After careers spent promoting Irish music, dance and culture throughout the U.S., Sheila and Tony Davoren decided to settle down in a place that mirrored their love for authentic gatherings, great food and appreciation for the good things in life.
That’s how they ended up in Lafayette, where the couple founded the Celtic Bayou Festival in 2016. The festival was held this past weekend at Warehouse 535, with a lineup worthy of Celts and Cajuns alike — traditional music and dance, whiskey and beer tastings, and a Guinness Cook-Off featuring beer infused shrimp and grits, pork tenderloin with polenta, and Guinness braised ribs.
“This area was an instant hit for us,” says Tony Davoren. When on leave (the Davorens toured together as part of Riverdance) they would make the trek down to south Louisiana to “eat gumbo and play some tunes.”
“We knew it was special. After traveling America with Riverdance, this was the only place with an authentic, different culture. The food in particular, combined with music and dance and partying — we really connected with it all.”
Beth Patterson performs in Bailey’s Irish Pub during Celtic Bayou Festival on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Warehouse 535, in Lafayette. Music, food, dancing, and whisky tastings were just some of the offerings available at the Irish celebration.
Now in its ninth year, the Celtic Bayou Festival takes these cultural similarities and uses them as a tool to share knowledge about history and language. This year, a nonprofit organization called Breizh Amerika drove those lessons home with a tent where festival goers could learn more about Acadiana’s links to the Celtic world — particularly Brittany, the northwestern Celtic region of France where many Cajuns trace their old-world ancestry.
Brian Theriot of Carencro started traveling to Brittany in 2013 to learn more about his family’s heritage. Now a volunteer with Breizh Amerika, he says that the regions share similarities in music, food, and language.
Charles Kergaravat, Breizh Amerika’s founder, echoes this view. Originally from Brittany, he grew up in New York in a French and Breton-speaking household, so has an intimate understanding of what it’s like to grow up with a disappearing language.
“When we heard about this festival, we were like oh gosh, we have to get involved,” says Kergaravat. “We’ve done events in over 20 U.S. cities, and find in Louisiana there are a lot of parallels around culture and language loss.”
“My parents were part of the Breton diaspora,” he says. “When I was growing up they would speak Breton and French to me. More French, but we had a lot of Breton in our house. In the same way Cajun people would have English and French in their house.”
“But in Brittany the language is severely endangered, in the same way French is being lost here. That loss is very scary. We have a strong connection because of that.”
As hundreds of people wandered the festival wearing kilts, Celtic crosses, and anything green, it was clear that the people of Acadiana were ready to celebrate the best of our shared cultures. Despite, or perhaps because of, common stories of language loss and diaspora, Celtic and Cajun people seem to be kindred spirits when it comes to throwing a big, welcoming party.
“We noticed that too,” says Kergaravat. “We all like to have a good time. So when we get together, we have a blast.”