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University, Alabama : University of Alabama Press, 1988.
Megaw, J. V. S. Iona and Celtic Britain : With and Interim Account of the
Russel Trust Excavations. Journal of Religious History 3 : 212-237, June
1965.
Miller, Terry E. Oral Tradition Psalmody Surviving in England and Scotland
(tunes and sources of Gaelic Psalm Singing ; tune examples) The Hymn 35,
15-22 January, 1984.
Mohrmann, C. Earliest Continental Irish Latin. Vigiliae Christianae 16 no.
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Mooney, Desmond. Popular religion and clerical influence in pre-famine
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1990. pp. 188-218.
Morris, J. Dates of the Celtic Saints. Journal of Theological Studies ns 17
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Ni Chathain, Proinseas and Michael Richter, eds. Ireland and Europe : The
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Ni Chathain, Proinseas and Michael Richter, eds. Irland und die Christenheit
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Missions. (Papers University College Dublin, Stuttgart : Klett-Cotta, 1987.
Ni Chathain, Proinseas. Traces of the cult of the horse in early Irish sources
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1991.
Nolan, Mary Lee. Irish Pilgrimage : The Different Tradition. Annals of the
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Nordenfalk, Carl Adam Johan. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Painting : Book
Illumination in the British Isles, 600-800. New York : G. Braziller, 1977.
Norman, Edward R. and J. K. S. St. Joseph. The Early Development of Irish
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Nutt, Alfred Trubner. Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail. New York
: Cooper Square Publishers, 1965.
O'Donoghue, Noel D. The Place of the Angels (excerpt from The Holy
Mountain, 1983). Epiphany 5 no. 2, 22-29, Winter 1984.
O'Laoghaire, Diarmuid. Celtic Spirituality. IN The Study of Spirituality, ed.
Cheslyn P. M. Jonas, Geoffery Wainwright and Edward Yarnold. New York
: Oxford University Press, 1986, 216-225.
O'Laoghaire, Diarmuid. Daily Intimacy with God : An Ever New Aspect of
Celtic Worship. Studia Liturgica 13, Nov 1, 46-56, 1979.
O'Meara, John H. and Bernd Naumann. Latin Script and Letters, A. D. 400
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Painter, K. S. Villas and Christianity in Roman Britain; Christianity in
Roman Britain : Recent Finds. 1962 - 1969. IN Actas Del 8 Congreso
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Powell, Terence G. E. The Celts. New York : F. A. Praeger, 1958.
Prebble, John. The Lion in the North. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
: Penguin Books, 1981.
Puhvel, Martin. Beowulf and Celtic Tradition. Waterloo, Ontario : Wilfrid
Laurier University Press, 1979.
Radford, C. A. Ralegh. The Mediterranean sources of sculpture in stone
among the insular Celts and the survival into the full Medieval Age. IN
Studies in Celtic survival; ed by L. Laing, 1977. pp. 113-123.
Reynolds, R. E. Virgines subintroductae in Celtic Christianity. Harvard
Theological Review 61 : 547-566, October 1988.
Rhys, John. Celtic Folklore : Welsh and Manx. 2 vols. Oxford : Clarendon
Press, 1901.
Richard, Jean-Claude. Les petits bronzes celtiques a legende CMEP (BN
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323-329.
Riche, Pierre. Spirituality in Celtic and Germanic Society. (tr. D.
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Roe, Helen M. Ireland and the Archangel Michael. Millenaire monastique
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Ross, Anne. Druids, Gods and Heroes From Celtic Mythology. World
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Ross, Anne. Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts. Everyday Life Series. New
York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1970.
Ross, Anne. The Pagan Celts. Totowa, New Jersey : Barnes & Noble, 1986.
Ross, Anne. The Folklore of the Scottish Highlands. The Folklore of the
British Isles. ed. Venetia J. Newall. Totowa, New Jersey : Rowman &
Littlefield, 1976.
