Celtic Canada, have you been

Sorry Stevo I see it was you who went to TUNS lol. Its late and I am getting tired. Oh well!

I love the fact that while most I my friends are heading off to Montreal, Kingston or staying in Toronto, I'm heading off to a place where a pub crawl involves town hopping as there is only one pub in Sackville

oldraven,
I hate to (gently and politely) disagree on my first post here but British Columbia was settled extensively by Celts, as well as eastern Europeans, Chinese, and others. Many of the packers and rare metal miners in early British Columbia were Celts. Search the mining and railroad history of British Columbia and you'll find that "Mac" started a lot of those names.
Even today, the Celts are leaders here. Both the Mayor of Vancouver and the Premier are Campbells.
While we never had the almost exclusive Celtic population of the East Coast, we had a lot of Celts that helped open this province to the rest of Canada.

Well, now I know. The truth is, the only western provinces I know anything about are the prarie provinces. The deepest I've ever been into BC was about 20km down the roads in the Kootenays. So, my knowledge about BC is quite limited. Thanks for clearing this up, for me and the rest of the people on this site.

No problem.
There's a BC/Alberta show called Gold Trails and Ghost Towns by historian Bill Barlee. Great show! He always tells of some lost mine at the end of each show. I've read a few of his books and learned a bit of BC history from them. I even named one of my sporran styles after Cataline, a world class packer of early B.C.

Most people think of logging when they think of B.C. but it was actually built on mining and the gold rushes.

Incidentally, My maternal great grandmother was a Corbin (Latin for Raven) from Ireland. One of the tattoos I'm planning is a very cool Celtic raven torc.

Hi guys. Let me jump in if you don't mind. I am from Nova Scotia (hey old crow!). Born in Antigonish, lived in Cape Breton and New Glasgow. This is the very Scottish part of northeastern Nova Scotia. I used to attend many Scottish festivals when I was growing up. Now I live in northern Canada and it is very expensive to go home. So, my link to Scottish culture is somewhat broken, but the internet certainly helps a lot.

As per the university discussion, I have degrees from both St. FX and Acadia. Both are great schools, but I must say that I personally had more fun at St. FX

Anyway, enough of me.

Slainte!

Rory MacAibhistin

Wow! Thanks for sharing, Rory! Sorry you have to be so far away from home!

Top of the mornin to ya, Rory. I know exactly how you feel. Ange and I just took a trip home to get married, and the tickets were about half the cost of the wedding.

I grew up in Guysborough Co., on the Pictou border on hwy 347 to New Glasgow. About 35 minutes Sherbrooke way from Antigonish. (had our reception in St. Andrews, just like everybody else. ). Ange is from Dunmore, so, depending on your age, she might know who you are. Don't all you townies know each other anyway?

How long have you been away, and when was your last trip home?

So...is PEI considered Celtic?? I've been there three times since '96 (and long to go back ALL the time).

While there, I did attend a ceileih at the College of Piping in Summerside, but that's about all I did that was remotely Celtic. I'm a big Anne of Green Gables fan, so I spent time exploring those avenues.

I'm also a big fan of the group Barachois of PEI (who have unfortunately broken up)

Celtic Rose, thank you for the welcome! Yes, it sucks to be so far away, but in some respects we have to move on - just like our Celtic ancestors.


Old Raven, good to hear from ya. I'm 33. How old is Ange? The problem with living in Yellowknife is that it in nearly a grand just to fly to Edmonton, and then it's that much again to get to NS. I've been through Melrose several times. I used to go fishing down that way!

Brian, yes PEI is considered Celtic in many respects. There are many communities that were settled by Highland Scots in PEI and there were a fair number of later Irish settlers as well. To balance the Celts out there was a healthy English settlement and a very politically active Acadian settlement. My wife's mother is from PEI and she's a combination of Scotch, Irish and Acadian.

Greetings to all and thanks for the warm welcomes!

Rory MacA

Somehow I missed this. Can you tell me what PEI is?

PEI is short for Prince Edward Island - one of Canada's four Atlantic provinces. It is home to Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the famous Anne of Green Gables stories. It is a beautiful little spot! I am surprised you never heard of it. Where are you from Celtic Rose?

Good Lord, I can't believe you just said Melrose, and you knew where that was from those simple directions. You really are a home b'y.

Hi Mac! I am sorry I am so ignorant of such things but I live in Arizona and while I have lived in different states in the southern parts of the US, I have regrettably never been to Canada! I remember as a teenager I always told my parents that I was moving to Canada as I thought it would be the ultimate beauty to live and be a part of; however, I ended up in Arizona instead and we have a beauty here all our own. Thanks so much for educating me Mac

You're welcome CelticRose. My wife actually lived in Tucson for 10 years before returning back to Nova Scotia. Isn't it interesting how we are sometimes not very aware of our own continent. Sometimes I think our education system does a lot to let us down. (I can't believe I am saying this as I am a teacher! But it is true.) Anyway, PEI is a small province, but a very important one.

Hey, Old Raven! I sure do know your neck of the woods. In fact, I used to do a lot of fishing in the Garden of Eden area - not too far from Melrose.