Idir Huron agus Hudson (1965)
Brian Ó Baoill, Bealach an Doirín, Co. Ros Comáin
“Is cathair dhonn-rua í Toronto agus sí ina luí i lár gháirdín Cheanada… An chéad rud a bhuaileann tú agus tú ag taisteal trí bhailte Cheanada is ea go bhfuil beagnach gach aon teach agus gach aon áras eile déanta d’adhmad. Cuireann sé seo cuma neamhsheasmhach ar gach uile shórt. Is minic a ritheann sé leat go bhfuil siad ag cónaí sna tithe éadroma seo go dtí go mbeidh cinn chearta tógtha acu. Ach ní hea. I ngach áit, i mbaile mór agus i mbaile beag, sa bhfeirm agus sa bhforaois, is tithe adhmaid atá acu agus iad go breá sásta leo…
An dara hoíche a raibh mé ann bhí mé ag éisteacht leis an raidió - ní bhíonn de chláir raidió acu ach ceirníní agus cláir faoi choimirce - agus céard a chloisfinn ach fógra i nGaeilge agus Béarla á rá go mbeadh Céilí ar siúl ina leithéid seo de halla i gceann chúpla lá!
...D’íoc mé mo dhollar is fiche cúig agus isteach liom. Bhí an halla breá mór maisithe agus bhí bratach na hÉireann crochta os cionn an bhuíon cheoil ar thaobh an ardáin. Tuairim is ceithre chéad a bhí i láthair, thomhais mé, agus iad ag déanamh meascán de rincí, idir rincí céilí, seanbháls agus roinnt rincí nua-aimseartha. Bhí tuairim is dosaen fear freastail timpeall an halla; ach duine acu faoi bhríste dorcha, léine bhán agus carabhat uaine. Bhuail mé bleid ar dhuine acu agus dúirt go mba strainséar mé. Bhí Gaeilge aige agus thug sé siar mé gur chuir sé in aithne don bhainisteoir mé… Bhí an chuid is mó acu idir fiche agus tríocha bliain d’aois.
D’iarr siad orm rang Gaeilge a chur á bhunú dóibh, rud a rinne mé, agus mhair sé fad is a bhí mé i dToronto.
Fuair mé amach uathu go raibh dreamanna eile d’Éireannaigh an-bheoga sa chathair sin, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, mar shampla, agus scoil nó scoileanna do rincí Gaelacha.
Shiúil mé abhaile an oíche sin nuair a bhí an Céilí thart agus rith sé liom go raibh an dúchas an-láidir sna daoine óga seo. D’fhéadfaidís freastal ar aon cheann de na damhsaí a bhí ar siúl sa chathair sin, ach in ionad sin chuir siad an stró orthu féin cumann a bhunú, céilithe a rith, Gaeilge a fhoghlaim - mar ba Éireannaigh iad.”
“Toronto is a reddy-brown city, and lies in the garden of Canada… The first thing that strikes you and you are travelling through Canadian towns is that almost every single house and every other building is made of wood. This gives a flimsy appearance on everything. It’s often that you think that they are living in these light houses until they will have built the proper ones. But not so. In every place, in big towns and in small towns, on the farm and in the forest, it is wooden houses thay they have and they are very well satisfied with them…
The second night that I was there I was listening to the radio - they don’t have radio programs except for music records and programmes about protection - and what would I hear but an announcement in Irish and English saying that a Céilí would be happening in one of these sorts of halls in a few days!
…I paid my dollar twenty-five and went in. The big, fine hall was decorated and there was the flag of Ireland hung up over top of the band on one side of the stage. Around four hundred were present, I estimated, and they were doing a mix of dances, between céilí dances, old waltzes and some contemporary dances. There were around a dozen waiters about the hall; each one of them dressed in dark trousers, a white shirt and a bright green tie. I cornered one of them and said that I was a stranger. He spoke Irish and he took me back so that he could introduce me to the manager… The most of them were between twenty and thirty years old.
They asked me to found an Irish language class for them, a thing I did, and it lasted as long as I was in Toronto.
I found out from them that there were other very lively groups of Irish people in that city, the Gaelic Athletics Association, for example, and a school or schools for Gaelic dancing.
I walked home that night when the Céilí was over and it struck me that the heritage was very strong in these young people. They could have attended any one of the dances that were happening in that city, but instead of that they took on the effort on themselves to found an association, to run gatherings, and to learn Irish - as though they were Irish.”
