Celtic Fire Festival Series

Presented by the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and ANAM Arts

Rooted in ancient tradition and reimagined for today, the Celtic Fire Festival Series is a seasonal journey through the sacred rhythms of the Celtic year. Presented by the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and ANAM Arts, this immersive event series invites audiences to gather, reflect, and celebrate at key turning points on the Celtic calendar.

Inspired by ancient festivals such as Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain, each installment blends live music, storytelling, ritual, and visual art to create a deeply atmospheric experience. Fire—both literal and symbolic—serves as the unifying element, representing transformation, renewal, and connection.

From the first stirrings of spring to the quiet descent into winter, the series offers a space to pause and reconnect—with nature, with community, and with ourselves. Audiences can expect powerful performances by regional and international artists, interactive elements, and moments of reflection woven throughout each event.

Whether you’re drawn by heritage, artistry, or the simple magic of gathering around the fire, the Celtic Fire Festival Series offers a unique cultural experience that honors the past while igniting the present.

Bealtaine – A Celtic Festival to Welcome Summer

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rooted, we rise anew
springing from the earth
honoring our shared Mother
our music and dance
songs of the soul
welcome whispers
on the wind of
summer’s return

Step into a modern echo of Bealtaine, the ancient Irish festival celebrating the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. Through music, dance, art-making and community ritual, let’s harness the transformative power of the ’bright fire’ returning within!

Bealtaine will be held on Saturday, May 9 at The Pump House (880 E Waterfront Drive, Homestead) from 12 – 5 pm.

Get your tickets now here!

We’re thrilled to know many of you will be joining us for our modern community celebration of BEALTAINE–the ancient Irish holiday honoring the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, when the vitality of spring welcomes in the warmth and blooming of summer.

This day-long experience will be filled with music, dance, ritual, crafts, bonfires, food & drink, and all around good craic!​
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​Together, let’s tune into the ‘bright fire‘ blooming within–to transform what we no longer need into the vital energy required to sow new growth in ourselves, in our community, and in the Earth.

Learn more about Bealtaine’s history and traditions here and here.

The May 9th, 2026 Bealtaine DETAILS:

Saturday May 9, 2026 from 12-5pm
RAIN OR SHINE!
The Historic Rivers of Steel Pumphouse
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All ages welcome, kids get in FREE!

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WHAT TO EXPECT:

12-12:45 – Bealtaine performance

1-1:45 – Devilish Merry performance

2-3:30 – Embodying Bealtaine: Hosted Irish Music Session + Dance Instruction and Somatic Labyrinth Walk (with Caitlin & Garrett Coleman)

3:30-4 – Denizen performance

4-4:15 – Special Interactive Performance Ritual

4:15-5 – Community Weaving​

Featured Performers:

Bealtaine is a folk band based in Pittsburgh, striving to keep traditions alive while borrowing influence from the modern world. With roots in Irish and Scottish folk, songs from the Canadian Maritimes, trad tunes, and working-class anthems, Bealtaine looks to make their own mark in the folk music world.

Devilish Merry is a Pittsburgh traditional music ensemble that blends Appalachian and Irish melodies with powerful, ballad-based songs on American history and heritage. It’s a lively mix of old-time fiddle tunes, Irish jigs and reels, Pennsylvania folk and labor ballads and riveting new songs from the musicians’ own life experience.

A DENIZEN is a person or thing belonging to a place…And so it is with DENIZEN the band, whose local roots in Pittsburgh PA stretch deep into ancestral Celtic culture to bring forth an eclectic and hypnotic fusion of Irish music and Appalachian Bluegrass. DENIZEN’s spellbinding performance showcases dialogue between sound and dance, and even brings audiences into the rhythm of our shared heartbeat.

Caitlin Golding-Coleman is a An Coimisiun certified, master Irish dance teacher who has been mentoring children and adults in her unique movement method for the past 20 years. As a 5 time Regional and Top 10 World Champion Irish dancer, she has toured professionally worldwide with productions such as Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, Dangerous Games (on Broadway), Spirit of Ireland and Dance of Desire as well as with renowned Irish musicians Eileen Ivers, The Chieftains, and Cherish the Ladies.

Garrett Coleman has been an Irish dancer and movement artist for over 30 years. He is a Tony Nominated, Drama Desk and Chita Rivera Award-winning Broadway choreographer, a two-time CLRG solo World Champion Irish dancer, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and co-creative director of genre-bending dance phenomena HAMMERSTEP. He is a graduate of the Tamalpa Institute, a practitioner of the Life/Art Process®, and a somatic expressive arts facilitator and master dance teacher.

Conor Coleman is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and Fulbright Scholar from Pittsburgh, PA. He is an award-winning Irish dancer and bodhran player, performing with the likes of Hammerstep and Lord of the Dance. He made his Broadway debut in 2023 in Paradise Square alongside his brother, Garrett. His embodied rhythm practices are also heavily featured in his mind-bending visual art, where intuitive mark-making reveals the artifacts of a universal consciousness. Find more of his work at www.knowillusions.com. @knowillusions

Get your tickets now here!

