Aber Fest - The Modern Era

The Modern Era

The late 1970s and 1980s saw a great deal of interest in Inter Celtic organisations and activities. The International Celtic Congress had been very active in the Celtic world through much of the 20th Century, but saw a new enthusiasm in Cornwall as the “Cornish movement” looked to other Celtic countries for support and ideas in facing the decline in cultural self-confidence that was very evident at that time. Around the same time the Pan Celtic Festivals had led to the establishment of an independent Inter Celtic festival, “Lowender Peran” in Perranporth, Cornwall each October.

As visitors to this Festival, Katrine Pasco and her husband Patrick Lorho, travelled to Cornwall and made friends with a wide number of people with loose involvement with the Cornish movement including Ron Williams (Ronnie) from Falmouth. After several years of visiting Lowender Peran and strengthening links, Pasco and Lorho, organised the first “Breizh – Kernow Festival” in 1987 (Breizh being Breton for Brittany and Kernow being Cornish for Cornwall) in Brandivy, in the Morbihan region of Brittany.