Blogs

The singing of a sea shanty is associated with traditional sailing ships. Bringing back memories of the era when wind-driven packet and clipper ships sailed the world's oceans. A shanty was the type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany the labour of the crew on board these large merchant sailing vessels.  These traditional ships in full sail are a magnificent site and during the month of August many can be seen around the coasts of Brittany (Breton: Breizh).

News from the Celtic League:

They may not have been as impressive as the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations seen in London and elsewhere, but slowly, people in Cornwall are waking up to the fact that there is something inherently wrong going on in Cornwall with overdevelopment destroying our green and pleasant land.

Easter weekend saw protests break out in Breage and Polzeath.

This comment from Polzeath:

Cornish is a language that is “reawakening” according to most linguists.  The web page Ethnologue, which specializes in monitoring the status of the world’s languages, describes the current state of Cornish as follows: “Taught in some schools and used in periodicals with a current dictionary and grammar rules. There is also a Cornish language bible released in 2017. Religious services are held in Cornish with evening classes, correspondence courses, summer camps, children’s play groups, residential courses, and self-help groups.

Last week Stephen Miller gave a lecture to a well attended meeting at Cecil Sharpe House in London, home of the Folk Dance and Song Society. He was drawing attention to the remarkable work of the Gill Brothers. The Gill brothers, W.H. Gill (1839–1923) and Deemster J.F. Gill (1842–99) have remained marginalised and neglected figures in the collecting of Manx folk song, overshadowed by A.W.

Gwenno Saundres is a Welsh musician who released a Cornish Language album Le Kov (A Place of Memeory) in 2018. The impact was electrifying. The impact of the album on interest in the Cornish tongue has been widely acclaimed.  The Gorsedh Kernow went so far as to attribute the album’s release to the jump in the number of students sitting for the Cornish language certification exam, which in 2018 saw a record number of students certified in Cornish.

All Under One Banner (AUOB) have successfully organised a series of marches and rallies across Scotland in favour of independence. For years there has been an attempt to ignore, under report and constantly play down attendees at these marches. Now Police Scotland and the local council are getting decidedly nervous about the AUOB march in Glasgow on May 4th. The marches have always been good humoured and peaceful, but now police say they might not be able to handle the numbers expected to attend. 

Manx Wildlife Week  runs from 4th May until 12th May 2019. The Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin) is rich in wildlife. The aim is to promote and encourage people to learn and appreciate the Island's natural environment. Now, more than ever, the natural world is under increasing threat from pollution, climate change, over-fishing and the vandalism and loss of wildlife habitat being perpetrated by the relaxation of planning controls. Manx Wildlife Week is one way to promote environmental protection and build a society where nature matters.

Information received from the Celtic Congress which is in Cornwall

The International Celtic Congress is taking place at the Hotel Bristol in Newquay from Thursday 25th until Tuesday 30th April.

The theme of the Conference is Recording Our Past to Inform Our Future.

The Congress takes place in each of the Celtic Countries in turn and so the Cornish branch host it every six years.

On this day in 1746: The Battle of Culloden took place. Prince Charles Edward Stuart, (31 December 1720 – 31 January 1788) The Young Pretender, affectionately known as Bonnie Prince Charlie was the grandson of James II of Scotland and had led the second Jacobite Uprising of 1745 to overthrow the British King George II. The Jacobite cause was supported by many Highland clans. Prince Charlie and his forces were defeated at the Battle of Culloden (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Chùil Lodair).