The small village of Glencolmcille replicates 18th, 19th and 20th century Irish village homes. Many of these homes depict the jobs commonly found in these times: fisherman, yarn spinner, and pub/grocer--traditional one-stop shop included legal work as well. These cozy homes were drafty and showed the simplicity of life during these times. Displayed across the walls were religious figures like St. Patrick and the Cross of St. Brigid a wicker or straw cross-like figure. To find out more about St. Brigid click on the last photo in the gallery above.
Sliabn Liag -- the Tallest SeaCliffs in europe
The 1.5 miles hike to the summit of Sliabn Liag resulted in drenched and frigid people but the view and landscape was well worth any momentary chill to the bone. Like the Cliffs of Dover in England and Cliffs of Morh down south near Galway, sea cliffs offer majestic and formidable vantage points. The cliffs today were truly awe-some. Not only did the clouds roll in to provide an ethereal and fairylike environment but the accompanying sheep were not bad company either.
Irish Lecture with Donnchadh O'Baoill
The morning started with a lecture from Donnchadh O'Baoill a Gaelic speaker and scholar. His lecture covered the vast history of the Gaelic language, the movement of the Irish to America in the 19th century because of the Great Famine and the deep, place-based connections of Gaelic to Hawaiian as a language and worldview. Frankly his hour-long lecture could have gone on for most of the day with his historical and linguistically references. Here's a fun one: the Celtic god of the sun is called Lugh and is pronounced "lun" and the word for fort is done pronounced similarly in Gaelic and English. Thus, the jolly olde town of London is really a Celtic name meaning the sun god's fort.
Mr. O'Baoill also shared how many Gaelic town and land features are named for the descriptive or mythological connections. Similarly in Hawai'i place names like Kapahulu and Le`ahi conjure up not only physical characters of the place but also the viability of land.
Lastly, he expressed the importance of the continued teaching of Gaelic in schools, mainly in the primary schools which would be equivalent to first through third grades. These grades handle all instruction in Gaelic as a means of establishing a foundation of the language for young children and then it is up to them. Another important element of this language learning is that signs all over Ireland appear both in English and Gaelic. Often times the Gaelic is given preference to the English (see the example below). There is a strong movement to establish speaking communities outside of northwest Ireland, the most predominantly Gaelic speaking counties, so that younger generations are able to converse and the language develops more of a stronghold.
The examples of this language integration is admirable and makes me think about Hawaiian immersion schools and how many school aged children are not taught in both state official languages of `Olelo Hawai'i and English...
(apologies for the lack of kahako as I'm typing on my iPad)