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From the 9th to the 12th 2023 June there will be a walk and pilgrimage in Irish on Slí Cholmcille in Donegal. Slí Cholmcille goes from Gleann Cholm Cille in Donegal to Iona in Scotland, and it links places relating to the life and tradition of the saint.

It is hoped that the Slí will be like Camino de Santiago in Spain. From the 9th to the 12th June there will be an opportunity to get to know the natural world a walk for the body and spirit and company in Irish in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht.

From 2020 there has been a pilgrimage each year on Sli Cholmcille in Donegal, but this is the first walk and pilgrimage that is entirely in Irish. It is being organised by language planning districts, and Gaeltacht cooperatives in collaboration wtih the Colmcille programme of Foras na Gaeilge, and in association with Slí Cholmcille clg. Séamus Ó Dúchoin, a mountain guide and native speaker from Falcarragh will lead the walk.

The walk will start on St Colmcille’s feastday, the 9th June in Gleann Cholm Cille. On the 10 June the walk will be between Tobar Eithne, dedicated to Eithne, mother of Colmcille, and Gartán where he was born and where there are other sites associated with his childhood. On the third day the walk will start at Ray Cross, a site with close links to the Abbey of Iona, and will finish at Cnoc na Naomh. On the 12th June there will be a journey to Tory, which has a rich heritage associated with its Columban monastery. The island will also be alive with birds, and an expert on both, artist Antain Ó Mianáin will act as guide.

There is a package available for the four days, including three nights bed and breakfast in Teach Jack in Gaoth Dobhair. The cost is €390 per person based on single room, and €350 based on shared occupancy. The daily rate without accommodation is €20 for the first three days, and €50 for the fourth day, which includes the return ferry to Tory island. Application forms and further information can be obtained from sli@forasngaeilge.ie

Two online workshops in Scottish and Irish Gaelic and Manx by Pól Mac Cana, Paayl Rogers and Ruaraidh MacIlleathain, organised by Conradh na Gaeilge Boirche Íochtair as part of the Cassan Project.

In the film we discover how, through the singing of the Gaelic psalms the people of Lochs keep the spirit of the Celtic Church alive to this day. The film takes inspiration from the amazing story of the traditional sailing boats resounding with the iconic sound of the Gaelic psalms as they once set off from the services in Keose to their villages up and down Loch Erisort. The film is based on a community-arts project, and marks 1500 years of Colmcille’s influence in the Gàidhealtachd lands and farther afield.

The première will be at 7.30 on Friday the 9th December. Tickets are available here, and the film can also be viewed here. The director and artist Déirdre Ní Mhathúna gave the following account of how the project came about:

“It is a great honour to release the film “Calman nan Loch – The Dove of Lochs” to mark 1500 years of Colmcille’s influence in the Gàidhealtachd lands and farther afield. This is a wonderful story from Lochs in the Isle of Lewis which came to light while I was showing my artwork in the small village of Keose, on the north side of Loch Erisort, in 2007. On that day I had intended to say a grateful and fond farewell to the people who had made me welcome over several years.

“But it was on that very day that we heard the amazing story of the traditional sailing boats resounding with the iconic sound of the Gaelic psalms as they set off from the services in Keose to their villages up and down Loch Erisort.  We were all completely taken with this image and it wasn’t long before the name ‘psalmboats’ was coined to describe it.

“Over the years an open, welcoming community of psalmsingers, sailors, artists and friends developed. The project members came from different island churches and welcomed those with no faith at all. We collected funny and fascinating lore from folk who were still young in the days when the boats were the “Austins and Fords of their day”.

“Without a doubt, The Psalmboat Project altered what was ahead of me as an artist. Although I had no inkling that I’d be involved in such a long-lasting project on Lewis, nor that I’d forge such deep friendship through the Gàidhlig language, at the time I met the people of Lochs and heard the story of the psalmboats I was on a quest for a meaningful artist’s practice as a Gael. It was there, in that wee village on Loch Erisort that I found my lodestone which finally connected my Irish identity and my creative life in Scotland. I will forever be grateful for this unexpected gift.”

In the film you will come with me into the heart of a faith journey that has Colm Cille’s Island and the iconic image of the dove at its centre. We discover how, through the singing of the Gaelic psalms the legacy of the pre-Reformation monks endures and how the people of Lochs keep the spirit of the Celtic Church alive to this day.

Colmcille and the poets

In the year 575 the High King of Ireland Aodh Mac Ainmire invited dignitaries to attend an important gathering in Droim Ceat, county Derry. Among the topics up for discission was the question of what should be done with Ireland’s poets, who had become, in his view, rather impudent. One of the measures proposed was the banishing of poets from Ireland.

Colm Cille was in attendance, and took a stand on behalf of the poets. But what would have happened had he not intervened and what would we have lost as a nation?

These are the questions that prompted poet Daire Ní Chanáin as she began working on a specially-commissioned poem as part of Colmcille 1500. The resulting poetry video received its premiere on Poetry Day Ireland on April 28^th 2022.

Daire Ní Chanáin says: “Before I began working on this piece I had little knowledge of Colm Cille and it was exciting to discover so much about him. I feel I have a stronger connection with him having undertaken this work and I now notice more and more of his legacy all around me, especially given that I live in Derry.

In the poem I wanted to pay homage to the poets who have gone before me, and also to those who continue to write in Irish. I am greatly indebted to them. And we are all greatly indebted to Colm Cille.”

Tristan Rosenstock, co-ordinator of Colmcille 1500, adds:

“Daire belongs to a new generation of poets who present their work in new and exciting ways. Her poetry itself is highly artistic, as is the way she presents it. When you view the video and hear her words it is immediately apparent that she is a poet who has a deep understanding of the tradition, but that she is following her own path and has a unique voice of her own. We were thrilled to have a young Derry poet involved in Colmcille 1500”

You can watch the video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z-IhodljN8

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