Although Gaelic no longer resounds through the Lennox and Mentieth as it once did, this volume demonstrates that its rich heritage of literature and folklore deserves to be rediscovered and reclaimed by new generations. Gaelic was once spoken by its earls and chieftains, farmers and fishermen, into the twentieth century. This book presents some of the songs, stories and traditions which recapture the timeless brilliance of the Gaelic heroic age in the area. Dr Michael Newton has brought together the legends of the early Christian saints, tales of the supernatural, panegyric verse of professional poets, clans sagas of the Colquhouns, MacGregors, and MacFarlanes, Jacobite songs, elegies, local calendar customs, and other remnants of folklore and folklife. Patient and dedicated research has enabled this wealth of material to be accessible for the first time to students, scholars, and all enthusiasts of the history and culture of the Lennox and Menteith, bringing back to life an ancient inheritance worth celebrating.
Michael Newton is a lecturer in the Celtic Studies department of St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. He was awarded a PhD in Celtic Studies from the University of Edinburgh and is a leading authority on the literature and cultural legacy of Scottish Highland immigrant communities in America.
He has written several books and numerous articles on many aspects of Highland tradition and history. He was the editor of Duthchas nan Gaidheal: Selected Essays of John MacInnes, which won the Saltire Society's Research Book
award of 2006.
