The Keening: Wonders of the Irish Wake
The Keening Festival is the world’s only arts festival dedicated to celebrating and promoting the cultural legacy of the Irish Wake in performance, arts forms, workshops, lecture, and participatory sharing sessions.
Our vision is the celebrate, promote and cherish this unique Irish Cultural icon, the Wake, and spread the message across the globe of the Wake’s positive therapeutic and cultural value. As we discovered in the 2024 festival there is a huge demand globally to learn more about the Irish Wake and how to incorporate the Wake’s wisdom into our modern lives.
The Festival programme includes historic walks, storytelling, original musical commissions, concerts and keening classes.
The 2024 festival was a global marketing success with media coverage all over the world on the Irish Central website in the USA, full page articles in the UK Observer and Irish Independent, RTE, local media outlets. Visitors came from all over Ireland, the UK and we had multiple events with over 400 visitor experiences.
Following successful launch last year, the Keening attracted worldwide interest from America and UK. There are walks, workshops and an evening concert – all celebrating the historic traditions of the Irish Wake.
This year we plan an outdoor music event in Sean Nós song, poetry and storytelling to celebrate the Mayo Landscape and culture of the wake
Running Order
2pm: Keening Workshop
3pm: Wake Workshops and Stories
Free of Charge - Booking is essential
7.30pm: Concert
A celebration in Sean Nós, song, music and bardic poetry of the lost arts of the Irish Wake with renowned Sean Nós Singer Caitríona Ní Cheannabháin, Bafta winner and Bardic Poet Kevin Toolis, international composer Peter Reynolds and other Musicians.
Free of Charge - Booking is essential