Blogs

The Irish Broadcasting Network are reporting that the Irish Uilleann pipes, an enduring symbol of Celtic culture in Ireland, have been recognised as an important and unique cultural heritage symbol by UNESCO.

Multiple press reports are quoting Irish President Michael Higgins on the announcement: 

Welsh history has to be given priority in school lessons in Wales. That is the call made by Councillor Owain Williams who represents Clynnog  on Gwynedd Council. As reported in the Welsh Daily Post newspaper he is putting a motion forward at next week's council meeting in which he proposes:

“That Gwynedd Council calls for arrangements to be made for Welsh history to be given priority in history lessons in all schools in Wales.

"The current situation of basic failings in teaching our own history and identity is unacceptable.

During road works being undertaken on the A9 recently the remains of a structure which could date back some 2000 years has been uncovered. Pieces of ancient pottery and a stone tool were also found at the site, which is close to the town of Kingussie (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann a' Ghiùthsaich) in the Scottish Highlands. The newly discovered building is not far from Raitt's Cave, an underground Iron Age subterranean chamber known as a souterrain discovered in the 1800's.

A number of decades ago a chair was donated to the Highland Folk Museum. The chair shows evidence of having been immersed in sea water for a considerable time. It estimated to be at least 300-years-old and the back panel of the seat has a carved a lion and a unicorn on a crest with a crowned heart motif. At this stage its origins are not known, but museum sources believe part of the carving could be associated with the Clan Douglas. 

The Soviet famine of 1932–33 killed millions of people in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union. Ukraine, Northern Caucasus, the Volga Region, Kazakhstan, the South Urals, and West Siberia were included in the areas heavily impacted by the famine. In the Ukraine it is known as the Holodomor and it has been estimated that over 3 million died, with some suggesting the deaths could stand at over 7 milion. In Kazakhstan it is thought over 600,000 (15% of all Kazakhs) died.

This news item from Yn Commeeys Celtiagh - Celtic League Mannin reports on those Irish soldiers who survived the Siege of Jadotville and were awarded with a special medal on 2nd December 2017 honouring their service. The Siege of Jadotville took place in September 1961, during the United Nations intervention in the Katanga conflict in Congo-Léopoldville, in Central Africa. The lightly armed and heavily outnumbered Irish soldiers fought bravely during the UN peaceckeeping mission until their ammunition and supplies were exhausted.

The Cornish kept Christmas when the rest of Britain had given up on it.

Christmas (Nadelik) was celebrated in Cornwall when it had become unfashionable to do so across the rest of Britain.

In fact many of the customs we now think of as Christmas traditions were collected in places like Cornwall in the early 19th Century.

Numerous distinctive traditions and practices are associated with this time of year in Cornwall including:

• The Cornish Christmas Bunch

• Cornish church towers being illuminated on Christmas Eve

The Aran Islands (Irish: Oileáin Árann) are a group of three islands, Inishmore (Árainn Mhór/Inis Mór), Inishmaan (Inis Meáin/Inis Meadhóin) and Inisheer (Inis Thiar/Inis Oírr/Inis Oirthir), located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. Residents on the Aran Islands have raised concerns over recent years about the provision of transport services to and from the islands, with some services even facing threatened suspension. Now a new five year contract will guarantee daily ferry services to each of the three islands. 

News from the Irish Branch of the Celtic League:

"Misneach stands with Cork Street Names Campaign"

"Councillor Diarmaid Ó Cadhla, and two colleagues, Tom O’Connor and Tony Walsh, will appear before the courts in Cork for the second time next week due to a direct action taken by them in relation to street signage last February. The three are members of Cork Street Names Campaign who damaged signs with Queen Victoria’s name on them at the beginning of the year. The state has charged the men with criminal damage. 

St. Andrew's Day (Scottish Gaelic: Là Naomh Aindrea) is Scotland's official national day celebrated on 30th November. St Andrew has been the patron saint of Scotland from at least the mid tenth century and legend says long before. He was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee in the early 1st century and is the brother of St Peter. According to the Gospel of St John, Andrew was a follower of the preacher John the Baptist and then became a disciple of Jesus who he recognised as the Messiah. The name Andrew is Greek in origin.