SO, THERE I was on June 24th, looking out on Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland Canada, rain-blasted hair pasted to my head, a wickedchill factor forcing temperatures below zero, John Bruton and Queen Elizabeth II on the exposed viewing stand and I'm asking myself - what am I doing here? Elementary. Surrounded by thousands of perishing observers and united in a common purpose, I'm here to celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of the North American Continent.

Now I know there are shoals of dolphin-friendly fishermen down in Dingle who will swear on their mothers' milk quotas that St. Brendan landed in Newfoundland back in the sixth century and there is also ample evidence to suggest that Thorfinn Karlesfni brought the iron Age to L'Anse Aux Meadows in the Northern Penninsula of the New Founde Lande 10 centuries ago. However, neither Brendan the Navigator nor Thorfinn the Viking are being celebrated today. 1997 belongs to the Venetian explorer, Giovanni Caboto.

This year Canada is celebrating the alleged discovery of North America by John (Giovanni) Cabot (Caboto). His 75 foot wooden vessel, The Matthew, sailed into Bonavista Bay, on the east coast of Newfoundland 500 years ago. With very little documented evidence to support the precise location of Cabot's landfall, the facts of this story have developed via myth and folklore. Indeed, one wonders whether Cabot discovered Newfoundland or Newfoundland discovered Cabot. While academics and historians debate the details of historical ambiguity, the Newfoundlanders have settled into a year-long celebration and expression of their land, culture and people, entitled "Cabot 500".

Following the re-enactment of Cabot's historical landfall in Bonavista on June 24th, today, Canada Day, was heralded by the arrival of The Matthew to St. John's, the capital city of the province. This new Matthew, with its multi-cultural crew, including Derry-born David Alan-Williams, set sail from Bristol, England on May 2nd, dropping anchor briefly at Castletownbere, Co Cork, before embarking on its transatlantic odyssey.

Present day St. John's has been described as an Irish town. This is not the diddle-e-eye Irishness one finds in the Shamrock bars of Boston, New York and other such places, rather it is an indigenous expression of Newfoundland culture. This culture is a pot-pourri of English, Irish, French and, to a lesser extent, Spanish and Portuguese traditions.

Interestingly, Irish settlement in Newfoundland long preceded the massive exodus due to the Great Famine of the late 1840s. Almost 50 per cent of Newfoundland's population recorded in the 1836 census was of Irish descent. Most came from the Waterford and Wexford regions to participate in the fishery organised and controlled by the merchants and ship-owners of the English West Country. These navvies came for the fish and furs and they stayed, giving birth to a rich Irish-Newfoundland heritage which lives on in its people to the present day.

Linked by the umbilical-like transatlantic cable which stretches from Mizen Head in Co. Cork to Cape Spear on the Avalon Penninsula, Newfoundland could be called the westernmost of the Aran Islands, the 33rd county of Ireland. But, scratching the surface of this Irishness, will reveal a culture confident in its own evolutionary path.

Last weekend, I chanced upon an afternoon trad session in the Ship Inn, a pub off Water Street in downtown St. John's, the oldest street in North America. Musicians in full swing, a taste of home, certainly, but the main course was pure Newfoundland, where the influences of the late and great Acadian fiddle-players, Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit inspires a new generation. Meanwhile, the subtle, seafaring swirls of Stan Picket, a box player of Cornish extraction, blend wonderfully with the flute playing of Corkman Rob Murphy, all together sounding deceptively like full-blooded Irish music.

THE previous Wednesday night I went to the local Folk Club to see a five- piece band, the Walsh

Family. From Bay de Verde, this family outfit is fronted by Ed Walsh, a well-known champion of traditional accordion playing in these parts. It was a heart-warming experience, with a purity of sound and intention that one would be hard pressed to find in the Ireland of today.

The Avalon Penninsula and Southern Shore are hotbeds of Irish tradition, where even a few Gaelic expressions have slipped into the vernacular, in fact, later this week, I hope to meet up with Ali O'Brien, an octogenarian fluent Irish speaker, a born and bred Newfoundlander. I'm sure the irony of hearing a native Irishman struggle with pidgin Irish will not be lost on him, ach sin mar a bhuil

All things Irish are well represented at "Cabot 500", with readings, lectures, story telling, music and song peppered throughout the jam-packed schedule of events.

LAST March The Brendan Voyage by Shaun Davey was performed, featuring, among others, John Godman on uillean Pipes, accompanied by the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra Philhamonic Choir. The Children of Lir, a canatata by Patrick Cassidy also featured. Later in July, Sheile na Geira, by Chuck Herriot, will be staged as an open-air performance. Set in the 1600s, this is the story of an Irish Princess who was captured by pirates, brought to Newfoundland and, according to local legend, is buried in the town of Carbonear.

In the midst of this cultural celebration, it is important to acknowledge the profound repercussions of John Cabot's arrival on the original native peoples of Newfoundland. The Beothuck Indians of New Founded Lande were the first North American natives to encounter the white man. They can also claim their place in history as the first of the tribes to be eliminated from the face of the earth at the hands of the white man. It was the Beothuck custom of covering their bodies in red ocre that gave rise to the term, Red Indian, a name which would become a generic misnomer for all Indians right across the Continent.

Today, Newfoundland has a quaintness and surreality all of its own, accentuated by its colourful place names - Ha Ha Bay, Come by Chance, Heart's Desire, Heart's Delight, Comfort Cove, Little Paradise and Dildo. On reading Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and The Irish Times International Fiction Award), one will immediately recognise that je ne sais quoi that is Newfoundland. But, for my money, Random Passage by Bernice Morgan (Winner of the Canada Authors Association Award), gives a keener insight into the essence of the place. This is not only a powerful piece of fiction, but also a wonderful social history which successfully manages to peel back the layers of a culture.