Ceardannan
The Summer Walkers
‘ “The Summer Walkers” is the poetical name that the crofters of the north west Highlands give to the Travelling People – the Tinkers, hawkers and horse-dealers who, for centuries have passed through their villages buying, selling and entertaining. These Scottish nomads are not Gypsies. They are indigenous, Gaelic-speaking Scots who, to this day, remain heirs of a vital and ancient culture of great historical and artistic importance to Scotland and the world beyond.’[1]
Timothy Neat
[1] Preface to his important book ‘The Summer Walkers’, published by Canongate, Edinburgh. - 2002
What’s In A Name?
In Gaelic the Travellers were known as the ‘Ceardannan’, the Black Tinkers, and recognised as a tribe, separate to the settled population.
In ancient times there was ‘a caste of itinerant metal–workers whose status in tribal society was probably high. One of the trades associated with them from early times was that of tin smith, and it is clear that to primitive man the ability to use metals seemed very close to magic; consequently both ‘black’ and ‘white’ smiths for long enjoyed immense prestige, not only as craftsmen but also as wielders of secret powers’.’[1]
Travelling People
The word ‘Tinker’ has sadly come to be a term of abuse or insult and is no longer used by the Travellers. It’s’ use today constitutes ‘fighting talk’. Its’ use in the past referred to an important part of the Travellers’ work – metal working and tin-smithing. Today these important tradition bearers prefer to use the term ‘Travelling People’.
Beurla Reagaird or The Cant
The Travelling People in the Highlands and Islands are native Gaelic speakers – though as in many communities, use of Gaelic has fallen away in recent decades. Traditionally the Travellers also have a language of their own, sometimes called a ‘cover-tongue’ or cant. In Gaelic it is ‘Beurla Reagaird’ – the lingo of the cairds.
Working and Travelling Lives
Until the last decades of the twentieth century the Ceardannan in Mackay Country still made a living buying and selling horses, working tin – or ‘white metal’, hawking and working as seasonal labourers. Individuals from well-known Travelling families like the Stewarts also served in the army, made music and told stories.
The Stewarts kept to a traditional route each year –
‘From Altnaharra we travelled north, in convoy, to Brae Tongue, down to Coldbackie sands, on through Naver Bridge, Armadale, Bettyhill, Strathy, Melvich, to Caithness. We hawked, traded, tinsmithed and ceilidhed our way through Sutherland to Janetstown – where we turned back. The Stewarts never went further east than attendance at the horse fair there in Janetstown.’[2]
Essie Stewart
[1] From ‘A Companion to Scottish Culture’, edited by David Daiches, Edward Arnold 1981. Quoted on Page 229 in Alec Finlay (editor) 2004 Alias MacAlias: Writings on Songs, Folk and Literature – Hamish Henderson. Polygon, Edinburgh.
[2] Page 74 - Quoted by Timothy Neat in ‘The Summer Walkers’, published by Canongate, Edinburgh – 2002.