Colmcille
Colmcille
It can be a challenge for teenagers to come together and use Gaelic, but an odyssey by bus and boat is helping a group in County Derry to meet that challenge.
For a number of years, a 50 seater bus from the Donegal Gaeltacht has been travelling to County Derry and onwards to the Isle of Lewis. The bus is full of teenagers and those helping them, and their face is set on Fèis Eilean an Fhraoich, the youth festival in Lewis, and on young people of their own age who speak Scottish Gaelic.
The journey is organised by a youth group, Club Óige Luraigh, a one of a network of Irish language organisations which has developed in a rural area of County Derry. The club works in partnership with the Fèis in Lewis, and with Muintearas, a Gaeltacht youth organisation in Ireland: there are teenagers from the Donegal and Conamara Gaeltachts on the bus as well as from Derry.
The young people from Ireland take part in music activities and iomáin (hurling/shinty) in Lewis as well as language classes, and drama workshops help them to use Scottish Gaelic.
Joe Ó Dochartaigh, a youth worker at Club Óige Luraigh, says that the annual odyssey transforms the work of the youth club. Even though they have had Irish-medium primary education, those teenagers who do not speak Irish at home can succumb to pressure to speak English among themselves. But the annual odyssey to Lewis has its own effect: as the young people put effort into the feis and the long journey there and back, they choose to speak Irish among themselves, a choice they maintain on their return home to County Derry.
New friendships are another result of the odyssey; friendships between people in Lewis and County Derry, between teenagers in County Derry and in the Gaeltacht in Ireland. Young musicians from Ireland have been invited to play at the big Lewis musical festival, the Hebcelt.; families from Lewis have come to visit families in County Derry . One young man who has been on the journey, Dubhaltach Mac Conmidhe is studying for a degree in Scottish Gaelic in Glasgow.
This is an historic year – the 1500th anniversary of the birth of St Colmcille.
A new website has been set up by Donegal County Council and Derry City & Strabane District Council which will be a hub for events taking place in Ireland to mark the occasion.
Visit the website here.
Crossways 2021, a major festival of writing from Ireland and Scotland, will take place online over the weekend of the 12th to 14th February 2021. Crossways is organised by the publisher Irish Pages and its editor Chris Agee. This year, in spite of the challenges of COVID, the festival has grown. Seán Ó Coinn, CEO of Foras na Gaeilge said, “We are delighted to provided funding to Crossways 2021 as part of Colmcille 1500, celebrating 1500 years since the birth of St Columba, a saint who unites Ireland and Scotland and is recognised as a poet and patron of poets.” Crossways 2021 is funded by the Foras na Gaeilge Colmcille programme, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
This year the majority of readings will be in Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Poet Simon Ó Faoláin is the Irish language curator, and poet Prof Meg Bateman is the Scottish Gaelic curator.
The festival normally takes place in Glasgow, but for the 2021 online festival Winnie Brooke Young, a Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, travelled throughout Ireland and Scotland during breaks in lockdown to record high quality videos of poets reading from their work. The videos will go live on the 12th February at www.crosswaysfefestival.org. There will be a pair of writers in each session, for example Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Aonghus Dubh Mac Neacail, or Paula Meehan and Kathleen Jamie.
Irish Pages published Other Tongues, an introduction to writing in Irish and Scots Gaelic and Scots and Crann na Teanga/The Language Tree, a major collection of the poetry of Cathal Ó Searcaigh. Crossways 2021 contributes greatly on the fellowship between Irish language and Scottish Gaelic writers, building on the heritage of Turas na bhFilí and An Leabhar Mòr – The Great Book of Gaelic.
Catriona Patience is a multimedia artist from the west of Ireland, who now lives and works in Scotland. Her seasonal art celebrates her encounters with the outside world through photography, textiles and paint. To celebrate Colmcille 1500 Catriona has created three original artworks depicting birds from the genus Columba and using film footage shot on Inchcolm; Iona of the East. Here is her final work presented to CHARTS and Bòrd na Gàidhlig in December 2020.
