An t-Seann Dùthaich

It is the connection between the land, the people, and the history that encompasses the Spirit of the Highlands - an invisible power driving us to the country that those who came before us cherished.

’S e an ceangal eadar an talamh, na daoine, is an eachdraidh a tha a’ cuartachadh ‘Spiorad na Gàidhealtachd’ cumhachd do-fhaicsinneach gar èigneachadh don dùthaich a ghràdhaich na daoine bho na làithean a dh’aom.

'The Spirit of the Highlands', it is woven with unknown secrets: a film on the surface of the water preventing one from seeing the bottom to the well of our past. My MacPherson ancestors came from Inverness. They must have come from the dark, craggy forests of Badenoch before that. What they experienced or witnessed during the times of hardship we do not know. They were common people: Alexander MacPherson, a weaver in Kingsmills; William, his son, also a weaver in Kingsmills, and his son, Duncan, a shoemaker, who emigrated to Canada in the 1830s. There he could be found in a small, log house beside Spring Creek, in Glengarry County, on land that belonged to his friend until he purchased land for his new family. He left the Highlands of Scotland to join a Gaelic community in Canada. It is the connection between the land, the people, and the history that encompasses the Spirit of the Highlands - an invisible power driving us to the country that those who came before us cherished.

‘Spiorad na Gàidhealtachd’ tha e fillte le rùintean dìomhair: lìth air uachdar an uisge nach urrainnear faicinn aigeal tobar ar dùthchais. Thàinig mo shinnsearan, na Pearsanaich, bho Inbhir Nis. Feumaidh ’s gun tàinig iad bho na coilltean dorcha, creagach ann am Bàideanach bho thùs. Na fhiosraich iad is na chunnaic iad tro amannan cruadail, chan eil fhios againn. Cha robh iad ach daoine san sreath: Alasdair Mac a’ Phearsain, breabadair, Kingsmills; Uilleam, a mhac, breabadair, Kingsmills, is a mhac-san, Donnchadh, na ghreusaiche, a thug e air Canada sna 1830an. Lorgadh e ann an taigh beag, logaichean ri taobh abhainn (Spring Creek) an Gleanna Garradh, Ontario, air talamh a bhuineadh dha charaid gus an d’fhuair e fearann dha theaghlach òg. Chaidh e bho Ghàidhealtachd na h-Alba gu coimhearsnachd Ghàidhealach ann an Canada. ’S e an ceangal eadar an talamh, na daoine, is an eachdraidh a tha a’ cuartachadh ‘Spiorad na Gàidhealtachd’ - cumhachd do-fhaicsinneach gar èigneachadh don dùthaich a ghràdhaich na daoine bho na làithean a dh’aom.

An t-Seann Dùthaich

By Tealsaidh Nic A' Phearsain

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