Ross, Anne. The divine hag of the pagan Celts. IN The Witch Figure :
Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England Honoring the 75th
Birthday of Katharine M. Briggs. ed. by Venetia Newall. London : Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1973.
Rotsaert, M. L. Progression spirituelle et progression grammaticale. IN
Theolinguistics. ed, J. P. van Noppen, 295-318. Brussels : Brussels Vrije
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Ryan, John. Early Irish Church and the See of Peter. IN Medieval Studies
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Ryan, John. Irish Monasticism : Origins and Early Development. Dublin :
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Sanderson, S. Druids-as-wished-for. IN To Illustrate the Monuments :
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Sayers, William. Cerrce, an archaic epithet of the Dagda, Cernunnos and
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Sayers, William. Fergus and the cosmogonic sword. History of Religions 25
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Schaferdiek, Knut. The Irish Mission of the 7th Century; Historical fact or
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Schmiel, Mary A. The finest music in the world: exploring Celtic spiritual
legacies. IN Western spirituality; ed by M. Fox, 1979. pp. 164-192.
Scott, Eleanor. Animal and infant burials in Romano-British villas: a
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et al., 1991. pp. 115-121.
Scott, W. H. Celtic Culture and the Conversion of Ireland. International
Review of Missions 56 : 193-204 April 1967.
Selmer, Carl. Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis. University of Notre Dame
Publications in Mediaeval Studies, vol. 16. Notre Dame, Indiana : University
of Notre Dame Press, 1959.
Severy, Merle. The Celts. National Geographic 151 (May 1977) 582-633.
Sheehy, Maurice. Influence of Ancient Irish Law on the Collectio
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the Medieval Church. Boston : New York Graphic Society, 1975.
Sims-Williams, Patrick. St. Wilfrid and Two Charters Dated A. D. 676-680.
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Skelton, Robin. Celtic Contraries. 1st ed. Syracuse, New York : Syracuse
University Press, 1990.
Skurdenis, Julie. Dolmens, Cairns and Ogham Stones (archaeological site in
Ireland). Archaeology 41 Sept-Oct, 1988 : 72ff.
Skurdenis, Julie. Silent sentinels : The High Crosses of Ireland. Archaeology
(Jan-Feb, 1987) : 61ff.
Small, Alan, et al. Saint Ninian's Isle and Its Treasure. vol. 1. Aberdeen
Press University Study Series, no. 152. London : Oxford University Press,
1973.
Smith, C. I. Christianity of Saint Patrick's Home. Downside Review 8 :
57-59, January, 1970.
Smith, Julia M H. Celtic asceticism and Carolingian authority in early
medieval Brittany. IN Monks, hermits and the ascetic tradition; ed by W
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Spence, Lewis. The Fairy Tradition in Britain. London : Rider & Company,
1948.
Spence, Lewis. The Minor Traditions of British Mythology. London : Rider
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Squire, Charles. Celtic Myth and Legend. Poetry and Romance. London :
Gresham Publishing Company. Ltd, no date.
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362-370.
Starbuck, Charles Casey. Did the Gaelic Church revive presbyterial
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Sullivan, Edward, Sir, bart. The Book of Kells. 2d ed. London : The Studio
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: Thames and Hudson, 1986.
Thomas, Charles. St. Patrick and 5th Century Britain : An Historical Model
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Thomas, Isaac. The Welsh versions of the New Testament, 1551-1620. New
Testament Studies 26:503-507, July 1980.
Thompson, E. A. Saint Patrick and Coroticus. Journal of Theological
Studies ns 31, 12-27, April 1980.
Thornton, Timothy C. G. The Destruction of Idols : Sinful or Meritorious?
Journal of Theological Studies ns 37 no. 1, 121-129 April 1986.
Torrey, Archer. The Gregorian Mission Methods. Missiology 8 : 99-103,
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University of Wales. Board of Celtic Studies. Learning Welsh. Caerdydd :
Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1965.