Monday 7th December 2020 marks the beginning of Colmcille 1500, a year-long commemoration of 1500 years since the birth of St. Columba and of his legacy. The year will begin and end on the 7th December, the traditional birthday of the saint.
Colmcille 1500 is being sponsored and facilitated by the partnership programme ‘Colmcille’ run by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge linking Irish and Scottish Gaelic communities.
The monastic communities founded by Columba interacted over centuries with a wide range of peoples in Ireland in Scotland and northern England, and beyond, into continental Europe. The year will be celebrated in many different ways by diverse communities and organisations. Some will focus on the spiritual and religious legacy of the saint; some will be interested in the historical and archaeological angle; whilst others will celebrate the linguistic and cultural links between the Gaels across the globe.
Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Foras na Gaeilge will focus on the linguistic and cultural links between nations, with a range of events planned for launch week including:
Shona MacLennan, Ceannard (CEO) of Bòrd na Gàidhlig said, “Saint Columba and his legacy have shaped the language, culture and history of Scotland and Ireland and as such, the year is an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the two countries. We look forward to more events throughout the year, with a key event being planned around the Feast of St Columba on the 9th of June 2021. I encourage everyone to take part in these and celebrate in any way they can.”
Some of the events planned for the year of Colmcille 1500 include:
Seán Ó Coinn, Príomhfheidhmeannach Fhoras na Gaeilge said, “With so much emphasis globally on that which separates us, celebrating Colmcille’s legacy in 2021 presents us with a welcome opportunity to accentuate common linguistic and cultural linkages between Ireland and Scotland, and Ireland, north and south. The commemoration planned for 2021 will also allow us to follow in Colmcille’s footsteps and celebrate his linguistic and cultural legacy beyond these islands.
“I look forward to new partnerships between schools, to new contacts between all generations, to new discoveries about the legacy of Colmcille, and to using that legacy of to further revival of local communities.”
In addition to the annual schemes that foster connections between Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Foras na Gaeilge hopes, shortly to announce an additional community funding programme to heighten awareness of Colmcille and his contribution to the linguistic and cultural links between Ireland and Scotland.
Information for editors:
Colmcille (Latin form Columba) founded the monastery of Iona, and monasteries from Derry to Durrow in Offaly Lindisfarne in Northern England were part of a large families of monastic communities. Their legacy can be seen in:
Visit www.colmcille.net for details on events.
Join us on social media through the #Colmcille1500 and #Colmcille hashtags and connect with the diverse Colmcille community online. Follow us on Instagram @Colmcille and like @Colmcille1500 on Facebook to keep updated on all our latest news.
by Phil Baarda and Derek Robertson
As we know, St Columba, Colmcille, came to Scotland from overseas and has become an iconic part of our culture and history. So too have many familiar and not-so-familiar plant and animals. In more recent times, these wildlife colonisers – migrating northwards as our climate changes, or otherwise helped here by human hands – are so new to Scotland they don’t have a Gaelic name, which is something this exciting project is beginning to address.
From the Bird’s Mouth, Bho Bheul an Eòin, is naming the new! Through a process of research and consultation, with advice from scientists, researchers and Gaelic writers, the project will give Gaelic names these new Scots, and tell the story of their colonisation through poetry and prose, through a high-quality art book with an interactive website – and, when possible, a travelling exhibition.
This exciting partnership project features award-winning and highly-acclaimed wildlife artist Derek Robertson, with support from NatureScot (formally Scottish Natural Heritage) and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
There’s an additional resonance with Colmcille. The symbol of Columba is the dove – species of the genus Columbidae. The Collared Dove – the Calman-coilearach – first nested in Scotland in 1957 after rapidly expanding from its place of origin in the Middle East and Asia. Despite the sandy camouflage colours of its plumage, the Calman-coilearach has now reached the furthermost island refuges of the saints who came to preach the words of a religion born in the deserts of the East.
You will be able to find the From the Bird’s Mouth, Bho Bheul an Eòin, webpages from https://www.derekrobertson.com/ which also shows Derek’s other remarkable wildlife artwork.
