Abstract
Drawing on a combination of oral history and archival research, this article reconstructs a historic view of death and dying in areas of the province settled by Scottish Gaels. It discusses beliefs and customs associated with death, giving special attention to traditional house wakes. Inspired by studies in culturally related communities in Ireland, Scotland, and Newfoundland, this study highlights insider perspectives of local customs and beliefs in order to develop a clearer understanding of the relationship previous generations had to death in Gaelic Nova Scotia. This study concludes by suggesting why some mortuary customs were abandoned during the second part of the twentieth century.
Highlights
Characterized by pockets of cultural homogeneity and geographic isolation, regional settlement patterns allowed for the retention and adaptation of various ethnic markers in Nova Scotia
Because the funeral industry was slow to develop in the region, traditional death and funerary practices were maintained in parts of the province well into the second half of the twentieth century (Poulter 2011)
Drawing on a combination of oral history and archival research, this article explores customs and beliefs associated with the end of life in order to reconstruct a historic view of death in areas of the province settled by Scottish Gaels
Summary
Characterized by pockets of cultural homogeneity and geographic isolation, regional settlement patterns allowed for the retention and adaptation of various ethnic markers in Nova Scotia. Because the funeral industry was slow to develop in the region, traditional death and funerary practices were maintained in parts of the province well into the second half of the twentieth century (Poulter 2011). Social, religious, and economic trends have fostered a very different relationship to death and dying in Nova Scotia, meaning many traditional customs and beliefs associated with the end of life are foreign to younger residents. Drawing on a combination of oral history and archival research, this article explores customs and beliefs associated with the end of life in order to reconstruct a historic view of death in areas of the province settled by Scottish Gaels
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