Drawing on the infinitely rich treasury of Ireland’s cultural heritage, Tomáseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas is a re-creation of a night before Christmas in the West of Ireland in the 1940s, in the days before the motorcar, the television, and the telephone.

Now in its 28th season, this year’s show features some of the finest, most authentic exponents of the Celtic arts performing anywhere today, on either side of the Atlantic.

Traditionally, in the remote parish of Teampall an Ghleannáin – Tomáseen Foley’s birthplace – the neighbors gathered at each other’s farmhouses on the nights leading up to Christmas, bringing with them their fiddles, tin whistles, flutes, bodhráns, uilleann pipes, and, perhaps, most important of all, their unshakeable sense of community.

They gathered to raise the rafters of the old houses with the joy of their music, to knock sparks off the flagstone floor with their traditional dances – and, of course, to tell stories – they filled the night with the laughter of their stories.

A Celtic Christmas brings to life just such a night. On stage, the spirit of Christmas dances to life and glows brightly to create an Irish family feast – direct from the rich table of communal life in the west of Ireland.