It’s Nova Scotia Gaelic Month.
We are currently living in extraordinary times, and because of the worldwide pandemic, events of all kinds have had to be postponed or cancelled.
Although we must wait to celebrate later, Gaels welcome May 2020 as the 24th anniversary of Nova Scotia Gaelic Month. The world may offer obstacles but the work on behalf of our language and culture continues.
We should all remember the date 1773, when the ship Hector brought the first Gaels to Nova Scotia. Here’s another important date — May 20 — this year is the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Rev. Norman Macleod and his congregation to St. Ann’s Bay, Cape Breton, bringing with them the Presbyterian Church to Victoria County. From Assynt, Scotland, they came to Pictou, N.S., then to St. Ann’s and more than 30 years later to Waipu, New Zealand.
This community of Christian folk represents the resolute pioneering spirit of Gaels, still very much alive today.
Throughout the centuries, long before coming to the New World, Gaels had to resist those who tried to obliterate their language and culture. Here’s a bit of history I’ve recorded before: In 1616, James VI of Scotland and I of England, approved a decree to “extirpate” (root out, completely destroy) the Gaelic language. Four hundred years later, 2016, in Glendale, Cape Breton, Gaels gathered to celebrate the defeat of this decree.
During the 20th century in Nova Scotia, Gaels continued to press for language rights. We may now understand that the creation in 1938-39 of the Gaelic College by Rev. AWR MacKenzie in St. Anns, Cape Breton, was the first glimmer of light towards a future for the Gaelic language and culture here. Today, that same institution is going strong. It has partnered with Cape Breton University to offer a fourweek Gaelic credit course in May (currently offered online); together with the Office of Gaelic Affairs, opened in 2007, it has instituted a mentorship program, Na Gaisgich Òga (The Young Heroes), that is reaping dividends. At facebook.com/gaelic affairs, read how 19-year-old Joe MacMaster describes his experience.
The Gaelic Office also secured funding to enable schools to hire a Gaelic teacher. To date, the counties of Inverness, Victoria, Antigonish and Halifax have availed themselves of the opportunity. I urge you to read Emily MacEwan’s excellent post on this topic at gaelic.co/ ns-gaelic-education/.
These days, wonderful to relate, young married couples who learned Gaelic — in school, at the Gaelic College, at St. Francis Xavier University’s Celtic Department, in community opportunities like the Gàidhlig aig Baile (Gaelic in the Home) endeavour — are using Gaelic with their young ones at home. And children ages two to five are invited to Gaelic nursery school every Monday morning in Mabou at Dalbrae Academy, with teacher and young mother Emily MacDonald from Ainslie Glen.
Gaels have a proverb: Anail a’ Ghàidheil--air a’ mhullach! Loosely interpreted, The Gael only pauses for breath when s/he has reached the top of the mountain. Look yonder — there’s a mountain-top beckoning.
Note: During the month of May, watch for a series of social media posts on Gaelic Nova Scotia at facebook.com/ gaelicaffairs and twitter.com/ ns_gaelic.