O Canada

I have been feeling a lot of love from, and thus love for Canadians lately! So I thought I'd give a proper Pottery by Cú Chulainn shout out, and briefly mention some amazing facts I've learned about our northern neighbor and their Celtic connections.

I had been aware of that Scottish-Canadians were a large group. However, I was surprised to learn that as of the 2001 census approximately 4.7 million Canadians claimed full or partial Scottish ancestry. That is 15% of the total population, making it the third largest ethnic group in Canada. Amazing!

In comparison, 36 million Americans claim full or partial Irish ancestry, while another 3.5 million claim Scots-Irish ancestry. That amounts to approximately 12% of the US population which makes Scottish-Canadians are a larger ethnic group in Canada per capita.

This absolutely blows my mind. I knew they were a major group with significant cultural impact but that’s huge. Consider also that these huge populations come from relatively small countries. The current populations of the original countries is 5.2 million for Scotland and 6.2 million for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Flag of Nova Scotia

Turning back to Scottish-Canadians more specifically, I was interested to learn more about their profound impact on Canadian culture. I suppose it is not surprising given that as early as 1622 a portion of what is now Canada was set aside as “New Scotland.” Nova Scotia, and Canada more generally, saw many more immigrants after the defeat of New France in 1759, but the cultural importance of a New Scotland is profound.

And there were plenty who took the New Scotland mission seriously. Nowadays Cape Breton Island and the Nova Scotia mainland together have a community of around 1,000 speakers of Canadian Gaelic, which is itself a dialect of Scottish Gaelic. Amazing!

Flag of Montreal

Still, Scottish Canadians are not limited to Nova Scotia. Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia all had strong influences from Scotland, especially after French influence declined. But I am beginning to drone on so I will allow my readers to read the Wikipedia article for themselves!

But in all honesty, much love to all Canadians!

Slàn,

Colin

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com

Northern Ireland

The BBC reports that there was an explosion alongside a road in Northern Ireland today. They are mum on most of the details while CNN reports that it destroyed a bridge and may have been designed to draw police into the area.

Meanwhile there were shots fired at police as they detained five people under suspicion of trafficking explosive across the border with the Republic. It is unclear whether these two incidents are related.

However, it certainly represents a significant escalation of violence in Northern Ireland since the Real IRA claimed responsibility for a March of 2009 killing of two British Soldiers outside their barracks before they were to go on tour in Afghanistan.

Most pundits I have read claim that the sectarian mood in Northern Ireland is the worst it has been in over a decade. Since I was giving a mini lesson in Gaeilge earlier today I couldn't help follow-up...

síochán = peace

Gaeilge Mugs

I thought it would be fun to give a bit of a behind the scenes edition of the blág. This week is focused on mugs!

First up is the Gaeilge mugs. I made about a dozen of two different varieties. “Sláinte” (SLAWN-chuh) is an Irish-Gaelic toast meaning literally health. It can be used much like the English “cheers” so I thought it would work well on a mug.

Meanwhile, “mo chuisle” (muh CHWISH-luh) is a term of endearment. It was made famous in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby although it was mispronounced and even misspelled if I recall. It literally means “my pulse” and references a poetic turn of phrase only the Irish could produce: “You’re as close to me as the pulse of my own heart.” It is pronounced with an unvoiced fricative which I transcribed as “CH.” Think of the Hebrew, Scottish, German, or Arabic gravelly “H” sound and you’ve likely got it.

The mugs were thrown large. I aimed for approximately 16oz a piece although this is the first time I’ve thrown this shape so I was just guessing. I thought they’d be a fun, whimsical mug. The stamp I used is not in Comic Sans Font but it does have a similar juvenile appeal. So I left the letters a bit off center and didn’t fuss too much if they were a bit crooked.

I think I’ve blogged about these espresso cups before but I wanted to show them again here so that you could see my new toy, or the results of my new toy anyway. My father-in-law is a fantastic, creative woodworker and I wanted to give him the credit he is due here. He made for me many of my tools but this gauge is the best. I use it to measure the height of my pottery while it’s still on the wheel. It swings in and out of place so I don’t have to worry about knocking it accidentally. I can use it as a simple gauge or I can actually score the pot with it and then cut off the top. In combination with my calipers I can throw essentially the same pot over and over again!

As always you can check out my etsy shop to buy pottery made exclusively by me!
www.potterybycuchulainn.etsy.com