siol, Gaelic, the English word "seed," thus "progeny"
or "offspring," the "descendants of..."
mhorgan, also seen as mhorrigan, a Gaelic name, the English
"Morgan." Loosely translated "Great Queen." After the
pagan goddess who ruled the summer season and was therefore also known as
Samh, literally "Summer." She comprised the youthful version
of the fateful triad thought to govern the lives of men and their gods.
The mature Morgan was known as the Baobh, the "Battle Crow,"
who appeared above conflicts harassing enemies of the Gaels. The Cailleach
bheurr or "Winter Hag," was the third part of this group.
She ruled the winter months and was transmutated into the Samh on
the eve of the first day of May The Samh likewise became the Cailleach
on the the eve of Samhuinn, October 31, which literally means
"Summer's End."
no, Gaelic "or."
clann, Gaelic, "children of..."
Aod, Aed, Aoid, or Aoidh, Gaelic, "The
Day." The first spelling is the earliest version of this name. In English
it is pronounced somewhat like the sound of the letter "Y" with
a slight "q" added to the beginning and a "d" to the
end. Certain English translators interpreted this Celtic sound as "Kay."
The addition of the Gaelic "mac" to this word creates, mhac
aoidh, the English "Mackay," or "the son of Kay,"
Mhic aoidh is in the plural and indicates "the sons of Kay."
There are no Irish/Scots, Protestant/Catholic connotations for either name
as is sometimes suggested. Aod, was lterally the pagan god of the
daylight hours and corresponds with the sun-god known as Lugh. Like
the Mhorgan this deity had summer and winter phases, the latter being
equated with dark gods such as Cromm, literally "The Crumb,"
"The Crooked One." When Lugh cohabited with Summer all
was well in the world of men but when his interest in her waned so did his
power (which flowed from her fecundity). The Winter was thus known as "The
Season of the Weak Days," or as that "of the Failing Sun."
Numerous attempts have been made to phonetically represent the "peculiarly
Gaelic construction" of this latter word and the results, in short
form are: Kay, Kai, Key, Caw, Gaw, Graw, Que, Hugh, Gee, Gay, Ey, Eye, Eth,
Ed, Quay, Ghee, Y, Coy, Quoy, Quoid. Taken together the various forms of
this name represent the ninth most common family designation in Scotland
and the forty-fifth in North America.
Rod Mackay was born At Saint Stephen, New Brunswick and was trained at
schools, colleges and universities within the Maritime Provinces. He worked
as a news reporter, school teacher, biological technician, scuba diver and
antiquarian bookman. He has been involved with the fine and graphic arts
for the past quarter century.
While attending Mount Allison University he met and married the late Anne
Torry of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. They had four children, two boys and
two girls, who are now adults and have long since flown from the nest.
For Rod, the business of making drawings and paintings continues. During
her lifetime Anne Mackay worked as a craftsman in wood, silver and textiles
(particularly the latter) and shared studio space with her husband. Since
her death, Rod has revived the antiquarian book business as a means of making
more frequent contact with other humans.
The Celts were a language group who seem to have received this name from
the Greeks, their southern neighbours in the earliest days. The name had
the connotation of "wood-landers" or "forest folk."
This name was adopted by the Romans, who knew them as one of the "barbaric"
hordes that successfully sacked Rome. Pressured north and westward by a
large number of classical and other enemies, the Celts eventually supplanted
earlier residents of the places now known as Belgium, France, Spain and
the British Isles. They were, forced into the remotest regions of the islands
by the Romans when they invaded Britain after 55 B.C. The Celts were never
completely cowed by these warriors, or the Anglo-Saxons, who arrived in
the western islands after the so-called "fall" of the Roman Empire.
Like the "Angles," who were later termed the "English,"
the Celts had clear notions of the difference between fact and fiction.
In both communities, legends were considered the unverifiable histories
of human heroes, while myths were considered unprovable histories of the
interweavings of men and their gods. Folklore was the end-product of these
somewhat indifferently remembered histories, tales passed from generation
to generation by word of mouth. The idea that history has to be written
to have validity is a peculiar conceit of the learned wordsmith/magicians
of recent centuries.
No single painting represents my interests. As the season progresses
I hope to display my watercolours, acrylics and oils on the world wide web.
Inexpensive prints of most paintings are available and I will undertake
commercial projects if they strike my fancy. No portraits but I would consider
other commissioned works.
Above, Anne's final project, a needlework interpretation of a painting
now in the permanent collection of the City of Moncton. This one was done
the hard way by projecting the image of the painting on a ten to the inch
paper grid, interpreting the colours with Venus colouring pencils. 220 hours
to completion not counting the graphing process.
At her death we were working with computer-generated images, and I now have
the capacity to print from coloured photographs to Aida cloth, supplying
a diagram of suggested colours, their catalogue number and the quantities
required. Any interest!
Anne's father, and Anne, in her turn, specialized in the weaving of white
placemats containing a block of clan tartan as its feature. I have seen
full-tartan placemat elsewhere, but this more restrained design was peculiar
to their cottage craft. I can't weave although I have three looms still
on premises. Anne saved samples and I'll show some of them here in the near
future. At at least a hundred setts avaliable on demand. I'll put them here
if I have them. No charge!
Although I am of Scottish background, I found Anne's cusine an absolute
eye-opener. She sold her traditional Scottish recipes at the local farmer's
markets for many years. It's my intention to post some of them here upon
request.
The Celtic mind tends to run off at the edges. The art of Gaeldom spills
over its borders, and writers from this tradition fashion foot-notes that
outweigh the text of their writing (see Iain Moncrieffe's, The Highland
Clans). Following such models, Anne and I have created: Druidheachd,
A Glossary of Gaelic Magic. Avaliable only as an electronic book (what
could be more magical?) in IBM or Mac formats. Specify Wordperfect, Adobe
Acrobat, or HTML code. The latter will open in any web browser, such as
Netscape Navigator. $25.00 ppd
