Lots of countries around the world have a habit of blowing up lots of fireworks on this upcoming “western” New Year’s Eve (December 31 – January 1), although there are other “new year” celebrations around the world on different dates than this particular one. It’s all good isn’t it? Celebrations are all good. Beginnings and renewals are all good, no matter the dates on the calendar.
Several months ago (maybe even back last winter?), I posted a blog post about Scotland blowing up the last polluting, coal-burning power plant in Scotland. That was so cool. I like to think everyone is working to rid our planet of those coal-burning power plants that create so much horrid pollution. There are so many better options!
But now, on a slightly different note from blowing up the Scottish coal plants, if you don’t believe that the Scots have the power to blow up anything and everything that needs blowing up, anywhere on earth, just take a look at this next wee video … turn your sound on. Both men and women in Scotland have the power to blow things up.
The Cailleach, the creator. Loch Lomond and Loch Awe and Loch Ness. The great plaid that she wears and washes every year … the Ayrshire Bay is still today right off the west coast of Scotland where it has always been since it was created, right there next to the town of Ayr in western Scotland. Indeed, when I was there a few years ago I was told that storms on the Ayrshire coast are heard in Glasgow in the winter.
The Cailleach crafted the land that is Scotland today … all of the land, and the water, the lochs, the valleys, the bays and harbors, and the mountains (bens), and the snow and ice that never leave some of those mountains (some are taller than any other mountains in all of the British Isles) … she crafted all of it. There are legends that say she crafted ALL of the land, all over this earth. I have no doubt she could, and maybe she did.
A large portion of my ancestors are from Scotland, from the area around a town now called Coupar Angus and a neighbor town now called Meigle, the land where people (called Picts by the Romans) lived for thousands of years, so I’m descended from the Picts too. I was there several years ago, in both of those towns (Coupar Angus and Meigle). And I was in Ayr too, a few days later, and I drove around the coast of the Ayrshire Bay. I have a home here in North America … but my heart is in Scotland, my soul is there.
All over the world, every people, culture, every belief has their name for the creator. What is true is that they are all true.
There are those who believe and those who don’t. There are those who claim to know, and those who only surmise and wish and seem not able to listen. But I will dream tonight and she, the Cailleach, will tell me the truth.