Celtic Culture & heritage

Ag Siúlóid insan Aer - Walking in the Air

Submitted by Eibhlin O'Neill on December 31, 2021 - 4:57pm

"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman which is based on Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book of the same name. Ag "Siúlóid insan Aer"  is St Columba's College Irish language version sung by Tania Stokes, accompanied on the piano by Ms Geraldine Malone-Brady - November 2014.

Life of a Manx Miner

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Submitted by Alastair Kneale on October 23, 2021 - 7:37pm

Laxey (Manx: Laksaa) is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin). Laxey was the centre of an important lead and zinc-mining industry which was once one of the most important to be worked in the British Isles, and at the time, the world. Lead, zinc, copper and iron had been exploited on the Isle of Man from prehistoric times. Mining remained commercially viable until the early 20th century.

Scotland's Huntly Castle and the Sinister Events After the Death of George Gordon 5th Earl of Huntly

Submitted by Douglas MacQueen on August 30, 2021 - 6:54pm

Huntly Castle is a ruined castle and ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon. It is located to the northeast of the market town of Huntley, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Srath Bhalgaidh or Hunndaidh, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain, Alba). The L-plan castle has a five storey tower and attached great hall and is built on the site of an earlier motte fortress, the mound of which can still be seen. The surviving remains on the site enable the story of the development of the castle to be traced, from the motte and bailey of the 1100s, through to the tower house of the later Middle Ages, then on to the stately stone palace of the Jacobean era.

Lady Anne Farquharson-Mackintosh and the 'Rout of Moy' that Saved Bonnie Prince Charlie

Submitted by Douglas MacQueen on August 11, 2021 - 10:51am

Lady Anne Mackintosh

The village of Moy (Scottish Gaelic: A' Mhòigh) is situated between the villages of Daviot and Tomatin, in the Highland region of Scotland. Moy Hall is near to the village and is the home of the chiefs of the Clan Mackintosh, a Highland Scottish clan. It was at Moy Hall that Jacobite supporter Lady Anne Farquharson-MacKintosh entertained Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie")  in 1746. She learned that English government forces were advancing to capture Prince Charlie and she arranged for an act of subterfuge to protect him from capture.

Lady MacKintosh arranged for Donald Fraser the blacksmith and four other retainers to watch the road from Inverness. During the night they saw hundreds of Hanoverian troops marching along the road. As the English government troops approached they set about deceiving the advancing army by firing their pistols, shouting the battle cries of the Clan MacDonald and Clan Cameron and banging their swords against rocks. They fooled the advancing soldiers into thinking they had entered a stronghold of the Jacobite Army. At which point the British Government forces hastily retreated. It was an event that has come to be remembered as the "Rout of Moy".

"Kan bale an arb" - Breton Nationalistic Song

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Submitted by Alastair Kneale on May 23, 2021 - 6:17pm

This song is originally the marching song of the Armée Révolutionnaire Bretonne (ARB), the song has been adopted widely as a song for all patriotic Bretons. It is poignant at this this time in Brittany when the French state is once again undermining the Breton language and indeed all minority languages in France.

On May 21st 2021, the Constitutional Court in France  published its decision on the teaching of minority languages. The main thrust being it cancels the possibility of immersive teaching in schools that give a "public service". It also includes private associative schools that get public funding (Diwan, ikastolas, calandretas). This is potentially an enormous attack on the Breton language and culture. It is a provocative act that could have consequences.

Gráinne Ní Mháille: Gaelic "Sea Queen of Connacht"

Submitted by Eibhlin O'Neill on May 9, 2021 - 11:46pm

Bronze Statue of Grace O'Malley by Michael Cooper situated at Westport House.

Grace O'Malley (c. 1530 – c. 1603; Irish: Gráinne Ní Mháille) was chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in the west of Ireland. The only child of Owen Dubhdara Uí Máille, the O’Malley of Umhall Uachtarach, and Margaret Ní Máille. She was commonly known as Gráinne Mhaol (anglicised as Granuaile). A proud and courageous woman, she is a well-known historical figure in 16th-century Irish history. Sometimes known as "The Sea Queen of Connacht" or even “The Pirate Queen” after she inherited her father’s significant shipping and trading business, which was sometimes described as a form of piracy.
 
