Gaelic Experience in Village

NOTE: The following is a feature story on the Highland Village's chief interpreter Joanne Rankin-MacIntyre prepared for Tourism Week, June 5-11, by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.

Nova Scotia's music, history and culture often combine to create experiences that delight visitors from near and far. At the Highland Village in Iona, Victoria Co., Gaelic speakers and singers add to the authenticity of experiencing the life of early Scottish settlers.

"I'm very fortunate to be able to use the Gaelic language in my work, not only with visitors but also with co-workers," says Joanne Rankin-MacIntyre, chief interpreter at the museum. "I was first exposed to the language by my father and now I'm able to share it with visitors as part of their experience here."

Joanne grew up hearing her father speak Gaelic with neighbours and others in the community of Mabou Mines, Inverness Co. He didn't speak it at home because her mother didn't.

"During high school, I was interested enough to take classes after hours with a teacher who volunteered her time," says Joanne. "Then I completed a degree in Celtic studies with a focus on the Gaelic language at St. Francis Xavier University."

After taking time to marry and begin her family, Joanne began working at Highland Village last summer. She took advantage of Gaelic classes at the museum that focus on speaking the language.

"The oral tradition is very strong in the Gaelic language and culture," she says. "For example, our Scottish ancestors would tell epic tales over several evenings as the main entertainment, along with music. So music and storytelling are vibrant parts of the living history experience we offer at Highland Village."

Joanne enjoys teaching visitors how to say simple phrases like hello, goodbye and thank you in Gaelic. Visitors are also welcome to participate in Gaelic tutorials.

Costumed animators in the village's 11 period buildings give visitors a historical account of how Gaels came to settle in Iona. They show how early settlers lived by making candles, soap, primitive hand-molded pottery, and linen from flax grown in the village. They also make wool textiles from sheep native to the Hebridean Isle of Soay in Scotland where some of the Iona settlers had lived.

"Visitors are generally accustomed to seeing this kind of animation at a living history museum," says Joanne. "But when they come upon a milling frolic or ceilidh in full swing, or catch the smell of biscuits being baked the traditional way, they're pleasantly surprised and enjoy the genuine Gaelic experience."

She notes that visitors often expect to hear Cape Breton's distinct fiddling but are surprised to also hear Gaelic mouth music. Puirt a beul means "mouth tunes" and is the traditional singing of fiddle tunes.

The settlers often used it to compose tunes while working at their everyday tasks. They used words or vocables -- which are words without meaning -- to remember both the tune and which notes to stress when playing the tune on the fiddle.

"That's why people often say you can hear the Gaelic in fiddle tunes," Joanne adds. "In the absence of a fiddler, someone would often sing puirt a beul for a step dancer or a square set."

In addition to the music, history and culture, she also says visitors are particularly taken with the tranquility of the village.

"Tourists see the view of the Bras d'Or Lakes from the hill that the village is built on and they feel at ease," says Joanne. "That alone is an enjoyable experience. I think it helps them feel how those Scottish settlers must have felt when they first laid eyes on this beautiful spot and decided to make it their home where they would carry on their old ways in this new land."

Experiential tourism is a key element of Nova Scotia's tourism plan for 2006. The plan is developed by the joint industry-government Tourism Partnership Council. It is based on extensive research and designed to expand the tourism industry in Nova Scotia. It is available on the website at www.gov.ns.ca/dtc .

Tourism is a $1.29 billion industry in Nova Scotia employing 33,000 people.