn Gaidhealach. Mr. Swinney
presented the award for the Gaelic Ambassador of the Year in 2017 and will be
returning once again to present the 2019 award.
- Following this, the festivities
will move on to George Square for a public celebration filled with bands and
choir performances alongside drama recitals. This event will honor the
contribution of young people to the Mòd and the Gaelic language.
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- Literature day,
supported by the SQA, is bigger than ever this year, with two book launches from
authors Maoilios Caimbeul and Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh, and the
appointment of a new bard. Since 2004, a bard has been crowned for a period of
three or four years, but thanks to the success of Gaelic Literature in recent
years, a new bard will once again be appointed on an annual basis.
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- Organised
by An Comunn Gàidhealach, the Mòd is the biggest, and the most
important festival of the Gaelic language in Scotland. Each year, it sees
thousands of competitors from across the world take part in or watch over 200
competitions in highland dancing, sport, literature and drama, as well as
Gaelic music and song. Tickets for competitions and event are now on sale and
can be purchased online at www.ancomunn.co.uk/tickets
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