Gráinne saw her wealth grow from this business. She also had land inherited from her mother, and property and holdings from her first husband, Dónal an Chogaidh Ó Flaithbheartaigh. However, she lived in very turbulent times and witnessed the collapse of the Gaelic order and the crushing of Ireland’s ruling élite. It brought her face to face with Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1593, a meeting at which Gráinne refused to bow, stating that she herself was a Queen of her land and not a subject of the Queen of England.
 

New insights into the Newgrange prehistoric monument in Ireland

Submitted by Transceltic team on April 17, 2021 - 6:26pm

Brú na Bóinne in Ireland (Irish: Éire) is a World Heritage Site situated within a bend in the River Boyne (Irish: An Bhóinn or Abhainn na Bóinne). It is famous for the passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, built some five thousand years ago. These ceremonial structures are among the most important Neolithic sites in the world. They also contain the largest collection of megalithic art in western Europe

Archibald Knox - Manx Celtic Design Genius

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Submitted by Alastair Kneale on February 20, 2021 - 4:09pm

Archibald Knox (09 April 1864 – 22 February 1933) was a Manx artist and designer born at Cronkbourne near Tromode, Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin). He is now associated with the art nouveau movement that flourished throughout Europe and the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, his work spanned the Arts and Crafts Movement, Celtic Revival, Art Nouveau, and Modernism. His designs are noted for having been informed by his Celtic roots. Archibald Knox drew his inspiration from the landscape and the carvings on the Celtic and Norse crosses, stones and monuments that he had seen on his native Isle of Man. In 1893 The Builder published an article by Archibald Knox with the title, 'Ancient Crosses in the Isle of Man'.

His designs complemented those prevalent in the art nouveau movement, much of which was also heavily influenced by natural structures and forms. Art Nouveau was seen as both a style and philosophy that drew inspiration from the natural world rather than looking back into history and recreating historical styles. It was heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement which sought to promote handicraft and skilled workmanship at a time when industrialisation was seen to be debasing the work of skilled artisans through the process of mass production. The Art Nouveau movement encompassed all aspects of art, design and architecture and was developed by a generation of skilled and energetic designers and artists who sought to advance an art form appropriate to the modern age.

Inter-Gaelic Celebration of Saint Columba - Colmcille 1500

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Submitted by Alastair Kneale on January 23, 2021 - 5:51pm

Colmcille logo

An inter-Gaelic commemoration is now underway marking the birth 1500 years ago of the 6th-century saint Colmcille or Columba. His legacy has contributed to the development of the language, culture and traditions of the Gaelic nations of Ireland (Irish: Éire), Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba) and the Isle of Man (Manx Gaelic: Mannin). He had a significant impact upon the course of Scottish and Irish history. Saint Columba’s legacy continues to be of relevance today.

The year-long inter-Gaelic celebration lasts from 7th December 2020 until 7th December 2021. However, it is hoped this celebration of the legacy of Colmcille is not only confined to his historical contribution, but an inspiration to future cooperation across all of the Gaelic countries and Gaelic speaking communities around the world. Gaelic was the Celtic language spoken by Columba and his followers.  The Goidelic or Gaelic languages of Ireland, Scotland and Isle of Man form one of the two groups of Celtic languages still spoken in the world. The other being the Brittonic languages of Brittany (Breton: Breizh), Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) and Wales (Welsh: Cymru).

Scottish Artist Alexander Goudie and His Love of Brittany

Submitted by Douglas MacQueen on December 2, 2020 - 10:11am

Alexander Goudie Self Portrait

Scottish painter Alexander Goudie (11 November 1933 – 9 March 2004) was born in the town of Paisley (Scottish Gaelic: Pàislig) situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art under William Armour, David Donaldson and Benno Schotz and where he was awarded the Somerville Shanks Prize for Composition. The prize is named after William Somerville Shanks (28 September 1864 – 28 July 1951) a Scottish artist who was a tutor in painting and drawing at the Glasgow School of Art for 29 years. Alexander Goudie was a tutor at the school for a number years before dedicating himself to his own studio work. He is now widely acclaimed as having been one of Scotland’s finest figurative painters.

Amongst his considerable body of work there is a series of paintings depicting life and landscapes of the Celtic country of Brittany (Breton: Breizh). It was an interest that grew during his marriage to his Breton wife Marie-Renee Dorval. He documented the changing face of the Breton rural landscape in sketches and paintings over a 30 year period. In 1966 he staged his first exhibition of Breton paintings at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, other exhibitions of Breton paintings at various galleries followed in 1986, 1987, 1992, 2002 and 2005.

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