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A’ Ghalltachd

B1
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An dàrna turas: Banais Ghàidhealach

Take two: A Highland wedding

Let’s have a look at this conversation again. 

Chaidh mi gu banais Disathairne ann an Glaschu. I went to a wedding on Saturday in Glasgow.
Dè an seòrsa banais a bh’ ann? An e banais Ghàidhealach a bh’ ann? What kind of wedding was it? Was it a Highland wedding?
‘S e banais Ghàidhealach a bh’ ann ann an iomadach dòigh. ‘S ann ann an seann eaglais Ghàidhealach a bha i. ‘S e talla mhòr spaideil airson bainnsean is tachartasan mòra a th’ innte a–nis. It was a Highland wedding in many ways. It was [held] in an old Highland church. It’s now a posh hall for weddings and big events.
Tha mi eòlach air an àite. I know the place.
Bha Gàidheil a’ bhaile–mhòir ann, fèilidhean orra agus a’ bruidhinn na Gàidhlig— The city Gaels were there, kilts on [them] and speaking Gaelic—
—dìreach mar a bhiodh iad a’ dèanamh nuair a thàinig na Gàidheil nan eilthirich dhan Ghalltachd, a’ sireadh obair bho chionn faisg air dà cheud bliadhna. —just as they would be doing when the Gaels as exiles came to the Lowlands, looking for work, almost two hundred years ago.
Sin e dìreach. Ach leis gur e fear Èireannach a bha ann am fear na bainnse, bha na Gàidheil eile ann, ‘s iad a’ bruidhinn Gàidhlig na h–Èireann— That’s right/it. But because the groom was [an] Irish[man], the other Gaels were there, speaking Irish—
—dìreach mar a bhiodh na daoine a thàinig bho mheadhan an naoidheamh linn deug ‘s iad a’ teicheadh bho bhochdainn is ghort na h–Èireann. —just as the people would who came from the middle of the nineteenth century, fleeing the poverty and famine of Ireland.
Bha sluagh mòr de chàirdean eile ann, Pòlainnich a thàinig a dh’obair an seo dìreach bho chionn deich no fichead bliadhna air ais, ‘s iad a’ bruidhinn a’ Phòlainnis— There was a big crowd of other friends, Poles/Polish people who came here to work only ten or twenty years ago, and they were speaking Polish—
—dìreach mar a bha ginealach eile a thàinig aig àm an dàrna cogaidh. —just as the other generation did at the time of the Second World War.
Tha thu ceart a–rithist! Agus tha mi air cluinntinn gu bheil an t–àite sin a’ tabhann biadh do dhaoine trì oidhcheannan san t–seachdain, gu h–àiridh don luchd–siridh comraich à Syria agus fògarraich às an Ugràin. Co–dhiù, air taobh eile an teaghlaich, taobh bean na bainnse, bha daoine às na h–Innseachan agus an co–oghaichean Pagastànaich. You’re right again! I have heard that the place offers food for people three nights a week, particularly for asylum seekers from Syria and refugees from Ukraine. Anyway, on the other side of the family, the bride’s family, there were people from India and their Pakistani cousins.
Abair oidhche ioma–chànanach is ioma–chultarach ann am baile Ghlaschu le daoine a’ bruidhinn na Gàidhlig, Gàidhlig na h–Èireann, Pòlainnis, Hindis, Urdu, is Punjabi. What a multilingual multicultural evening/night in the city of Glasgow with people speaking Gaelic, Irish, Polish, Hindi, Urdu is Punjabi.
Tha fios ’am. Ge brith cò às a bha iad, no dè an cànan a bha iad a’ bruidhinn, ‘s e fìor hòro–gheallaidh a bh’ ann. I know. Wherever they came from, or whatever language they were speaking, it was a really good shindig!