We are all the blood that flowed away; Celtic Immigration to the Americas
A customer of mine came into the shop with a painting he made, that had me thinking and feeling the cut off from my Ancestors in a different way.
They grieved us too.
Mark (we’ll call him Mark), painted this piece about Scottish immigration to the Americas. The Islands are the leaves that fell from the Scottish tree to Turtle Island and found livelihood and a future in “Canada”.
Diaspora 1850
The “Diaspora 1850” to Turtle Island. The blue field with silver lines connect the Scottish people to industry in Canada that sustained them and provided promise for the future.
The Islands of Scotland are the leaves of the tree that have fallen off and landed in Canada. The silver lines on blue, reminiscent of the saltire, connect the tree to the new land and the industries that supported the new immigrants in their new land.
Diaspora 1850 Legend
The Proclaimers giving me the feels
I have a hard time listening to this song without crying. This song and the painting make me think of my Ancestors differently - and consider their perspective, watching their blood flow away to the Americas, never to return.
My Ancestors are primarily Scottish and Irish. There is so much unacknowledged and inherited trauma in Celtic lineages, that I never considered the pain and loss of those who stayed, from watching us all leave and lose contact.
My ancestry is filled with cut-off. The feeling is healing and re-connecting with lost roots.
I can feel them with me now in my heart. We connect easily in strongly felt emotions - both love and grief… and I feel them with me now in reciprocal love and gratitude.
They are grateful for the recognition of their loss.
They are excited by the rooting of our ancient connection to Nature finding fertile soil on Turtle Island, and thrilled by Gaelic being spoken through the mouth of their blood in the New World. (They have assured me that I don’t have to be good, I just have to try. Lol).
Mothachadh Beloveds. I feel you with me.
Join the Cailleach Ken Library if you’d like to know more about Celtic Ancestors.
Letter from America by The Proclaimers
Lyrics
When you go will you send back a letter from America?
Take a look up the rail track from Miami to Canada
Well broke off from my work the other day
Spent the evening thinking about all the blood that flowed away
Across the ocean to the second chance
I wonder how it go on when it reached the promised land
When you go will send back a letter from America?
Take a look up the rail track from Miami to Canada
I've looked at the ocean tried hard to imagine
The way you felt the day you sailed from Wester Ross to Nova Scotia
We should have held you, we should have told you
But you know our sense of timing we always wait too long
When you go will you send back a letter from America?
Take a look up the rail track from Miami to Canada
Lochaber no more, Sutherland no more
Lewis no more, Skye no more
Lochaber no more, Sutherland no more
Lewis no more, Skye no more
Lochaber no more, Sutherland no more
Lewis no more, Skye no more
I wonder my blood will you ever return
To help us kick the life back to a dying mutual friend?
Do we not love her I think we all tell you about
Do we have to roam the world to prove how much it hurts?
When you go will you send back a letter from America?
Take a look up the rail track from Miami to Canada
Bathgate no more, Linwood no more
Methil no more, Irvine no more
Bathgate no more, Linwood no more
Methil no more, Irvine no more
Bathgate no more, Linwood no more
Methil no more, Irvine no more
Bathgate no more, Linwood no more
Methil no more, Lochaber no more
This is Argyll, or Argyllshire. Right across the water from Ballymena, Ireland. Most of my Ancestors came from this little itty bit of land. Dál Riata. Lol.
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Communicating with my ancestors has become a habit and is a rich and nurturing source of Celtic wisdom about living in a world that is in-Spirited.
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In The Cailleach Library you can find Tabhartas Bòid; a Celtic Teaching about Votive Offerings, given by Muireann - our Iron Age Celtic Ancestor.
Join the free Library if you’d like to learn more about the meaning, history and practice of Tabhartas Bòid in pre-Christian Celtic culture.