A short little documentary about the history and sentiments around Nova Scotia gaelic.  With a bonus commentary from Mi'kmaw elder Mary Lafford on what local language means to her.  I was poking around for anything new on the subject after talking about working in my hometown museum, and found this.

I haven’t a clue what outside knowledge of NS Gaels there is in general, but if you read what I post, you know I bring it up.  It’s very much it’s own thing, outside of Scottishness.  No Robbie Burns day stuff, no haggis.  Very Canadian, perhaps in the same way Acadian culture is French, but distinctly Canadian.

My hometown is one of the more prominent Gaelic communities, and for a long time, we had the only high school to offer it in North America.  Not that it was cool, I mean, you might be considered a real dork for being into it.  I remember going to Gaelic choir class and hoping no one my age saw me.  Did I ever tell you I’m a dork?  Secret’s out.  I’m not even a good singer.

I used to think, when I was very small, that everyone had a culture that they experienced as distinctly and entrenched as the one we had.  Now I see how lucky, and unlucky, it was to have such a thing.  I’m very attracted to culturally strong, isolated places.  I will always feel a pang of loss and guilt for leaving my struggling culture and community, even though leaving is what people do, and change is a thing that is inevitable.  Many complicated feelings that will probably come out in some sobbing old comics someday.  But even though I’m not there, I may yet get the chance to go back, and I’ll always promote what they’re up to.

With that in mind, if you are ever interested in the language, Cape Breton’s Gaelic College is a fine place to start.  They also teach music and other skills.  And St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish has a fine Celtic Studies department.  My neighbour teaches there.

And if you were interested in the language or the area but don’t know where to start, you can always email me, and I will point you in the right direction.