Walker, G. S. St. Columban : Monk or Missionary. IN The Mission of the
Church and the Propagation of Faith, 17th Summer Meeting and 8th Winter
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Wernick, Robert. What were the Druids Like and was Lindow man One?
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Zanger, Francis C. Cross-cultural Problems of St. Columban's Mission to
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Bristol, Indiana : Wyndham Hall Press, 1988. 107-120.
[1.3] The Celtic languages.
Primary source: Cambridge encyclopaedia of language.
The Celtic languages are divided into two classes: Insular and Continental
Continental Celtic languages are no longer spoken, but consisted of:
Celtiberian (Spain), Gaulish (Swiss/Northern Italian variant known
as Lepontic) and Galatian in Turkey(!).
Galatian was spoken until about the 5th century.
Lepontic turns out to be P-Celtic. Celtiberian turns out to be Q-Celtic,
the split occuring prior to the 7th Century BC.
Insular Celtic is divided into:
P-Celtic, also called Brythonic or British
Q-Celtic, also called Goidelic or Gaelic
P-Celtic consists of:
Cumbric (extinct), Welsh, Cornish, Breton
Breton and Cornish were apparantly mutually intelligible until
the 15th century
Q-Celtic consists of:
Irish, Scots Gaelic, Manx
These languages are almost mutually intelligible today.
i.e. Donegal Irish and Islay Scots Gaelic are quite close.
Pronounciation note:
The word Gaelic is pronounced "Gaylik" when talking about Irish Gaelic or
Manx Gaelic; the modern preference is to pronounce it "Gallic" when talking
about Scots Gaelic (this being much closer to the pronunciation of "Gaidhlig"
which is what this language calls itself).
Historically in Scotland in both English and Scots the word was pronounced
the same as for the other two languages. Indeed some Scots Acts spell the
word "Gaylick". Therefore for an non-Gaelic speaker to use this
pronunciation is not "wrong", just not as currently preferred in Scotland.
History
=======
The most ancient remnants of a celtic dialect in written form have been
found in northern Italy (Sesto Calende, ~600 b.C., Castelletto Ticino,
~575-550 b.C.). It is a relatively recent acquisition that these (Lepontic)
inscription are actually written in a celtic dialect (Lejeune, "Lepontica",
1971).
British Isles
-------------
There were two waves of invasions to the British Isles which gave rise
to the P/Q variaties we have today. The first invasion was to Ireland
in the 4th century BC, probably from Western France. This variant
became Gaelic and spread from Ireland to the Isle of Man and Scotland.
The second invasion (P-Celtic) was to southern England and Wales and
from there (in 5th century AD) to Brittany. Celtic languages have also
spread from Britain. 150 Welsh speakers started a Welsh colony in
Patagonia in 1865, and there is also a Scots Gaelic community in Cape
Breton Island, Nova Scotia. (about 1,000 speakers today). Breton is
not classified as continental Celtic because it came to Brittany from
Britain. There was a Gaelic speaking community in the Carolinas
but this died out in the early 20th century.
The p-q-phenomenon is found in Italic (compare the Latin quattor,
'four', with the Oscan petora), and certain linguists claim that there
was an Italo-Celtic people by the end of the 21st century BC. However,
the similarities are merely coincidental, e.g. the future tense in
Irish (root + b + ending) and Latin (root + f + ending), or that
passive verbs end with -r (previously believed to be a characteristic
of Italic and Celtic, but later found in Hittite and Tocharian (both
extinct).
Pictish: The Picts were Celts but spoke a mixture of languages. They
spoke a pre-Celtic language for ritualistic purposes (source: Prof
Derek Thompson - "Why Gaelic matters"), and Pictish at other times.
Pictish is mentioned The Cambridge Encyclopedia of language as possibly
being Celtic or possibly being a non-Indo-European isolate like Basque.
