Christmas Island, Nova Scotia
Christmas Island, Nova Scotia (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean na Nollaig) is a Canadian community of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It has a post office, a firehall and a very small population. It also has a beach with access to the Bras d'Or lakes, and a pond that runs into the lake. Christmas Island got its name because of a native that lived there whose surname was Christmas. He died on Ghost Island, adjacent to the beach. The original inhabitants of the land, the Mi'kmaw people, called the area Abadakwichéch, which means "the small reserved portion."
The post office of Christmas Island gets thousands of postcards and packages a day—up to two thousand on the busiest days—during the peak holiday timeframe. These come from around the world during Christmas time so they can be sent on to their destinations with the unique Christmas Island postmark. Greeting cards and packages come from as far as Hong Kong, Seoul, Paris, Mexico City, Sydney, Tahiti and various points across Canada and the United States from collectors and holiday enthusiasts to be franked with the official postmark of Christmas Island. The original pictorial postmark design, dating from 1994, was a simple motif with three conifers. The current postmark is more ornate, including a wreath laden with decorations and a bow.
The Christmas Island fire hall holds the Feis An Eilein every summer, a Gaelic festival featuring Gaelic music, dancing and culture. It is held in August and includes such things as a milling frolic, square dance, bonfire, bag piping, step dance, fiddle and piano lessons. As well there is instruction in Gaelic language, folklore and music.
Gaelic is still spoken by a few elderly residents, as many Highland Scots emigrated to Christmas Island during the Highland Clearances.
Coordinates: 45°58′20.32″N 60°44′54.00″W / 45.9723111°N 60.7483333°W
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