1999 Historic HighlandersWe, the Gael by Kass McGann, Campa na bhFiann (Irish Historical Re-enactors) When considering modern history, it does not seem that the Scottish and Irish would be related at all. Yet only a glance at their language, customs or traditional clothing would tell a different story. Scots and Irish Gaelic, though technically two different languages, are mutually intelligible. Though of two different Christian practices, the Irish and Highland Scots hold many of the same folk traditions. And though the Irish never developed the kilt, the use of brightly colored woolen mantles and saffron shirts was identical in Ireland and the Highlands. The fact is that the Highland Scots emigrated to that country from Ireland in the early centuries of the Christian era. The similarities in our names, appearances, music, and language is no accident. We are from the same peoples, collectively known as the Gael. As late as the 17th century, the Gaelic language could be heard from the southwestern coast of Ireland, up the west coast, across the north and over to the Highlands of Scotland with only small regional differences. Linguists considered Irish and Scots Gaelic simply two dialects of the same language until the 1950s when the newly independent Irish government chose to simplify Gaelic spelling. Even today, some of the dialects of Irish are more different from each other than they are from Scots Gaelic. In the Dark and Middle Ages, the distinction between Highland Scots and Irish was minute at best. Ireland was called Eriú by its own people, and Scotland, Alba. Yet Irish personages all over Europe were routinely called "The Scot." The Romans and other Latin-speakers who followed them seem to have used the words Hibernia and Scotia interchangeably; thus the confusion. The name Scotia may be the genitive case of Scota, the name of the queen mother of the Milesians, early Irish inhabitants. The distinction gets even fuzzier when the history of the land is considered. The Highlands of Scotland were inhabited by the Irish from around 200 C.E. Dál Riata was the name of the tribe who came from Ireland. The earliest knowledge we have of them comes from when they were still in Ireland. At that time there were four septs, or main families, of the Erainn stock. A famine occurred and made it necessary for some of the septs to emigrate. A portion of Dál Riata remained in County Antrim in Ireland, while Cairpre Riata led the rest of his people across the water to the land of the Picts. Cairpre Riata landed with his people in the Highlands, forcing the Picts into the northern reaches and the Britons south. These new Highlanders occupied Argyll and southern Inverness. Eventually, the Scotti pushed their borders beyond what we now know as "Dalriada" to include everything north of the Cheviot Hills. For centuries, however, the Kingship of Dál Riata remained in Ireland. This remained the case until Fergus mor Mac Erc, King of Dál Riata, arrived with more of his people, bringing his Kingship with him, and in doing so, shifting the political center of the Dál Riata from Ireland to Scotland. In 576, the Irish Dál Riata became a separate entity, although the two were still allied. Throughout Irish and Scottish history, we have been either standing together as Gallowglas and Kern, or fighting against one another. Today we have much to look forward to with the prospects of Home Rule and Peace in the North. Let us stand together as descendants of the Gael.
|
Copyright 1999 Historic Highlanders