Editorial

We sincerely hope that this first issue of Ullans will prove to be an important landmark for the Ulster-Scots tongue. The title Ullans is an acronym of our purpose — to support the Ulster-Scots Language in Literature and Native Speech, but it can be taken any way you like. It is also a pun on Lallans (the Scots word for ‘lowlands’ that was first used by Robert Burns to describe the ‘lowland Scotch tongue’), or even as a mix of the words ‘Uladh’ (Gaelic for ‘Ulster’) and ‘lands’.

In each magazine produced, we hope to include a section that follows a particular theme. Taking the first theme from our cover emblem (the whin), we have included a number of items on the flowers and plants we are all familiar with from the countryside. The subject of plants has always been a popular one for Ulster-Scots writers, and in our next issue we may turn to the theme of animals.

There is such a wealth of traditional Ulster-Scots poetry that it has been a difficult choice to know where to start. For this first issue, we have chosen to highlight the work of a relatively unknown County Down poet, Robert Huddleston, the Bard of Moneyrea.

We hope you enjoy this first volume. Please write in with your own contributions for future issues, or even with comments or suggestions for whatever you would like to see. The magazine, like the Society, is after all for your benefit.

Jack McKinney

(Editorial Secretary)