The Holy Land

Dear Reader: Here is a Local Cultural Fact:
When a Cape Bretoner casually tells you: 'I'm going to the Holy Land next week,' he/she is not referring to the land where Jesus walked, but to the island on the other side of the Causeway.
Here are a few reasons:

1. At this time of year, it is even more fitting, because of the Fall colours, which are at their glorious best wherever you travel , and the Celtic Colours International Festival, a two-weeks stretch of concerts, displays, and kitchen parties, currently in full swing, literally, all over the island.
2. Recently, I had a chance to read a book -- that was in short supply this summer on the mainland, The Promised Land: A Novel of Cape Breton, by Bill Conall (Boularderie Island Press).
The stories recount the adventures of many 'characters' living on the island, including:
-- a group of hippies from Upper Canada who make their way 'Down North' in 1970 to open a commune;
-- a newly-minted medical doctor embarking on her first practice in Baddeck;
-- 'Mac Mac,' a (very) young girl who decides to enter the world aboard the Englishtown Ferry;
-- a large bull, who gets to pull a late-model Cadillac (and not out of a ditch, either);
-- a group of mature UCW (United Church Women) -- all staunch teetotalers -- who are gobsmacked by the accidental introduction of a 'magic ingredient' to their punch; and
-- various groups of local citizens, friends and neighbours all, who become involved with all these folks. I thoroughly enjoyed the book; I laughed … and I cried.
From my childhood and adult experiences, I felt as if I knew most of the people, places and life situations that were presented.
For example, there are so many people with the same surname in many towns/villages, that it's not unusual to meet someone who is referred to by three or four names. Let's take the name, MacDonald: (the listings in the Sydney phone book alone go on for several columns, so) you must have help narrowing down the names.
Say, you want to look up Sarah MacDonald.
Good luck.
She is probably known among her friends locally as 'Sarah Neil John Archie,' which can tell you a lot about that lady I call here we will be going to mass will pick you up at once okay why: She is from the old, established family of Archie MacDonald, who had a son called John, whose own son is called Neil, who married a girl named (you guessed it) Sarah.
There it is, a logical listing of three generations of her new family tree.
(Also works on the mainland, which the MacKinnons of Merigomish and Lismore, in Antigonish County. My Acadian lineage is also available in the south side, and for the same reasons.)
The Halifax Chronicle Herald published an excellent book review early this summer.
This novel would make an excellent Christmas present to any (temporarily absent) Cape Bretoner on your list.
3. To guide your visit to Cape Breton, I present the Cape Breton Island - Official Travel Guide, an exhaustive source of attractions, events and places to stay, throughout all seasons of the year.