World’s largest Celtic festival begins this weekend in Brittany

The 55th edition of the world’s largest Celtic festival begins this weekend in Lorient (Morbihan), promising dancing, music, games, processions, and delicious local foods.

The Festival Interceltique de Lorient may also be known as the ‘Goel ar Gelted’, which means ‘Interceltic festival’. It will run for ten days from July 31 - August 9.

This year, the festival is dedicated to Cornwall and the Celtic Sea, "emphasising how the sea serves as a common thread linking the various Celtic nations and their diasporas," reads the festival's website. 

More than 5,000 performers and professionals will take part, including many from across the other Celtic nations and areas, such as Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Galicia and Asturias in Spain. Performers and attendees will also come from across the Gaelic and Celtic diaspora, including the USA, Australia, and New Zealand.

Around 950,000 visitors are expected to attend, with more than around three million more expected to watch broadcasts from the festival on TV (on France 3 and France 4).

In the line-up

Among the 2026 lineup are a bagad pipe band (a Breton-style ensemble featuring bagpipers), Celtic dances and dance competitions, a craft market, and pots of traditional cotriade fish stew among other delicacies.

There will be singers and band performances, Celtic language workshops, conferences on Breton and Celtic culture, Breton films, musical dinners, Gaelic rugby and sports events, dance classes, art shows, instrument masterclasses, and more - including many other events in local bars and restaurants around Lorient.

The annual Grand Parade of Celtic Nations - with 3,500 performers - will also take place.

Breton vocabulary

Attendees and viewers can brush up on their Breton which has many similarities with dialects and languages from the above Gaelic nations and areas.

You could try:

• Demat: Hello / Bonjour

• Kenavo: Goodbye, see you soon / A bientôt

• Trugarez: Thanks / Merci

• Mersi bras: Thank you very much / Merci beaucoup

• Degemer mat: Welcome / Bienvenue

• Yec’hed mat: Cheers! / Santé!

• Noz: Night / nuit (as in, le fest-noz, the night festival / la fête de la nuit, a Breton festival)

• An deiz: The day / le jour

• Ar beure: The morning / le matin

• An noz: The night / la nuit

• Adalek ar beure betek an noz: Party from day to night / Faire la fête du matin au soir

• Mont Da Glask ar'hoazh beure: Go to find tomorrow morning (go to bed) / Aller chercher demain matin

• Pokou bras: Big kisses / gros bisous

• Bezañ kollet: To become lost / se perdre

If you want to sound like you know your musical terms, consider:

• Bagad: Breton ensemble of bagpipes, bombards and drums

• Biniou: Breton bagpipe with one drone, usually called a biniou kozh.

• Bodhrán: Irish percussion instrument

• Bombarde: Ancestor of the oboe

• Cèilidh / céilí band: A band accompanying traditional dances in Scotland and Ireland.

• Fiddle: Fiddle traditionally used in Scotland and Ireland

• Gaïta: Bagpipes from Asturias and Galicia.

• Gwenn Ha Du: The Breton flag designed in 1923 by Morvan Marchal. The horizontal stripes symbolise the nine countries of Brittany. The ermines recall the emblem of the Dukes of Brittany.

• Kan Ar Bobl: The people's song. Used as a springboard for young singing and musical talent.

• Uilleann Pipes: Irish bagpipes with bellows, the most sophisticated of all bagpipes.

• Sonerion: An assembly of Breton pipers.

• Veuze: Breton bagpipes from the Nantes region, similar to medieval bagpipes.

If you get stuck, fear not. Google Translate now has Breton as one of its languages as well as Occitan, alongside other languages spoken in France including Basque, Corsican, and Catalan.