Celtic Culture & heritage

Although remains of Pictish art, language and society can be found throughout north and eastern Scotland in many ways the Picts remain a mystery. Piecing together the available information to get an accurate picture of these people has been the cause of discussion and debate for many years. Any written records used to gain information can only be found from those who had little sympathy for the Picts, such as that from Angle or Roman sources. So they have to be viewed with great scepticism. Even the name Pict seems to appear for the first time in a Roman poem from the 3rd century AD.

Although the Picts were never conquered and drawn into the Roman Empire, it could be said that they had certain positive influences on Pictish society. In that the Roman invaders in southern areas of the British Isles and the threat they posed, brought together the Picts, who were until that time fragmented tribes and often in conflict with each other. This uniting for defensive purposes formed the Pictish lands into a fledgling kingdom.

Rushen Abbey was founded in 1134 by Monks of the Sauvignac Order. It stands close to the Manx village of Ballasalla (Manx: Balley Sallagh) on land granted to them by King Olaf I. In 1147 the order came into Cistercian control and by 1257 the Abbey Church was completed. The location of the Abbey was selected due to its close proximity to Castle Rushen (Manx: Cashtell Rosien), which is nearly two miles away in the town of Castletown (Manx: Balley Chashtal) which was the ancient capital of the Isle of Man (Mannin).

Rushen Abbey is associated with the writing of the Chronicles of the Kings of Mann and the Isles. The mediaeval manuscript was compiled around 1257 A.D. at the abbey. They record, in addition to other topics, events in Manx history from 1000 A.D. to 1316 A.D. and look at the Islands place as the centre of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. Based on a number of sources, including oral history, this important document is at the present time held in the British Library in London. There has been a long standing campaign to have the Chronicles returned to the Isle of Man were they should rightfully be held.

To promote, preserve and perpetuate through studies in all related areas: the culture, music, language, arts, crafts, customs and traditions of immigrants from the highlands of Scotland.

– Mission Statement of the Cape Breton Gaelic College

The Cape Breton Gaelic College (Colaisde na Gàidhlig) is located in Englishtown, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton’s northeast coast. The Gaelic College was founded in 1938 by people from the local community who wanted to create a memorial for the Gaelic speaking pioneers of Cape Breton. That year, the Cape Breton Island Gaelic Foundation began the work of raising funds to establish the Gaelic College. The first building at the site on the Bay of St. Ann’s was a log cabin raised in 1939. Classes in the early years included Gaelic language, Gaelic grammar, Gaelic song, bag piping, and the history of Gaelic culture in Scotland, Nova Scotia and North America.  Subjects such as folklore and highland dancing were soon added.

Today the Cape Breton Gaelic College is a modern and innovative institution. From its humble beginnings, this unique institution has expanded and gained an international reputation for its contribution to the preservation and development of the Scots Gaelic language and culture of Nova Scotia. The only institution of its kind in North America, students of all ages and ability travel here from around the world to study.

Colaisde na Gàidhlig / The Gaelic College has an international reputation for its contribution to the promotion and preservation of traditional Gaelic culture, offering instruction in over ten disciplines, and year-round learning and fun. As a cultural destination, it will delight visitors with the unique opportunity to experience first-hand the living culture of the Nova Scotia Gaelic people.

The College curriculum reflects the legacy of what was once a thriving Gaelic speaking Celtic nation. The curriculum includes a program in Gaelic Immersion and Gaelic language instruction in Gaelic drama, Gaelic song and Gaelic storytelling.  Emphasis is also placed on Cape Breton’s rich musical heritage with courses in the Bodhran Celtic drum, Cape Breton Fiddling, Cape Breton Piano Accompaniment and the Celtic Harp.

Celtic scholars agree that Danu is the name of a deity that ranked high in the Celtic Pantheon dating from the earliest history of the Celtic peoples. The consensus seems to be that Danu was most likely the Celtic Mother Goddess and that she gave her name to the Tuatha Dé Danann (Children of Danu). But beyond this point the Celtic scholars diverge on the identity and origins of Danu.  A mystical figure shrouded behind the curtain of lost knowledge that died with the last Druid.

There is general agreement that Danu is related and cognizant with the Irish deity Anu, referred to as the mother of the gods of Ireland, and the Welsh deity Don, a mother fertility goddess. The similarity in spelling and the fact that Anu and Don are female deities related to the fertility of the land allows for the argument that Anu and Don are strongly connected to Danu and may be the same goddess in Irish and Welsh form and  thus merging Goidelic and Brythonic.

Patricia Monaghan in the Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore has the following entry on Danu:

Most significantly, we find an Irish divine race, thought to represent the gods of the Celts, called the Tuatha Dé Danann, the people of the goddess Danu”.  Similarly we have this entry from the Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by Peter Beresford Ellis: “A mother goddess from whom the Tuatha Dé Danann take their name. If her (Danu) counterparts in the Welsh tradition are anything to go by, Danu’s husband was Bile, god of death.  The Dagda is her son.

Regardless of Danu’s origins, this deity lives on in the popular imagination of the modern Celtic nations. A survey of the internet discloses a technology firm in Ireland named Danu, the popular Celtic band Danu and many pubs named after the Celtic Mother Goddess. There are countless references to this Celtic deity in what might be called the genre of new age mysticism. Thus in spite of the scholarly speculation which hesitates as to her identity and origins, Danu has seeped into modern Celtic consciousness.