Why would anyone want to stop speaking the language they grew up with? that their family spoke, that they spoke in school, the language of their home country? their culture? their birth? their heritage? the songs they sang, and still sing? Why would anyone WANT to give that up? Especially if the country that took over their country, that had invaded their country, especially if THAT country told them that their language was no longer welcome. Why would anyone want to stop speaking their language, why would anyone agree to give up the language they were raised with, the language of their family and their ancestors? Hmmmm.
A month or so ago, a friend of mine loaned me the video/book/series titled “The Celtic World”, from The Great Courses. The video is 12 hours long! but it is divided nicely into 24 sessions that are 30 minutes each, so it’s easy to watch one session, then wait a bit to watch the next one. The chapters in the book follow along with the videos, providing even more information.
One of the early suppositions in “The Celtic World” was that celtic people originated in an area of Europe just north of Italy. What? Italy!?! Yes, that was what scientists used to think. But more recently they’ve changed their minds. DNA has done that. My DNA, for instance, should have Italian or Switzerland DNA in it, if that original thought was true, but my DNA has nothing but Welsh (first), then Scottish (second), then a bit of Irish (third) … my DNA also has a good bit of Viking DNA (Danish and extremely northern Norwegian). I have NO Italian or Swiss DNA in me, so the Celts did not come from that area. Maybe some Celts left the islands and settled in those areas, but the origin of my ancestors is Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, with some friendly marauding Vikings thrown in for good measure.
Watching these videos and reading the book has been fascinating to me and has given me even more knowledge of my history, culture, music, and … language. Which brings me to the point of this blog post.
If someone told you that you could no longer speak English, that American English was no longer allowed when speaking in the USA Senate or the House of Representatives, or any other area of our government, how would you feel? What if American English could no longer be spoken in school? How would you react? Ha, wouldn’t happen, right? Well, it has happened.
A very few years years ago the United Kingdom (where locally the word United is often spelled with quotation marks around it, as in “united” Kingdom, since it isn’t considered to be “united” by many of the people in that “country”, and where many of the people in that “country” do not say Great Britain, they say “britain”, they do not say “great”) … well, it happened. The UK Parliament in London recently banned the use of the Gaelic language in any government proceedings even tho Northern Ireland folks still speak their form of Gaelic, and even tho Scottish folks still speak their form of Gaelic, and even tho the Welsh folks still speak Welsh which is one of the oldest languages on earth. Sure, most folks in those areas speak English as well, but it isn’t their native language.
I knew this was happening but didn’t pay too much attention to it until I came across this video below. The “stuff” had hit the fan!!! And natural, native Gaelic speakers were speaking up!!
The video below was taken not long after the UK government “allowed” Scotland to have its own Parliament. This video was taken during a session of the Scottish Parliament. Obviously, comments had been planned during this woman’s speech. But the point was being made!
There have been more than 314,000 views and close to 1,800 comments to this video. One of the comments is this one …
“i am of mixed heritage: Zapotec and Scottish, both languages are at risk. I am so happy that there is such a strong movement for language preservation and I am so blessed to be a part of it! one day, I will no longer speak the colonial languages that I was forced to learn; fr*nch, spanish, english. I will speak the languages of my ancestors. I will dream again in my languages, my consciousness will be in my languages. with so much love”
You will want to enlarge the video below in order to read the sub-titles. Either click on the small square in the lower right corner to enlarge it … or click on YouTube and then ALSO enlarge it there. Turn your sound on.
My ancestors are Irish (my grandmother Anna McNamara from the 1800s), and my ancestors are Scottish (my dad’s heritage as one of the oldest clans in Scotland from hundreds of years ago), and my ancestors are Scottish Picts (from thousands of years ago), and they are Welsh (my mom’s father was born and raised in Wales with thousands of years of Welsh ancestry, 1/4 of my DNA), and my ancestors are Vikings from Denmark and northern Norway (who settled a bit in Scotland, and many hundreds of them settled up the river Shannon in Ireland). None of them spoke “english”. I’ve learned a bit of Scottish Gaelic online. I’ve learned LOTS about the “picts” (not the name they called themselves) and I have been to central Scotland to see the land of the Picts, their stone carvings and such.
The first time I was in the very small town of Miegle in Scotland and walked into a museum that houses stones carved thousands of years ago by the Picts, without knowing my history as one of them, without knowing my ancestry, without having a clue about any of that or what my reaction would be when I walked in there, when I saw that first carving, I fell to my knees in front of that stone with tears in my eyes, I absolutely knew that I was home. Thankfully, no one else was there except the curator who understood perfectly, and the friend of mine traveling with me who didn’t quite understand but who loved me. The curator walked over to me and gently touched my shoulder and then told me to touch the stones, even though the signs said “DO NOT TOUCH THE STONES”. She said “you are home, touch the stones.” She knew. Later, when I came back to the present in that museum, that woman told me and my friend that this happens once every 2-3 years, when someone walks in without a clue that they are Pict.
Each of us has history. Maybe we don’t know specifically what it is, but we have it. It’s in our bodies, our blood, our minds, our beings, dare I say it is in our souls … it is in our DNA. Let’s explore that! Let’s enjoy that! Let’s celebrate that! Ah, but yes, back to the English Parliament banning Gaelic. No, we Scots will speak whatever language we want to, we will speak the language that is ours to speak. You “brits” do not control us, nor we you.
Remember a few years ago, when I posted a blog about the UK not allowing Scotland to stop using a coal-fired plant to produce electricity? Well, not only did Scotland shut down the coal plant and stop using it, they blew it up!!
What’s your DNA? Who are your ancestors? What language did they speak?
Slàinte agus saoibhreas, agus sith, do na h-uile.