It's October, and in about two weeks' time, the Royal National Mod will be upon Gaelic Scotland again. The Mod is a showcase of Gaelic culture, not just about music incidentally. It is also about dance, drama and sport. This year, the event will take place in Caithness, the far northeast of Scotland, centred on the towns of Thurso and Wick. Caithness is not in the Gaelic heartland; it has more of a Norse background to its culture. The name Caithness runs as
Cataibh in Gaelic, the Land of the Cats. The neighbouring county of Sutherland has a stronger Gaelic connection - Sutherland means Southland in Norse.
In 2005, I recorded some items from the Mod in Stornoway, which you can listen to from my
Mod webpage, to give you an idea.
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