Curious about Scotland

[fat wee robin]

I am Scottish

What's it like? Scotland Is Now | Scotland is Now

Bagpipes are a bit of a stereotype. They tend to be used round tourists, at Hogmanay, weddings, but we'd not really sit and listen to them. It's a bit of an acquired taste, though my dad was a piper A modern take on them you could look up online is the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

Scotland is a bit of a strange place politically. We are currently part of the UK (a union of countries - Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) though we have our own Government in Edinburgh. There's a strong move towards independence from the UK, and we have a slightly different outlook politically than the rest of the UK. In Scotland the biggest party is the Scottish National Party (SNP), headed by Nicola Sturgeon, who is also the First Minister of the Scottish Government. The SNP are Social Democrats - in contrast, England most recently voted Conservative (Theresa May is the head of the Conservative Party, which also has a Scottish branch headed by Ruth Davidson). In the EU referendum Scotland voted to remain in the EU, the rest of the UK (aside from London) voted to leave. You can check out the Scottish Government's website at www.gov.scot

Scotland is quite distinct from the rest of the UK in several other areas, we have our own legal system, our own education and health system, our own bank notes, the biggest Church is the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). Gaelic (pronounced ga-lick, as opposed to Irish Gaelic which is pronounced more like gay-lick) is spoken mainly in the Western Isles, the west coast of the mainland and Highlands, with significant Gaelic speaking communities in the big cities (Glasgow especially).

The Queen is the head of state (as she is in several other countries, including Canada and Australia). Scotland has a kind of indifferent view of the monarchy, lots are happy with it, but lots would drop it too. So it's quite hard to say what we would do if there was a referendum on the monarchy - our constitutional issues at the moment relate more to our relationship with the UK and EU.

Otherwise, Scotland is a modern country, we're generally seen as friendly and welcoming. Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland, was recently voted the world's friendliest city by RoughGuides. We've got fantastic cities, amazing countryside - and proud of the diversity here. I love it.

A great post ,but I would not exactly agree on the bagpipes being just brought out for tourists, as there are regular compétitions of Scottish bands ,the highland games, and more ,which always feature the bagpipes . Also the uillean pipes are played in many pubs on the westcoast .
Yes ,Glagow is a great friendly city, and I can't wait to hear the craic next week .

 

[Runswithdogs]

Heh, one of our neibours regularly practices his bagpipes up by the cliffs... something about it freaking out the cat when he does it indoors..
So some days I get to hear it when out walking the dogs.

 

[DW1980]

A great post ,but I would not exactly agree on the bagpipes being just brought out for tourists, as there are regular compétitions of Scottish bands ,the highland games, and more ,which always feature the bagpipes . Also the uillean pipes are played in many pubs on the westcoast .
Yes ,Glagow is a great friendly city, and I can't wait to hear the craic next week .

I guess I mean it's an acquired taste, you wouldn't exactly download it from iTunes and listen to it. Lol.

Or is that just me... hmmmm

 

[Runswithdogs]

I guess I mean it's an acquired taste, you wouldn't exactly download it from iTunes and listen to it. Lol.

Or is that just me... hmmmm

I regularly listen to saor patrol (think bagpipe rock) so.....

 

[JackRT]

Lord, Give me patience...
Because if you give me strength, i'm gonna need bail money to go with it.

Lord, Give me patience...
But please hurry up.

 

[fat wee robin]

I regularly listen to saor patrol (think bagpipe rock) so.....

 

[fat wee robin]

I love Celtic music ,classic , but for the young why not 'rock'.

 

[JackRT]

Anyone who has never attended a Military Tattoo, should. Performances by individual bands but the massed band finale is spectacular. 200 pipers and drummers supported by brass is amazing.

 

[Runswithdogs]

I love Celtic music ,classic , but for the young why not 'rock'.

Well, I suppose “rock” Isn't the correct descriptor, but I’m not sure what it would be called, they do a lot of traditional Celtic tunes but tend to a more up beat, lots of drumming, foot stomping type of style.

 

[fat wee robin]

Yes ,I've seen them in the centre of Glagow . Am too old for this kind of thing ,but it
certainly attracts the crowds .