Thompson says "It is clear from the evidence of place names that there
was much common ground between [Brythonic] and the Celtic constituent
of Pictish". There is some debate as to whether Pictish was non IE or not,
as there is so little information available on it.
Many of the Scottish Island names including Arran, Skye, Lewis and Jura
are Pictish. For more information on placenames: (W.F.H. Nicolaisen
"Scottish Place Names", Batsford, London 1976).
[1.4] Celtic language mailing lists
If you want to learn any of the Celtic languages, there are various
lists set up.
GAELIC-L for Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx (currently about 1000 members)
and WELSH-L for Welsh, Cornish and Breton (currently about 330 members)
Note that these are primarily lists for discussions *in* those languages
and not discussions in English *about* the languages, although short
English only messages from learners are OK. To join, send a message
to
mailto:listserv@listserv.hea.ie
containing the line: subscribe listname yourfirstname yoursurname
i.e. subscribe GAELIC-L Iain Caimbeul
Both GAELIC-L and WELSH-L have extensive libraries of reference
material. Send the command "Get GAELIC-L filelist" or
"Get WELSH-L filelist" to find out what's available once you've
joined.
For issues in English about Celtic culture, see the lists IRTRAD-L
for Irish traditional music and CELTIC-L for Celtic culture. To join
these lists, simply replace the "GAELIC-L" in the above list with
the name of the list you wish to join.
Here's some more detail on GAELIC-L:
I was asked to write a bit about the GAELIC-L list for news.groups.reviews
so here it is.
Gaelic-L is a listserv list with about 1000 members and is for
discussions in the 3 Gaelic languages (Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and
Manx). The list has been running since May 1989 and averages about 5-6
messages a day. Messages are primarily in Gaelic, and some have English
translations. English only messages from learners seeking help are
welcome, provided that they are kept fairly short. There is an extensive
library associated with the list containing monthly logs of every message
sent out, programs (ie one to tell the time in conversational Gaelic),
reference materials (including dictionaries), contact addresses for
organisations etc.
Most of the topics discussed on Gaelic-L are cultural or current affairs or
what's on. Related usenet newsgroups include news:rec.music.celtic and
news:soc.culture.celtic. Unlike soc.culture.celtic however, discussions
concerning Northern Irish politics are extremely rare on Gaelic-L. The word
Gaelic is pronounced "Gaylik" when talking about Irish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic,
but "Gallic" when talking about Scots Gaelic.
Owners of the list include:
Marion Gunn
mailto:mgunn@ucd.ie
University College Dublin - folklorist,
software localiser, archivist and co-founder of the list.
Caoimhin O Donnaile
mailto:caoimhin@smo.uhi.ac.uk,
Kevin Donnelly, lecturer in Computing at Sabhal Mor Ostaig,
Scotland's Gaelic College (on the Isle of Skye) and co-founder of the list
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
mailto:listserv@listserv.hea.ie
containing the line
SUB GAELIC-L your name
e.g. SUB GAELIC-L Iain Mac a' Gobhainn
the listserv will then send you more details. To get details of the
contents of Gaelic-L's library, send a command
GET GAELIC-L FILELIST
to mailto:listserv@listserv.hea.ie
the address for messages themselves is
mailto:gaelic-l@listserv.hea.ie
On the list, we represent the accented vowels in Gaelic by writing
a / or \ after the vowel in question to indicate an acute or grave accent.
There is a GAELIC-M list though for those with MIME capability, and this is
mirrored to GAELIC-L.
For Scottish Gaelic specific mailing lists, see
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/7_1.html
[1.5] Where can I get Celtic music?
The main place to ask this is on news:rec.music.celtic.
This newsgroup is the main forum for discussions about Celtic music
and it has a FAQ at http://www.collins-peak.co.uk/rmc/. The FAQ is
usually posted every Monday.
there is also a list of Internet resources for Celtic music available
at http://celtic.stanford.edu/Internet_Sources.html
[1.6] How do I identify which Celtic language this is?
