The mists of time are swirling around and between towering stone monoliths. A lone piper is heralding in the new dawn and a wave of tartan spills over the rise of the hill. It would be easy to believe you are in a rocky outcrop somewhere in remote Scotland, witnessing an ancient Celtic ceremony at a mysterious stone circle - but this is Glen Innes, smack bang in the middle of a parched, gum-studded landscape in the New England tablelands.
In Glen Innes, they take their Celtic roots seriously. The city has been awarded the title of Honoured Celtic City by the Celtic Council of Australia.
Each year, during the first weekend of May, Glen Innes celebrates its Celtic heritage at the annual Australian Celtic Festival, drawing clans, bands and dancers from all across the country and even overseas. It traditionally begins at the Standing Stones with the skirl of pipes from a lone piper at dawn. Highlights include a street parade featuring national groups and clans, sheep dog trials, pipe bands, Celtic dancers, concerts and the Kirking of the Tartan.
A time-honoured tradition that originated in the mid 18th century, when the wearing of tartan was outlawed by the ruling English, during the Kirking of the Tartan the tartans are brought forward and blessed by a local minister. It's just one of many ceremonies and events during the festival that serves to acknowledge the many Celtic traditions, one of the driving forces behind the Festival. "The Celtic festival has a real purpose," says Lyn Meehan, who works with the Celtic Festival Committee. "We really want to encourage as much tradition as we can. The festival is a commemoration of the Celtic ancestry of all Australians, a cultural gathering place where you can learn about your Celtic background. That doesn't mean we don't have a lot of fun though," she says. "It's something everyone can enjoy, and while we do have a lot of traditional ceremonies and culture on display, we also have some great modern Celtic rock bands and all sorts of entertainment.
The dawn service, the Kirking of the Tartan and the massed displays are so full of atmosphere you really get an idea of what Celtic people experienced and how deep the culture is," says Lyn.
A focus of the festival is on the communities within the Celtic races, in particular, those that are linked with the heritage of Glen Innes. The district was settled in 1838 by Scottish pastoralists. Other nationalities soon followed and, when tin was discovered in nearby Emmaville and elsewhere, many Cornish miners came to the area. Glen Innes today has a high percentage of residents who are descended from those early Celtic settlers, particularly the Scots, the Irish and the Cornish. It was largely in recognition of this genuine Celtic heritage that the regional city was chosen as the site of Australia's Celtic Monument, The Australian Standing Stones and to host the Australian Celtic Festival.
These Standing Stones, one of the first to be built in the world for more than 3500 years, are modelled on the Stones of Callanish on the Isle of Lewis off Scotland's west coast. Stone circles were built by the ancient Celts as calendars and later developed religious significance.
The main feature of the Australian Standing Stones is a circle of 24 stones, each averaging 17 tonnes and representing the 24 hours of the day. Outside the circle, four 'cardinal' stones mark true north, east, south and west. These four stones, with a single stone just inside the circle, form the Southern Cross - symbolising the link between the old and new worlds.
Another formation represents the Ionic cross, symbol of the early Christian Church and still used on Roman Catholic churches today. Other stones mark the summer and winter solstices, the longest and shortest days of the year.
There are three stones in the centre of the array. The northern stone, the Gaelic Stone, represents the Gaelic-speaking Celts from Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. The southern most stone, the Brythonic Stone, represents the Brythonic-speaking Celts of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The gold-coloured middle stone, the Australian Stone, represents all Australians. Outside this array, there are two distinctive stones: the Gorsedd Stone, for the Cornish and the Welsh, and the Ogham Stone for the Irish. The Ogham Stone has an inscription carved in Ogham, the oldest writing known to have been used by the Celts. It translates in Gaelic as 'gleann maqi aongusa', the Glen of the Sons of Angus, or, more simply, 'Glen Innes'.
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