“Bhí an fhoraois mar a bheadh balla mór timpeall an champa ar fad, seachas taobh an locha. Ba bheag duine a rachadh isteach ann de ghnáth. An t-éan corr uaigneach a bheadh ag lorg sóláis b’fhéidir; ach ní rachadh aon duine isteach ann go hiondúil… Bhí an domhan ag síneadh amach uaim faoi chlúdach na foraoise. Ní raibh dada eile le feiceáil seachas an fhoraois; í glas agus dúghlas, gorm, dúghorm agus, ní faide uaim, corcra, liath, go dtí gur mheasc sí leis an spéir. Ar gach taobh, i ngach áit, gan bhriseadh, agus gan fhaoiseamh, gan fhuaim, fiú fuaim shéideán gaoithe, shín sí uaim mar fhoraois. D’aithin mé cuid de na crainn a bhí cóngarach go leor dom. Tortáin mhóra den chrann giúise, an mhailp, an bheith gheal, iad go léir an-chóngarach dá chéile, a cheapfá ón áit seo, sa chaoi is nach raibh romham amach ach plaid uileghlas a chlúdaigh an Domhan…Agus chonaic mé iolar! Iolar mór dorcha agus ceann bán air agus é ar foluain anseo agus ansiúd i gciorcail mhóra. É maorga, mall agus, ar bhealach, uafásach; é mór, uafásach mór. Bhí sé ag breathnú síos i gcónaí. Bhí mé ag fanacht go dtitfeadh sé go talamh ar thóir créatúir bhoicht éigin. Ach níor thit; lean sé leis ag snámh san aer. Tá mé i ríocht na n-ainmhithe anois agus seo é an rí. Tá an t-éan seo gan eagla, is cuid den dúiche é, cuid den aer é. Tá sé ina áit féin agus is mise an coimhthíoch…
Bhí carraig throm ar thaobh mo láimhe clé, í donn-liath faoi chlúdach an chaonaigh dheirg. Cúl le sruthán agus aghaidh le carraig, mhúch mé eagla agus déistin a d’éirigh ionam ar fheiceáil dom an nathair nimhe ina codladh fós faoi dhídean an chaonaigh. Mise an strainséar, ní eisean.
Ar aghaigh liom ar chosán beag na bhfiatha cois siosarnach an tsrutháin. Bhí an fhoraois ag múscailt ar gach taobh díom. Drumadóireacht an tsnagaire in airde chrainn agus bícearnach na chipmunk fiosrach…”
“The forest was as would be a great wall around the camp entirely, except for the side of the lake. Few people would go into it usually. The odd lonely bird that would be looking for solace maybe; but no person would go into it usually… The world was stretching out from me under the covering of the forest. There was nothing else to see except the forest; grey-green and dark grey-green, dark blue-green and , further from me, purple, grey, until it mixed with the sky. On every side, in every place, without a break, and without easing, without a sound, even the sound of the breeze blowing, it stretched from me as a forest. I recognized a few of the trees that were close enough to me. Great clumps of pine, the maple, the white birch, them all very close to one another, that you would think from this place, in the manner that there wasn’t out before me but a plaid of every green colour that covered the world… And I saw an eagle! A great dark eagle and a white head on it and it floating here and there in great circles. It was majestic, slow and, in a way, terrifying; it was big, awfully big. It was always looking down. I was waiting until it would dive to the ground in pursuit of some poor creature. But it didn’t dive; it continued on floating in the air. I am in the kingdom of the animals now and this is the king. This bird is without fear, it is a part of the land, a part of the air. It is in its own place and I am the stranger…
There was a heavy rock on my left-hand side, it was brown-grey under a covering of red moss. With my back to the stream and my front to the rock, I pushed down the fear and disgust that arose in me upon seeing a snake still sleeping under the shelter of the moss. I am the stranger, not him.
Onwards with me on the small foot-path of the deer beside the babbling stream. The forest was awakening on every side of me. The drumming of the woodpecker up high in the tree and the chipping of a curious chipmunk…”
“Is beag maíomh atá ag an gcine geal as an chaoi ar chaith siad leis na dúchasaigh a casadh orthu ar fud an domhain. Críostaithe a thug siad orthu féin - agus chaith siad a gcuid ama ag déanamh scrios ar chiníocha a bhí níos laige ná iad féin. Bhain siad úsáid astu amhail agus dá mba ainmhithe iad. Bhain siad a saoirse uathu nuair a bhí deireadh lena n-úsáid, agus ghoid siad uathu gach a raibh acu.
Nuair a bhí na Francaigh agus na Sasanaigh ag troid i gcoinne a chéile, d’úsáid an dá thaobh na treibheanna [Bundúchasacha]. Bhí an bua ag na Sasanaigh, agus bhronn siad talamh ar na [Bundúchasaigh] a chuidigh leo. Ní fada a bhí an talamh ag na [Bundúchasaigh], mar trí gach saghas caimiléireachta goideadh uathu arís é, agus fágadh i muinín na gcloch iad. Beag seans a bhí ag na [Bundúchasaigh] ina gcoinne, go háirithe nuair a leath an cine geal galair nimhneacha ina measc d’aon ghnó le iad a chloí nuair a theip orthu buachan orthu bealach ar bith eile.”
“There is little to boast about the light-skinned race on the manner in which they used up the Indigenous peoples that they met throughout the world. Christians they called themselves - and they spent their time annihilating people who were weaker than themselves. They extracted use out of them as if they were animals. They took their freedom from them when there was an end to their use, and they stole everything they had.
When the French and the English were fighting against each other, the two sides used the Indigenous tribes. The victory was had by the English, and they granted land to the Indigenous peoples that had helped them. It wasn’t long that the Indigenous peoples had the land, as through every sort of dishonesty it was stolen from them again, and they were left in absolute poverty. The Indigenous people had little hope in opposition, particularly when the white people spread virulent diseases among them with the sole purpose to defeat them when they had failed to win by any other means.”
Adapted from: Ó Baoill, Brian. 1965. Idir Huron agus Hudson. Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Tta: Baile Átha Cliath.