Clues
-----
Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic do not have these letters: j,k,q,v,w,x,y,z
they also don't have double vowels. Irish Gaelic has fadas (acute accents),
Scots Gaelic has both acutes and graves, but predominantly graves (acutes
no longer officially exist). Irish has no grave accents.
Breton has n-tilde (like Spanish) and a high number of z's
Breton has acute and grave accents.
Cornish looks very much like Breton, except Cornish has very few accents
Cornish has an a-circumflex. K's, w's, z's occur frequently
Welsh has no z's, but a high number of y's and w's
Welsh also has circumflexes on all its vowels : a,e,i,o,u,w,y.
Manx is the only Celtic language to be written according to non-Celtic
phonetic rules. Manx is written according to more or less English phonetic
rules. Manx and Cornish are the only Celtic languages with a "j". Manx is also
the only Celtic language to have a c-cedilla. The letter "y" occurs
frequently, as do double vowels.
[1.7] Books for Celtic names:
Scottish
--------
_Ainmean Chloinne_, Peadar Morgan. Available from Gaelic books council
See also http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/12_11.html
Irish
-----
Linda Rosenkranz & Pamela Redmond Satran _Beyond Shannon and Sea/n_
(St. Martin's Press 1992)
Donncha O/ Corra/in & Fidelma Maguire _Irish Names_ (Lilliput 1990)
Eoin Neeson _The Book of Irish Saints_ (Mercier 1967)
Muiris O/ Droighnea/in _An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus an tAinmnitheoir_
(Coisce/im 1991)
[1.8] Multilingual publications:
Carn
----
Carn: The journal of the Celtic League. This is in all 6 Celtic
languages with English summaries of many of them.
The Celtic League promotes the Celtic cultures and languages
and is anti violence. They have branches in
Scotland, Brittany, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, Isle of Man,
London, USA, Cape Breton.
General Secretary is:
Bernard Moffatt, 11 Hilltop View, Farmhill, Braddan, Mannin
(Isle of Man)
See http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague/
Contact Bulletin
----------------
Contact Bulletin (European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages)
This publication is English-only but is included here because
of its pan-Celtic linguistic appeal. The bulletin is free and
available by writing to:
An Biu/ro/ Eorpach do Theangacha Neamhfhorleathana
10 Sra/id Haiste I/ocht
Baile A/tha Cliath 2
E/ire
Tel: +353.1.6612205/6618743/6618739
mailto:eblul@indigo.ie
[1.9] General on-line language resources
Gaelic Culture
--------------
Sabhal Mor Ostaig
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/
Sunsite
This post is to announce a WWW site that offers information concerning
Gaelic and Gaelic Culture. The url is:
http://sunsite.unc.edu/gaelic
or
http://sunsite.unc.edu/gaelic/gaelic.html
In addition, there is an ftp site where you may log in
as ftp. This address is:
ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/gaelic.
These two sites contain information on/in Irish Gaelic,
Scottish Gaelic and hopefully soon Manx Gaelic. Lesson(s)
with accompanying audio files are available for Scottish Gaelic.
(This would then qualify as the first on-line language tutorial
that I know of let alone in gaelic. By on-line
I mean available in an interactive format.)
There is a wide range of poetry on this site, both English
and Gaelic. Audio files exist of people reading this poetry also,
in some cases the authors themselves.
You can also pick up any of the last several days worth of experimental
recordings of the RTE Internet Radio project, a ~3MB recording of
Radio 1's morning News. There is information on the Celts as well
as mirrors to several other sites containing more information
on all of these subjects and more.
While not Gaelic in origin, I like it and had someone around
who speaks very good Scots, so some of Rabbie Burns poetry
is included also.
Thanks to Stephen Watson, there is a collection of gif
images showing the different tartans. Click in and
look at all the pretty patterns !-)
Hopefully soon, there will be some recordings of different types
of music related to gaelic culture, including recordings
of the different kinds of pipes, celtic harp, fiddle music as
well as singing.
