Understanding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Mackay Country

Intangible cultural heritage is often overlooked, yet it plays a crucial role in shaping cultural identity and community cohesion. In Mackay Country, this heritage encompasses a rich tapestry of traditions, languages, and practices that have been passed down through generations. Understanding these elements not only fosters appreciation for local culture but also contributes to our sense of place.

What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) refers to the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills that communities recognise as part of their cultural heritage. Unlike tangible heritage, which includes physical artifacts and monuments, ICH is about the living expressions of culture. This can include:

• Oral traditions and expressions: Stories, legends, and folklore that convey cultural values.

• Performing arts: Traditional music, dance, and theater that reflect community identity.

• Social practices: Rituals, festivals, and ceremonies that bring people together.

• Knowledge and practices concerning nature: Traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable practices.

  
  

In Mackay Country, these elements are vital to understanding the local culture and history. ICH plays a significant role in how we see ourselves and our sense of place from Gaelic and Norse place and plant names, our oral traditions reflected in stories, songs, poems, music and ceilidh culture, to feelings and attachments to place reflected in the concept of Duthchas, memories spirituality and world view.

Threats to our Intangible Cultural Heritage

The intangible cultural heritage of the Gaidhealtachd has been at threat over hundreds of years by external forces shaped by government policies, conflicts, global economic impacts and negative, and often harmfully romanticised perceptions. These threats still exist today in varying and new forms.

Mackay Country faces depopulation and the loss of our young people seeking opportunities for employment and access to housing elsewhere. As part of our recent artist in residence programme we engaged with young people who struggled to see a future in Sutherland due to these issues. Without young people to carry on and evolve our traditional practices we are at risk of losing the skills and knowledge passed down through generations.

Historic policies to suppress the Gaelic language has led to the errosion of Mackay Country Gaelic as few native Mackay Country Gaelic speakers remain. However, the traditions of Mackay Country Gaelic survive in both place and plant names and our rich, and thriving musical tradtions exemplified by the traditional youth music group Feis air an Oir.

With the rise in popularity of the NC500 there exists both opportunity and threat, an opportunity to share our ICH but a risk where a misappropriation of place names due to depopulation, ignorance or an unfamiliarity of the Gaelic language sees new names being applied by outsiders. Name have rich cultural and heritage meanings, contribute to placemaking and identity which is in danger of being lost over time through misappropriation.

Other demographic issues include degradation of habitats, and much is being done to restore our globally important peatlands. There is an opportunitey to learn from ICH connected to traditional land management techniques and practices to understand and mitigate against climate change.

Increases in tourism and bad behavious of some visitors can led to damage to our natural environment, through wildfires and degradation of habitat through inappropriate toileting or camping. This can lead to conflicts with land use and management practices where access to certain areas become restricted leading to a loss of ICH relating to an understanding and enjoyment of the natural environment and the stories, songs and sense of place that this generates.

As we live in one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe, 1.2 people per square kilometre, our ICH is threatened by weakened practice and transmission. Increasing depopulation leads to ageing practitioners, with few younger folk carrying on traditions. These few practitioners are dispersed with few opportunites to be brought together and our project seeks to establish a network and working practices to work collaboratively across the region, sharing and learning from each other in our new digital age whilst building in methodologies to aid transmission going into the future.