DCHP-2

kitchen party kitchen racket DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Social customs, Atlantic Canada, esp. Prince Edward Island

  informal gathering with music and dancing.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — A kitchen party is a descendant of the Gaelic ceilidh, originating in Ireland and Scotland (see the 2011 & 2013 quotations). A note in the DPEIE states that

  [t]his word [ceilidh (n.)] has been used since the beginning of settlement on Prince Edward Island for almost any social gathering from a quick visit to a planned entertainment. . . . The word has been popularized by television 'ceilidhs,' beginning in Cape Breton in 1958. (DPEIE, s.v. "ceilidh" (n)).

  A high proportion of immigrants to Atlantic Canada, particularly Cape Breton, NS, and Prince Edward Island were Scottish Gaelic-speakers who continued their traditions, including fiddle music, dancing and storytelling (see the 1986 quotation). Kitchen party is most common on Prince Edward Island (see Chart 1). Now the word has been taken over for a wide array of functions ranging from those held in homes, to more public events, including fund-raisers and jam sessions. The history of the term is much older than shown in the available quotations.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "kitchen party", which is marked "Maritimes", DPEIE, s.v. "ceilidh" (n).

  See also: kitchen racket  

  • 1979  In the upcoming months Liberal Party members will be taking their case for federalism into thousands of homes, holding kitchen parties and distributing pamphlets. 
  • 1992  Attending a McGarrigle show is like taking a peek in an old-fashioned kitchen party somewhere in rural Canada; where friends get together to play music, poke fun at the others' foibles and enjoy each other's company. 
  • 1996  One of the highlights of the show will be an old-fashion Maritime tradition, a Ceilidh or kitchen party, featuring MacIsaac with fiddlers Richard Wood, Cindy Thompson, step-dancer Cara Butler and the spoon king of Cheticamp, N.S., Gerry Deveau. 
  • 2007  A painting in the exhibit depicts a kitchen party, which was the traditional venue for Cape Breton fiddling. People would gather in someone's home and the party would go on all night. "It was a release from their troubles and their hard day's work," says Beaton. "My mother is 88 now, and when I would ask her about going to a house party, her face would just light up as though she went to heaven." Kitchen parties are still held on Cape Breton, but for visitors who haven't been invited to one, an evening at The Red Shoe Pub in Mabou would be the next best thing. 
  • 2007  Darren Farrell is in the house at The Outback tonight in Saint John. The bar hosts a kitchen party every Tuesday evening and the open mike with Marcel. Karaoke with Sue Gallant on Sunday's begins at 8 p.m. For information, call 652- 3790. 
  • 2011  Scotland is an ocean away from Newfoundland and Labrador, but the tradition of Celtic music and dance is strong on both sides of the pond. The Scottish city of Edinburgh celebrates traditional music every spring with Ceilidh Culture, a month-long festival honouring the ceilidh — a gathering of friends and family that involves dancing, music and storytelling, similar to a Newfoundland kitchen party. 
  • 2013  It's the inaugural East Coast Kitchen Party at the Portside Pub. The owner of the ship-styled Gastown restaurant is Mark Brand, who is from Halifax, as is Ash McLeod, his director of marketing. The Portside's manager is Andrew Flynn, a Newfoundlander. [...] A fancy name for a kitchen party is a ceilidh (pronounced cailey.) "Kitchen parties are picking up the phone and saying, 'Hey, boys, we're having a kitchen party and may five people come, maybe 20, and maybe your mother is telling you to go to another kitchen party," Ash says with a laugh.