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Castlefest is a medieval/fantasy festival in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, held in the first weekend of August in the gardens of Castle Keukenhof in Lisse

Lisse

Lisse is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 16.11 km² of which 0.41 km² is water. Its population is 21864...

 since 2005. The festival takes part during 3 days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a opening concert on Thursday (since 2011). During the first edition 3.500 visitors attended the event, in 2007 the festival attracted 16.000 visitors and in 2011 more than 24.000 visitors entered the gates of Castlefest.

There are several folk bands performing each year at Castlefest, most notably Omnia

Omnia (band)

Omnia is a self-described "neoceltic pagan folk" band based in The Netherlands and whose members over the years have had Irish, Dutch, Cornish, Belgian and Persian backgrounds...

.

Castlefest is based on the Celtic feast of Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh is a traditional Gaelic holiday celebrated on 1 August. It is in origin a harvest festival, corresponding to the Welsh Calan Awst and the English Lammas.-Name:...

. Omnia headlines the Saturday night at the festival, which is the Pagan Night (most notable for the wicker

Wicker

Wicker is hard woven fiber formed into a rigid material, usually used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is often made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibers are also used....

burning each year).

External links

• Official website Castlefest 2011 at Fok!nieuws