Emmett McIntyre's blog

From "The Celtic Languages News":

Nova Scotia Office of Gaelic Affairs Offers the Daltachas Program

The website "Celtic Language News" reports that outgoing Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws shared her 40 years of experience in revitalizing the Welsh language, noting that legal protection of minority languages is just the beginning, and it won’t stop those languages from disappearing.

A Donegal County Councillor says the Council must do more to support the Irish language. 

Councillor Mícheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig was speaking after there was no translation service available at a recent meeting he attended. During the meeting, Mac Giolla Easbuig spoke in Irish although there was no translation service available. He says a number of councillors objected to this, but is stressing it’s no reflection on Cllr Frank Mc Brearty who chaired the meeting.

The most widely spoken of the Celtic languages, Welsh is arguably the most secure with the brightest future. “The Welsh language is integral to Wales’ culture and society. It is the only language that is de jure official in any part of the United Kingdom (with English being de facto official). It is estimated that 25% of the Welsh population now speak the language, with roughly 15% speaking Welsh daily as their first language of choice.” – Brown UCCF

One of the Celtic Tongue’s principal strengths is its place in the Welsh university system.

The Ulster City of Derry (Doire) host's a massive Halloween party from 26 October through 3 November. The event, which is billed as the “Return of the Ancients", includes a Carnival Parade and various events in and arouned the city of Doire. The Festival is held on the days leading up to Halloween, which is the modern name for the pre-Christian Celtic feast day of Samhain. Celtic Myth surrounding Samhain (Halloween) includes many tales of Shape Shifting Fairies who emerge at Halloween when the door to the Otherworld opens.

Originally posted October 2013 by Myghal Map Serpren

In Kernow, the time of Halloween or Samhain, is known as Nos Calan Gwaf and is widely celebrated. Popularly linked to St Allen or Arlan a little known Cornish Saint, it is also known as Allan day.

A 19th century account informs that:

Originally published in 2013

The ancestry of modern Halloween, which needs no introduction here, leads on a straight line back to Samhain, the Celtic feast day of the Dead. One of the four annual feast days of the Celtic world, Samhain was such an important feast day that it did not escape the notice of Julius Caesar as he ravaged Celtic Gaul who remarked that the Celtic god of death and winter was worshipped on this day.

The BBC recently reported that a pre-census survey by the Welsh Office of National Statistics shows 874,700 people are able to speak the language, up from 726,600 in 2008. Roughly a 20% increase. The data was published as part of the “Annual Population Survey” as a run up to the full census to be taken in 2021.

The survey shows an increase the number of Welsh speakers in every local authority except for a minor decrease in Torfaen, where there was a 0.5% decrease, and Flintshire, where numbers fell by about 6.2%.

The Scots Gaelic Tongue has persisted in spite of the blow dealt by the vicious Education Act of 1872 that forbade the use of Scots Gaelic in the classroom.  This most recent strengthening of Gaelic Medium primary education ensures that the language will continue its recover from the persecution of the British government, typified by the Education Act of 1872.

In 2017 "The Scotsman" published an article, linked below, highlighting an historical map of the Gaelic language in Scotland which, among other things, illustrates the effectiveness of the British governments persecution of the Gaelic tongue: “Published in 1895, the map which charts the prevalence of Gaelic speaking in Scotland, is the first of its kind. Produced by Edinburgh map company Bartholomew’s, the map contains information distilled from the first census, in 1881, that counted Gaelic speakers in Scotland.”