Lúnasa

Lúnasa (pronounced LOO-nah-sah), is one of the four major seasonal festivals of the ancient Celtic calendar, marking the beginning of the harvest season. Traditionally observed around August 1, it sits opposite Imbolc on the yearly cycle and represents the first fruits of the land—when communities would gather to give thanks for abundance and prepare for the coming autumn.

The festival is named for the Celtic god Lugh, a figure associated with skill, craftsmanship, and light. According to Irish mythology, Lugh established Lúnasa in honor of his foster mother, Tailtiu, who died after clearing the plains of Ireland for agriculture. In her memory, great assemblies—known as “Aonach Tailteann”—were held, blending ritual, athletic competition, matchmaking, music, and trade.

Historically, Lúnasa celebrations took place on hilltops and sacred landscapes across Ireland, such as Croagh Patrick, where people would climb in pilgrimage, light fires, and participate in communal feasting. These gatherings reinforced both spiritual connection and social bonds, marking a time of gratitude, cooperation, and shared resilience.

Over time, many Lúnasa traditions blended with local harvest customs and later Christian observances like Lammas, but the core themes endured: gratitude for the earth’s gifts, recognition of hard work, and the importance of community.

Today, Lúnasa is being reimagined through modern cultural festivals—like the Celtic Fire Festival Series—where ancient customs are honored through music, storytelling, ritual, and fire. It remains a powerful moment in the Celtic year: a celebration of abundance, creativity, and the turning of the seasons.

Stay tuned for details on the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and ANAM Arts’ Lúnasa plans!

Samhain

Samhain (pronounced SOW-in or SAH-win) marks the final harvest and the turning point into the darker half of the Celtic year. Traditionally observed on November 1 (with celebrations beginning the evening before), it is one of the most sacred and powerful festivals in the ancient Celtic calendar—standing alongside Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasadh as a key seasonal threshold.

At Samhain, it was believed that the veil between worlds—the living and the ancestral—grew thin. Communities gathered around great fires to honor those who came before, to seek guidance, and to prepare for the stillness and introspection of winter. Rituals often included lighting protective fires, sharing stories, offering food to spirits, and embracing both the mystery and the wisdom of the dark.

As the origin of many modern Halloween traditions, Samhain carries a legacy of symbolism—costumes, lanterns, and the interplay between light and shadow—all rooted in ancient practices of protection, transformation, and remembrance.

In the Celtic Fire Festival Series, Samhain is reimagined as an immersive, atmospheric experience. Fire once again becomes the central element—guiding, protecting, and illuminating—as audiences gather for an evening of live music, storytelling, ritual performance, and visual art. The event invites reflection on cycles of life and loss, the honoring of ancestry, and the quiet power found in darkness.

Both haunting and beautiful, Samhain offers a space to pause at the threshold—releasing what has passed, honoring what remains, and stepping intentionally into the season ahead.

Stay tuned for the Pittsburgh Irish Festival and ANAM Arts’ Samhain plans!

Imbolc

Imbolc 2026 was held on Sunday, February 1 at The Pump House: Return of the Light: A Celtic Festival to Welcome Spring (presented by PIF, and ANAM Arts) at The Pump House.

Beneath the vitalizing light of the full moon, step into a modern day experience of IMBOLC, the ancient Celtic tradition honoring the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Seasonally at this time, seeds stir ‘in the belly’ of the Earth, and in our own bodies-hearts-minds, as the dark of winter’s decay transitions into the light of spring’s renewal. In collaboration with Anam Arts, guests joined the Pittsburgh Irish Festival team as we gathered around the fire to tend the flame of renewal in ourselves and in our community through music, dance, ritual connection, and all around good craic.

Imbolc (pronounced IM-bolk or IM-bulk) marks the quiet but powerful turning point from winter toward spring. Celebrated on February 1, it falls midway between the winter solstice and spring equinox, signaling the first stirrings of life beneath the earth and the gradual return of light.

Deeply associated with Brigid, Imbolc is a festival of renewal, inspiration, and awakening. Historically, it honored the season of lambing and the reemergence of fertility in the land, while also celebrating Brigid as a patron of poetry, healing, and craft. Households would light candles and hearth fires, create Brigid’s crosses, and invite blessings of protection and creativity for the year ahead.

As one of the four great Celtic fire festivals—alongside Bealtaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain—Imbolc represents a moment of emergence: when intention begins to take shape and what has been dormant starts to rise.

In the Celtic Fire Festival Series, Imbolc is reimagined as an intimate and uplifting experience centered on light, creativity, and new beginnings. Through live music, storytelling, ritual, and visual art, the festival invites audiences to gather in warmth and reflection—kindling their own inner fire as the world slowly awakens.

Gentle yet powerful, Imbolc offers a space to set intentions, spark inspiration, and welcome the returning light.

Watch the Imbolc 2026 recap here and stay tuned for details on Imbolc 2027!