When I was young — in all honesty I could have said — Irish doesn’t exist.  But how?  I knew no one who spoke Irish.  I knew no one learning Irish.  I knew no one with any interest in Irish. I knew no one with an opinion on Irish – either good or bad.  And though that was my lived experience — it wasn’t correct — because Gaeilge did exist — it just didn’t exist in my context.

So how did this consequently affect my view of Irish?  We need to follow a logical rational — if something doesn’t exist — and remember for me experimentally it didn’t exist — then thus pushing it is pushing a self serving fallacy.  There is a hidden agenda — an ulterior motive — a nefarious end.  Once that is the underlying presupposition nothing but problems will emerge.  Then the more nuanced belief evolved — Irish existed but now doesn’t.  It was but it isn’t.  To cut myself a bit of slack I’ve spoken to people roughly the same age as myself and they were told at school not to study Irish as it was a waste of time (the language was theirs – they’d tried their best — but it was dead.) 

Why say all of this?  Well we’re normally more forgiving to our own mistakes than to others.  And if you’ve a dirl o wit and ounce of grace — you should be able to forgive the same in others.  So let’s go on — I didn’t believe it was real or relevant and anyone but those (aye those — once you say those you’re on fozzie groun!) who had an ulterior and nefarious intent — the skitters were up to something — probably funding.  How is this important to Ulster Scots?  I was wrong about Irish — it did exist it just didn’t exist in my context and experience — and that is a very different thing.  To repeat myself — Ulster Scots is not Irish, nor is it a counterbalance to Irish — but I believe there is a similarity here — for many people Scots (Ulster Scots) doesn’t exist in their context or experience — and therefore does not exist — and therefore those skitters who are pushing it must be up to something —  probably funding.  

The connections between Ireland and Scotland are ancient — the movement of people and language — the movement of ideas and folklore — it is all remarkably old!   One of my strongest Ulster Scots influences was my (great) Uncle Davy.  He lived an existence that was quintessentially Irish. Even the ancient and rather mystical arts he practiced — which never pleased my grandmother — she was more doubtful of the provenance of charms, herbal potions and methods of knowing the future!  But were they Irish or Scottish? If you read Scottish folklore it is quite clear these practices existed over there too.  But they may simply have moved one direction and then back the other way — who knows — or has anyone even tried to know!      

We need to get rid of our anachronistic reading of history and to stop super imposing the present onto the past.  As far as I understand one of the greatest influences on Manchán Magan was his coming in contact with indigenous communities in other parts of the world.  It’s a strange truth — but often we see ourselves more clearly when we look into the souls of others — and that is what has slowly happened to me.