Judith Parrott 

In creating Dualchas, it was as I composited the images that the poem started to emerge, coming together all at once one day when out for a walk. I had recently listened to a BBC Ideas podcast by science journalist Alok Jha, about the wonders of water. The idea that the same water that exists inside us has been, “recycled inside dinosaurs, bacteria, the oceans, storms clouds, the polar ice caps and much more,” really resonated. That this water inside us started life on asteroids and comets from space seems even more profound. Even if only through this water, we must be intimately connected to our planet and landscapes. The concept is fundamental to all traditional cultures, well before modern science made these discoveries. For Indigenous people the rationale for talking about who they are is tied to the land. In Scottish Gaelic, Dualchas is the connection between the landscape and those living in it. The word includes within it the concept of Dùthchas, or Home, which is a sense of belonging linked to land, with a responsibility to it; and stewardship, rather than ownership, over it. In Dwelly’s Dictionary Dùthchas is also defined as Hereditary Right or Spirit. Together with Dùthaich, or Native Land, the two words encapsulate the concept of Dualchas. Dualchas is Heritage and Tradition. The video aims to reflect on the link between ourselves, our lives, and the landscape. That we deeply understand this intrinsic link between ourselves and our landscapes may be key to the planet’s survival.