 

[lismore]

Both the Stuarts /Stewarts and their opponents intended to unite Scotland, England and Ireland under their rule, so either way you have imposition of a monarchy.

Hello Tom. I had a summer job at Culloden Battlefield. Did you know that several of the clans at Culloden had swords inscribed with the motto 'prosperity to Scotland and no Union'. God Bless

 

[Tom 1]

Hello Tom. I had a summer job at Culloden Battlefield. Did you know that several of the clans at Culloden had swords inscribed with the motto 'prosperity to Scotland and no Union'. God Bless

Yes, I'm not sure if they really knew what they were getting themselves into.

 

[fat wee robin]

But you would have been happy for your Bonnie Prince Charlie to invade England and violently steal the throne.
Wee Charlie was intent on bringing back the Catholic Church to England, along with its usual murderous tactics. Having thrown Roman rule out decisively, and destroyed the Spanish Armada, England was unlikely to tolerate such tyranny again.

Charlie was descended from James 6th Scotland who after the death of Elizabeth 1st of England was invited to take the English throne (ie. James 1st and 6th). He was a protestant. After James 1st, there was a steady decline in the Stuart monarchy leading to the civil war and Charles the 1st's execution by Parliamentary forces.
Charles 1st was a tyrant who deserved what he got. So did the Bonnie Prince later on at Culloden.
The point being, the oft stated animosity of Scotsmen against England, as if we invaded and usurped the Scottish throne, is utterly back to front. It was a Scottish king who was invited to reign in England, and a later Scottish king who created the Act of Union which brought the two together legally. (And in doing so England saved Scotland from bankruptcy!)

No ,I would not but England had long been an agresseur in Scotland .No I do not believe Mary Queen of Scots and France had any right to the throne of England and this is something she was wrong to be any part off .

 

[fat wee robin]

Hello Tom. I had a summer job at Culloden Battlefield. Did you know that several of the clans at Culloden had swords inscribed with the motto 'prosperity to Scotland and no Union'. God Bless

Thankyou for the info . Am in France for a while now ,and miss the humour and the sense of real community of ideas in Scotland which hopefully still persists .Here in France it is getting worse everyday having to listen to English adverts , American too , with their great emptiness ,as well .
When I came here ,it was easy to see the superiority of French culture to Anglo ,but now it too has been overtaken ,and there is a great sadness here as they have tried to keep up standards ,and trashy Cocknie accents are replacing beautiful French ones on the TV .

Europe has always been more classy than England in reality .

 

[fat wee robin]

There are TWO Scotlands . One on the West which was mainly the Irish (or Scotti ,as the Romans called the Irish) , who converted the pagans of the country to Christianity ,spoke Gaelic, and generally lived truly Christian lives, as generosity and welcoming the stranger ,was deeply Embedded in the tradition .

In the East mainly were the Picts ,who in time became christian too, but were always much more materialistic , business like , cold in manner and unfortunately ,gave the bad reputation of meaness , which some give to the Scots .
As for the pipes , they wre always part of Highland culture , as they are in Ireland , but the kilt which was a rough and ready garment worn by the Highlanders , was made 'fashionable ' by the French tailors ,and taken up by the English upper classes ,who were never ever Celts in any way ,so wearing the kilt is a posture for them .

The culture of Scotland includes many great poets ,writers and scientists which are not known because the English prevent such literature , and the truth of history , to become known .The greatest culprit apart from the' Establishment', is the BBC who distort the truth .

The 'Celts' who have a culture (which is truly of the heart and therefore of God ) will last, is lasting , although they in the South did try to commit genocide on these upstarts who defied them and still do .
So if you are visiting , remember that in order the keep the peace in daily life, many stay quiet ,but cultural independence is what most want .

Thankyou Lismore .

 

[lismore]

Yes, I'm not sure if they really knew what they were getting themselves into.

Hi Tom. I believe they knew it was not a good idea. Robin posted above the Robert Burn lyrics 'Bought and Sold for English Gold'. Bribes needed to be thrown into the equation for the union to pass in addition to excluding sections of the population from voting at all. (Roman Catholics were not permitted to vote in 1707 or to sit in Parliament). God Bless