Please note that this site is just starting out and that
all links do net yet lead anywhere.
Ma tha ceistean agaibhse, tha mi aig
mailto:gaelic@sunsite.unc.edu
(Any questions, please send them to mailto:gaelic@sunsite.unc.edu)
[1.10] Pan Celtic information
The London Association for Celtic Education (LACE) produces
a guide to Celtic language related societies in London and around
the UK. I have an old copy and find it very useful indeed. 100's
of entries in the guide covering Scotland, Ireland, Man, Wales,
Cornwall and Brittany
Contact:
Jean Marie MacGuinn
161 Wightman Road
London N8
Tel: 0181 341 5606
Roger Casement Irish Centre,
Eastgate Building,
131 St John's Way,
London N19 3RQ.
Tel: 0171- 281 3225
[1.11] Celtic League
The Celtic League publishes 'Carn' which is in all 6 of the Celtic
languages as well as English.
Membership is 10 pounds (15 for two people at the same address)
For more information on the Celtic league in Scotland, see
http://www.manxman.co.im/cleague/
[1.12] Celtic Congress
Celtic Congress
http://www.indigo.ie/egt/celtcong/cc-home-en.html
Contact: M. MacIver, 7 Teal Avenue, Inverness IV2 3TB
[2] Alba - Scotland
The material which was originally here has been moved and considerably
expanded and now forms the news:soc.culture.scottish FAQ at:
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/
[3] Alba Nuadh - Nova Scotia
Contents
~~~~~~~~
-> [3.1] Am Braighe
-> [3.2] Scottish Step Dancing
-> [3.3] Songs
-> [3.4] Cape Bretoner newspaper
-> [3.5] Cape Breton/Nova Scotia History
-> [3.6] Cape Breton what's on
[3.1] Am Braighe
Am Braighe "A quarterly journal focusing on the oral traditions and history
of the North American Gaels. Interviews in Gaelic and English on
immigration, folklore, history, music and song"
It's about 90% in English
Subscriptions or FREE sample copy :
Am Braighe
PO Box 179
Mabou
Canada
Tel: (902) 945-2666
Fax: (902) 945 2723
http://www.chatsubo.com/ambraighe/
mailto:gaeltalk@ctp.auracom.com
I think there are about 1,000 speakers of Gaelic left in Nova
Scotia, plus some on Prince Edward Island. This represents about 0.6%
of the population. In Scotland, the number of Gaelic speakers is
about 1.5%
[3.2] Step Dancing
See also
http://www.siliconglen.com/Scotland/10_3.html
This was published at the Cork Cape Breton Festival a couple of years ago.
CAPE BRETON STEP-DANCE - AN IRISH OR SCOTTISH TRADITION?
========================================================
Prepared by: Sheldon MacInnes, Program Director, Extension &
Community Affairs, University College of Cape Breton.
Introduction
============
Writing about Cape Breton step-dance is difficult; in fact, writing
about any dance is difficult. Most people enjoy "participating in" fun
activities rather than writing about them. Cape Breton step-dancing is
an excellent illustration of an activity which one would rather "do".
However, at the request of the organising committee for the Eigse Na
Laoi, I will attempt to write this short paper on Cape Breton step-
dance and its origins. Readers of this paper should simply view the
following observations and comments as one person's opinion.
Background
==========
It is obvious to most people familiar with the dance culture of Cape
Breton Island that the art of step-dancing is alive and well, and,
like so many of our cultural treasures and initiatives, step- dance
has an impact on Cape Breton's cultural history and tradition, island
identity, social cohesion and the economy. Traditional dance provides
an instrument for exploring our unique heritage and may serve as a
means to attract outside attention to Cape Breton among students of
folklore and history and the general travelling public. Therefore, the
debate on the origins of step-dance has some relevance.
