Having watched BBC and its trek across half the world in search of Ulster-Scots heritage it made me wonder how the previous executive could cut a paltry sum for children to attend the Gaeltacht and then find money for 14 films on the above mentioned ‘heritage’.
There has always been a section of the population known as ‘Scots-Irish’ but only in the last few decades has the term ‘Ulster-Scots’ emerged.
This concept has been a political strategy dreamed up by to create a view that the entire unionist/Protestant community is somehow one homogeneous cultural and historical group, which could not be further from the truth. This is an attempt politically to replace the ground that the Orange Order had when it united unionism under one concept. The BBC in its travels was apparently unable to find any Catholic/Irish and seemed to add every descendant of note of being of ‘Ulster-Scots’ descent. We were told that the founding father of Australia was a son of an Anglican from Portadown with an English name (Dilworth). This same D’arcy Dilworth married Catherine Crowley, but the programme failed to tell us she was from Cork and of Catholic descent. Yet somehow their offspring was of Ulster-Scots descent. The concept of Ulster-Scots lineage was very dubious in its inclusion of people in all its programmes.
We were told people with a surname like McCaughey, McCann, Mellon were descendants of Ulster Scots yet they are clearly old Irish name.
In the US, New Zealand and Canada it was the same concept everyone was and Ulster-Scots – even old Germanic descendant Steinback took more from his maternal ancestor than his paternal line.
The term Ulster-Scots implies Ulster is part of Scotland and the plantation brought not only Lowland Scots but English ‘Reivers’. Reivers were from the English Scottish borders and were planted because of their continual raiding and disturbance. Names like Anderson, Potts, Simpson, Dixon, Dodds, Graham mostly came from the English borders, as were Fosters, Grays, Robinsons, Thompsons yet all are swept up in this new concept as Ulster -Scots. The Lowland Scots that did come with the Plantation did not wear tartan or practice Highland dancing. Montgomery and Hamilton oversaw the land in feudal fashion and their feudal tenants took their name for protection. Montgomery, a name of French Norman descent, is prolific here as are many Hugennot names, (Hazard, Vint etc). and what of the native Irish and those of Viking decent or the Welsh who settled in parts of Down are they to become Ulster–Scots as well because they are unionist? Whatever happened to the proud Orange boast that their family came over with William of Orange?
One thing this programme did however was show that the Ulster-Scots when they went to Australia or Canada called themselves Australian or Canadian, yet their kin here cannot even use the term Scots-Irish.
FRANCIS RICE
Belfast BT11
Unlike paramilitaries the army saved countless lives
Last week the ‘hooded men’ case appeared before the High Court. The allegations that they make against the security forces are serious. Such actions were wrong, unjustified and unacceptable in a democracy and that has long been recognised.
The use of violence to further political aims on this island was also wrong and unacceptable. The conflict known as the Troubles was unnecessary and there can be no justification that it occurred. We ought to make sure that is the message that is always imparted to young people, while we work through the consequences of what happened as constructively as we can.
More than 700 soldiers were murdered and without the army, there would have been a civil war. They made mistakes, committed wrongs and were a blunt instrument in a civil environment, but unlike paramilitaries they saved countless lives.
The police have been left with a heavy burden when it comes to dealing with the past. Their priority should be dealing with murders, some of the victims of which were forced to wear hoods and never got to take them off. Many of the perpetrators who killed them and more than 3,000 others were hiding under their hoods as well.
Too often ‘dealing with the past’ has become cover for those who want to fight the battles of old and perpetuate the hatreds that caused so much misery in the first place. We should counter these efforts by always exposing the futility and tragedy of using violence, so that young people never repeat the same mistakes of previous generations.
TREVOR RINGLAND
Holywood, Co Down
Hallowe’en gives me the creeps
Has anyone ever given thought to the ‘frightful’ amount of pumpkins going literally to waste every year on prominent display in our supermarkets purely for decoration and for a festival that has horror themes at its best to promote among children and adults alike?
In a time when austerity and food banks are the subject of society’s political concerns and when other developing countries hardly have enough crops to feed their populace, surely it is a disgrace for our farmers to devote so much energy, land and expertise into growing pumpkins for the sole purpose of Hallowe’en.
Some people may try to make pumpkin soup or a pumpkin pie, but most are made into ‘Jack-o’lanterns’ then discarded.
Surely this is a sign of a decadent society?
I am not a fan of Hallowe’en for its devilish themes. Anyhow as the Bible warns not to have anything to do with the ‘works of darkness’ (Ephesians 5:11) but rather reprove them and ‘walk as children of light’.
That is a healthier message for children – to hear about God rather than the devil. The Bible also talks about a time when people will call evil good.
Perhaps we are in such times with all the decorations in homes and shops to celebrate themes of darkness, evil, spells, witches, demons and the like, all forbidden by God in Scripture.
Even the word ‘wicked’ has changed into meaning ‘good’. The saddest thing of all is hearing of even churches having Hallowe’en parties bringing dark themes into the House of God.
God preserve us. No wonder Hallowe’en gives me the creeps.
COLIN NEVIN
Bangor, Co Down
Deep riches of Catholic devotional life beautifully captured
Congratulations to the BBC for their excellent Inner Peace series (October 23-27) and especially for the three-hour long programmes featuring the devotional and manual work of the Benedictines at Downside, Belmont and Pluscarden.
In those three hours, the viewer/listener to BBC Radio Three and BBC Four were invited to share the deep riches of Catholic devotional life in silence, broken only by the timeless beauty of Gregorian chant.
That same life was at the foundation of western civilisation, from Cluny to Fountains, the advancement of holiness and intellectual development can be traced to these islands of peace. Contrast that with celebrations for the ‘genius’ of Martin Luther, whose paranoid scruples opened the way for the destruction of these places of excellence and to the growth of Prussian nationalism and militarism, whose legacy haunts us still.
JDP McALLION
Clonoe, Co Tyrone
