An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 17, October 1921 to September 1922

AN DEO-GREINE.
9
ROMANCE AND LEGEND.
So much then for the purely entertain¬
ment side of the coming Mod. Turning to
what may rightly be termed the educative
side, we shall not only have the competitions
themselves, but plenteous oration, with
“ceol agus orain.” An Comunn has done
much to familiarise us with many old High¬
land melodies of exquisite charm, and to
“resurrect” some that would otherwise be
utterly lost to us. So we shall have, at the
great evening concerts, songs such as will
stir the Highland heart to its very depths.
Will the song be of the sea?—we shall, if
we are endowed with the true imagination
of the Celt, hear the white-crested billows
dash upon the rugged rocks that have with¬
stood their mighty onslaught through
countless ages; or there may fall upon the
ear the ripple of the wavelets which in the
glory of the summer’s sun kiss the silvery
strand on many of our western bays. The
rhythmical music of the oars, as the boat
with its merry crew crosses from isle to isle,
.will pull at the heart-strings of many a
Hebridean to whom absence from the
familiar scenes of youth is veritable exile.
Will the song be of the great Bens? (as so
many beautiful songs are) then we shall
detect in their interpretation the fragrance
of the honey-dew upon the heath; the music
of the burns that flow down “from the hill
to the sea,” and fanciful vision will present
itself of that entrancing panorama of sun¬
shine and of mist, which no artist’s brush
can ever truly imitate, as the delicate lace-
work of white moves in ever changing form
along the upland straths and glens. Or,
again, is the song one that tells of love or of
war? Through them we shall have the
door opened to that wonderful region of
romance in which Highland history and
legend possess a wealth and beauty
unexcelled; and the martial spirit that is
inherently latent in the Celt will behold in
reflection’s mirror battle scenes and forays
which—dreadful as conflict may at all times
be—have tried the Highlander “as by fire” ;
have tested his patriotism, his loyalty, his
chivalry, his courage, his inviolate love of
homeland, and have enriched Scotia’s
history in a degree that nothing else has ever
done. Those are some of the thoughts and
retrospects the Mod will bring home to the
Highlander—and they will all be for his
good.
THE FUTURE.
Song and story and legend, in the grand
old language, have enabled generations of
Gaels to inherit the best traditions of the
Scottish race, but for which many precious
and inspiring traditions might have been
blotted out for ever. The proceedings at the
Mod, in pursuance of the splendid objec¬
tives towards which An Comunn is ever
moving, will be such as we have
inadequately tried to describe, and for that
reason their educative value cannot be
measured in words. The healthy nature of
all that An Comunn has done and is doing
is evidence that it recognises what is for the
edification and the highest welfare of the
Celt. The secluded God’s acre in many a
strath and glen and clachan, where
“The forefathers of the hamlet sleep,”
is an ever silent reminder to the Highlander
that upon him devolves the sacred duty of
religiously observing the grand old maxim—
“Lean gu dluth ri cliu do shinnsir. ”
To encourage and to stimulate him on the
paths of patriotism and of piety in which his
forefathers trod is the chief aim and purpose
of the association to whom our humble
tribute is offered in these lines.
It is on the lines above indicated the
Comunn Gaidhealach has gradually,
steadily, but surely been built up. Its
destiny is at the moment in the hands of
officials to whom it is a veritable labour of
love, not only to maintain its reputation at
a high level and to extend its usefulness, but
to pass those splendid assets on with a
capitalised value that will yield to future
generations—long as Gaelic language and
melody endure—a return of such richness
that Gaels will universally proclaim An
Comunn to be incomparably the best invest¬
ment ever made for the social and
educational welfare of Tir nam Beann, nan
Gleann ’s nan Gaisgeach.
Such, briefly, may be said to be the
progress and the promise of that excellent
institution to whose forthcoming great
Musical Festival in the second city, on the
closing days of the current month—the
semi-jubilee Mod—those lines are intended
to direct the attention of all Highlanders
who love the ancient language and esteem
their native land.
0
Is beb duine an dbidh a shkrachadh, ach
cha bheb e an dbidh a nkrachadh.
^
C’arson tha mactalla coltach ri boirionn-
ach? Dean na thoilicheas tu, bidh am facal
mu dheireadh aige.