In the most extreme parochial sense, some people say step- dance has
its origins somewhere in Cape Breton, i.e. in an area like Inverness
County, or Victoria County. Some people may even argue that it began
in Waterford (as in New Waterford, Cape Breton, not to be mistaken for
Waterford, Ireland.) Documented discussions, however, among elders in
several Cape Breton communities, elders not far removed from the
generation of Scots who emigrated from Scotland, give some credence to
the notion that the dance originated in Scotland. A review of
literature by scholars who have taken the time to research the origins
of different traditional dance forms also gives some validity to this
view.
Early Research
==============
In 1958, Frank Rhodes, a renowned scholar, visited Cape Breton and
spent considerable time in a number of rural communities chatting with
older people. As a result of his visit and subsequent research, he was
satisfied that his findings supported the notion that Cape Breton
step-dance has its roots in the Highlands of Scotland. Works by other
researchers like George Emerson, Joan and Tom Flett, and Cape Breton's
own Allister MacGillivray would later support Rhodes' view. (Rhodes,
p. 9.)
Of particular interest to me, upon reviewing the literature, was
MacGillivray's interview with Flora MacNeil, well known ambassador of
Scottish culture and Gaelic singing especially. Flora, during her
early visits to Cape Breton from Scotland in the late 70's, would
often engage in the debate on the origins of Cape Breton step-dance
always doubting that the dance had its place in Scotland. This kind
of response from the Scots of the "old country" and other strong
advocates of the "old country's" music and Gaelic language may be
typical. In other words, if the proponents of the Scottish culture in
Scotland can not relate to the art of step-dancing, then surely this
form of dance is not part of the Scottish tradition. This may have
been the view that Flora held for some time. However, after many
visits to Cape Breton, and after many discussions about this lively
art form, Flora took it upon herself to do some research in her own
country and as a result, she was satisfied that step-dance was very
much a part of the traditional culture of the Scottish highlands.
(MacGillivray, p. 24.)
The Dancing Immigrants
======================
The historical facts disclose that in the late 1700's and early
1800's, immigrants from all over the British Isles began to settle in
the eastern half of the island of Cape Breton. Between 1800 and 1820,
immigrants from the Scottish Highlands began to settle the western
side of the Island between Inverness County and the Grand Narrows
region. (Dunn, p. 19.) Among other things, these settlers handed
down to their children the memories of life in Scotland and the early
days of life on the Island of Cape Breton. MacGillivray's research
states that the publication, "A History of Inverness County" records
this information in detail, including stories and recollections about
the art of step-dancing.
"A History of Inverness" describes, for example, Alan MacMillan who
was born in Lochabar, Scotland in 1820. He settled in Rear Little
Judique in Inverness, Cape Breton. Alan MacMillan was a celebrated
dancer. After his arrival to the Judique community, he established
dance classes in Judique and Cregnish. From the same source, I learned
of Lauchlin MacDougall who settled in Broad Cove Banks and like his
father, as well as his son, was a noted dancer. In these accounts, I
learned that the style and the technique of the dance were similar to
the step-dance of today. (MacGillivray, p. 24.)
The early styles of step-dance, like today, featured the art of solo
dancing. Subsequently, early formations known as the four-handed reels
and the eight-handed reels evolved. In the 1920's and the 1930's, Cape
Breton captured a unique interest in various square dance styles from
Europe. Activity at the Gaelic College, beginning in 1939, emphasised
the more popular forms of dance including Scottish Country Dancing
which is now associated with Scotland. The latter included many of the
characteristics which were very much a part of any number of dance
styles found outside the Scottish tradition at that time.
The foregoing information reflects a preoccupation with the idea that
the step-dance as it is known in Cape Breton has its origins in the
highlands of Scotland. Cape Bretoners believe that the Gaelic language
of the Island has a place in the Outer Hebrides as is the case with
the Scottish violin music of Cape Breton. It should not come as any
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