Na h-ealain is cultarArts and Culture

What is art? What is culture? These are questions that are likely to provoke a different answer from every one of us. Gaelic arts (ealain) and culture (cultar) are as rich and diverse as those any language, and they attract people to the language and provide a means for Gaelic speakers to express themselves in a wide range of ways.

Gaelic culture is easily confused with the Mod (Am Mòd), kilts, remote Highland glens, and countless other romanticised images. There’s no doubt that the Mod or Glen Coe (Gleann Comhan) are for some people important to their Gaelic identity, and that Gaelic culture like any other culture does at times dig deep into its past to inform its future. But to leave Gaelic culture there hanging…

Gaelic television was revolutionised in 2008 when the first Gaelic television channel began broadcasting as part of a comprehensive digital service for the language. The digital service is a joint venture between MG ALBA (the organisation tasked with the distribution and targeting of government funding for Gaelic broadcasting) and the BBC. The new channel is called BBC ALBA, and is…

The Gaelic written word can be traced back to the Ogham script found on stone monuments in Ireland and Scotland and the Irish and Scottish monks who preserved so much of European learning and knowledge in the dark ages. Indeed Gaelic literature (litreachas), through Irish Gaelic literature, can claim to be the third oldest literature in Europe, with Greek and Latin being its elder siblings.

Many people first come across Gaelic through music (ceòl) and song (òrain). Whether it’s at an informal session in the pub, or at a sell-out gig at the Barrowlands, or listening to the radio, Gaelic musicians and singers have introduced countless people to the language.

Poets have long been revered in Gaelic culture, and historically many Gaelic poets or bàird (which gives us the English word bard) enjoyed a privileged position within clan society and carried out a specific role. They were the entertainers at many gatherings, they might act as ambassadors or diplomats between clan chiefs, they were the principal tradition bearers; their words could mock…