AN CLIATH CLIS

Failte gu dearibh !Welcome indeed to the on-line home of the Gaelic performing group, An Cliath Clis. Check out the menu to find out more about us and the Gaelic tradition of Milling also known as "Waulking".

The Milling Blog . . .

Hello my name is Mary MacLean and, as well as directing the efforts of An Cliath Clis on an annual basis, I maintain this blog of our experiences in the gaelic cultural community in Nova Scotia. Older versions of our escapdes can be found in the menu.

Its been awhile since I have made an entry let’s start back in April, 2007.

It seems things picked up a bit around then, a few members of An Cliath Clis "Precented" psalms at Ivan Gregan’s Port Wallis United Church in Waverley. This was our first time participating in the gaelic church tradition of Precenting. It’s a bit hard to catch onto, and intimidating at first, but Joe Murphy, our Precentor that day, was very helpful in putting us at ease and giving us many pointers.

In April we also had a fundraiser for An Cliath Clis’s trip to the Codroy Valley in Newfoundland. We were invited there as part of their "Come Home Year 2007". The Codroy Valley was settled by Gaelic speaking people from the Margaree and Inverness areas of Cape Breton. Much of their Gaelic has been lost, and the organizers of this year’s festival were eager to hear some Gaelic singing. While the folks from Newfoundland paid the majority of our expenses, we needed to come up with some funds of our own. So, what else was there to do, but have a fundraiser.

John Ferguson, known to many for his membership in the folk group "McGinty", and I contacted as many musicians as we could, and asked if they would be willing to donate their time. Everyone was very willing and happy to help us out. We held the fundraiser at Celtic Corner Pub in Dartmouth, the afternoon of Sunday, April 22, 2007. Moran Taing to the Celtic Corner for allowing us to use their pub for the event. We had lots of great entertainment all afternoon.

Moran Taing, thank you, also to Trueman Matheson of Sìol Cultural Enterprises for giving us all his surplus celtic cds to sell tickets on. This really was a bonus. There was a lot of great music there including, Dan Mac Kinnon, John Ferguson, McGinty, Lewis Mac Kinnon, Patricia Murray, Joe Peter MacLean. These recording artists also donated their own cds.

John Ferguson served as the emcee for the concert which also featured the performances of Dan Mac Kinnon, Jim Sweeney, John Ferguson, Joe Murphy, Lewis Mac Kinnon, Donnie Moore, pipers Lily and Teresa, and highland dancer Katie. Oh, Jill and Skyler danced too. Hmmm, I don’t believe I heard fiddles all afternoon. Tapadh leibh to all the musicians and people who donated at the door. It is very much appreciated.

In May, a Gaelic choir from Scotland visited the Halifax area on their way to Cape Breton. Lewis and Susan Mac Kinnon hosted a pot luck supper and ceilidh at their house. A very nice time was had by all. Although the crew from Scotland were a bit tired, they sang a few songs for us, and sampled some Maritime food, even the unusual “turtle” cheesecake.It was nice to hear Gaelic singers from Scotland for a change. I heard lot of “och no!” too.

On June 01 I gave a workshop on the milling tradition at the library in Sydney. Thanks to Rosalie Gillis for inviting me. I’m hoping they will have this again, as I was quite surprised at the good turnout and, as usual, everyone was eager to participate at the singing and stories at the milling table.

July in the Codroy Valley______Well, what can I say about our trip to the Codroy Valley ? I must start off by thanking my cousin Sharon for putting us up, and putting up with us, at her house in Sydney Mines, the night before the ferry crossing. It was very gracious and thoughtful of her to do this for us. After the usual long wait in line for the ferry, we all boarded safely, and finally set off. The trip across was pretty much uneventful, and calm. I think one person did throw up though. She will remain nameless. Once off the ferry we were all eager to get to the Codroy. For most of us this was our first visit to the Codroy,and we were very impressed with the beautiful scenery on the way to our B&B. We all remarked on how much it reminded us of the Margaree Valley area.

The people in the Codroy really went out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. All sorts of beautiful hand made signs on the way in, flags of all colours on very tidy homes. Our B&B hosts had a lovely supper ready for us when we arrived, a delicious boiled dinner, familiar food to all of us from Nova Scotia. We had awfully good food throughout our stay in the Codroy. It seems everyone went out of their way to make us feel welcome and satisfied.

We had a chance to speak to a few of the older native Gaelic speakers, but not nearly enough time to really gather and share stories with them, as we were only in the Valley a short time. It would be nice to go back some other time with more time to track down the remaining Gaelic speakers and singers. Mary Anderson was our contact for the Heritage Day festivities, and we want to give her a big tapadh leat for helping us organize our first trip to the Codroy Valley.

July 08, we once again Precented Psalm 105 at Ivan Gregan’s church. This time our Precentor was Tim Aggett. Shay, Neil, and I gave readings anns a Gaidhlig. This was a little daunting, but I think we all did very well. Moran taing, Ivan, for giving us the opportunity to do this.

In September, I was invited by Merle Chisholm to demonstrate the milling tradition in Truro. This was part of their festivities for the Gathering of the Clans. There was a small crowd, but all were very enthusiastic and willing to participate. I think they were interested in having the opportunity to see this Scottish tradition. A few of the people were familiar with milling.

It’s the Fall now, and back to milling practices. Again, thanks to the Irish Studies Department at SMU for allowing us to use a room free of charge. There are many new millers this year. What an enthusiastic bunch. Already they are singing all the choruses and eagerly learning new songs. We had quite a busy schedule to follow this past Fall:

• November 22 saw us perform at a Scottish night at St Alban’s church in Dartmouth. This was something a little different for us. We were treated to a lovely meal, and Scottish dancing and piping before we milled.
• November 23 we had a fantastic milling frolic at the Neocraft conference at NSCAD on the waterfront campus. Lots of good food, drinks, a fantastic view, and good songs and stories. We had a blast, and I hope we’re invited back again if they hold another Neocraft conference. Thanks to Sandra Alfoldy for having us.
• October 28, Donnie Mac Donald held a milling frolic at his house in Timberlea, to christen his new milling table. He built this table in his garage and asked us all to come and break it in. Another fantastic milling frolic. It was so much fun. Moran Taing, Padraig, for picking me up and driving me home so I could have a few drinks. Very much appreciated, don’t you know!
• November 29 we milled at a Scottish concert at Citadel High. This concert was put on by the students and was very professionally organized by them. Thanks to Melissa Shaw for inviting us to this. Hope you have another one next year.