Gaelic Language and Traditions on Rathlin Island

Due to its location in the Irish Sea Rathlin Island (Reachlainn in Irish) has been a crossroads back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for millennia. It is through Rathlin Island that the Gaels first crossed from Ireland to what we know today as Scotland. From the time of the Kingdom of Dal Riata, which spanned from Ulster in Ireland to Argyll and the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, the kingdom founded by King Loarn or Fergus (depending on the source) with its capital at Dunadd in Kintyre, the Gaelic language has been found across the islands between Britain and Ireland. With this migration went not only the Gaelic language of Eire, but many of the same stories and traditions. Even after the Irish side of the kingdom fell into the hands of other Irish princes interaction of one kind or another remained with the common culture. Rathlin was always caught in the middle of things.

In 1860 J.F. Campbell’s Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected was published in Edinburgh. The stories were collected from natives in the Highlands and Western Island regions of Scotland at a time when Gaelic was more wide spread there. Many of those spoken to also did not even speak English. This collection of stories was taken down in their original Gaelic form and then translated into English for the consumption of the British public. In the introduction of this collection the writer inadvertently mentions some aspects of the Gaelic language as it is spoken on the Scottish island of Islay. The dialect spoken there was the same as was spoken on Rathlin Island. Since the Irish Gaelic language of Rathlin died out in the last few decades of the prior century, some wishing to bring Gaelic back to that island are in favor of drawing on the dialect spoken on Islay.

Thanks to a few enthusiasts in the early to middle parts of the 20^th century there are recordings of a few older speakers of the Gaelic language as it was spoken on Rathlin. During a survey done under the direction of the Royal Irish Academy Irish speakers were asked to recite poems, folktales, etc. that they could remember in the Irish language as they spoke it. The task would have had more minimal results if they hadn’t enlisted the aid of younger enthusiasts who were able to reach out in many places that otherwise would not have been surveyed. Though many of these dialects are now dead, thanks to the survey we do have a good idea of what Rathlin’s Gaelic language sounded like, and some say it is the same as is spoken in Islay today.

This leads to an interesting development. Should the people there carry the language of the western Scottish Isles to Rathlin? Those islands aren’t far apart. In fact on a clear day it is possible to see Islay in the distance when standing on the Rathlin shores. The tour guides in Northern Ireland like to point this out when visitors come to the area around the Giant’s Causeway. An interesting side note is that the island of Islay (Ile in Gaelic) sits between the Antrim coast and the legendary other side of the Causeway on the Scottish island of Staffa (Gaelic Stafa). A kind of Gaelic crossroads. The island is considered a part of Ulster in Ireland, and currently the dialects around Donegal seem to be making their way into areas of Ulster where the language is returning. The surviving Ulster dialects have some similarities with Scottish dialects, but still quite different. If Gaelic should thrive once again it will be interesting to see which version Rathlin will end up using to carry on its unique traditions, especially those of storytelling.

There are many interesting tales and legends concerning this island off the Antrim coast. There was an argument that spurred from time to time as to whether Rathlin Island should belong to Ireland or Scotland. Clearly due to the closeness of Rathlin to the Emerald Isle many thought that it was Irish, and yet the connections between Rathlin and west of Scotland were strong. The language, culture, and traditions were seen by many to be more akin to Gaelic Scotland than Ireland. This little spat was to be finally decided in 1617 where it was deemed to be part of Ireland. And what were the grounds upon which such a decision was made? Because there were no snakes to be found on Rathlin Island. As legend has it, when St. Patrick arrived in Eire he had banished snakes from all of Ireland. There are several geographical reasons why snakes do not exist in Ireland, but this St. Patrick tradition was so strong that it was the determining factor in the fate of this land between the main islands. In Medieval Irish verse indicates that the Firbolgs invaders had taken control of Rathlin, and the first Viking raid to hit Ireland was on this island in 795 according to the Annals of Ulster. Many a massacres also took place here in retaliation of one sort or another due to ties with the Clans of Scotland.

There is an old story about a fairy island that is supposed to show up every seven years between Rathlin and Ballycastle in County Antrim. A lucky shot by one throwing stones into the Atlantic over the spot of the rise is supposed to result in the permanent rising of the Fairy Island. Who knows what might be in store for the Northern Ireland and Donegal coasts should this happen? Different ideas about it have arisen, some saying it was the entrance to the land of the dead, while others say that it is the Tir na nOg (Land of Youth) where the king or emperor of the fairies held court. When a mysterious land is said to exist without much else being known about it, all kinds of ideas come to one’s mind considering what resides there.

A very well-known story is that of the fate of the children of Lir (or grandchildren depending on the version one hears). When their stepmother was jealous of her husband’s love for the three sons and one daughter she turned them into swans and banished them to roam three different places for three centuries each. One of those places was the Sea of Moyle, what we would call the Strait of Moyle today. It is the shortest distance between Scotland and Ireland. Rathlin Island would be considered in the southwest part of that sea. The Children of Lir suffered great hardship there. Their first day the stormy seas scattered them for days till they could be united again. It can be argued that in such a story Rathlin had seen them now and then, even if from far above in the flight of the swans.

And what of the daughter of the King of Rathlin who suffered a sad fate? For the king of Sweden (or Norway) longed to have her as his bride. The girl had no such desire and did what she could to keep such a wedding from taking place. In his wrath the King of Sweden bribed one of the King of Rathlin’s henchmen to dance the girl off the cliffs at an event that was taking place. The henchman led her over and she dragged then henchman with her as she fell to her death. Because the daughter of the king of Rathlin had such fair hair the name of that place changed from Benmore to Fair Head in memory of the unfortunate girl.

Rathlin Island is a land of legend and strife. It is also a land where the Gaelic language had remained with its own dialect up till the latter part of the Twentieth Century. Something remarkable considering the pressures brought upon it till recently to eliminate it. The urge to bring back the language is not strongly opposed, just a disagreement as to which form of the language should be encouraged. The many stories coming down to us  from both literature and folktale, mostly in the English language today, tell us of the island’s uniqueness due to its location between Ireland and Scotland as well as the influences brought there from either side of the Sea of Moyle.