Wales (or Cymru in Welsh) is a mountainous country on the western side of

National Symbols of Scotland

National Flag

National Anthem

Crown Jewels

The Thistle

Tartan

Music

National Flag

Legend says that in 832 AD, an army of Scots was facing a Northumbrian army. The Scottish king prayed to St Andrew for help, and saw the saltire of St Andrew (the saint had been martyred on a diagonal cross) in the heavens against a clear blue sky. On seeing the cross in the sky, he swore that if the Scots beat the English in the battle that was about to be joined, then St Andrew would forever be the patron saint of Scotland. The Scots did in fact win the battle, and from that day on the saltire has been the national flag of Scotland.

The Royal Standard of Scotland is the Royal Flag of Scotland, and strictly speaking should only be used by the king or queen of the United Kingdom, in their capacity as monarch of Scotland. The flag was adopted in the early 12th century by King William I of Scotland. Unofficially, the flag is used as a second national flag for Scotland, particularly at football matches. Technically this usage is illegal, although no one has ever been prosecuted for flying the Standard unoffically.

National Anthem

Flower of Scotland

Written by Roy MB Williamson (1936 - 1990)

O Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again,
That fought and died for your wee bit Hill and Glen
And stood against him proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward, Tae think again.

The Hills are bare now and autumn leaves lie thick and still
O'er land that is lost now which those so dearly held
That stood against him proud Edward's Army
And sent him homeward, Tae think again.

Those days are past now and in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now and be the nation again
That stood against him proud Edward's Army
And sent him homeward, Tae think again.

O Flower of Scotland when will we see your like again,
That fought and died for your wee bit Hill and Glen
And stood against him proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward, Tae think again.

Crown Jewels

They are on display in Edinburgh Castle.

The Crown

It is not known exactly how old this crown is, it probably dates from Robert Bruce’s reign (1314). The crown was remodelled for James V in 1540. It is made from Scottish gold from the Crawford Moor mine, actively worked at the time. The craftsmanship is French.

The Sceptre

A gift from the Pope to James IV in 1494. It was refashioned for James V, who seemed to have liked jewellery, because he added his initials to the sceptre. The globe of the sceptre is a cut and polished rock crystal, with a Scottish pearl on top.

The Sword of State

Another gift from another pope to James IV in 1507. A fine example of craftsmanship, it came complete with a sword belt and a consecrated hat. The blade of the sword is a metre long.

Following the Treaty of Union in 1707, the ancient crown jewels of Scotland disappeared for a century, nobody knew what had happened to them. Rumours circulated that the English had removed them to London. In 1818 Sir Walter Scott obtained permission from the Prince Regent (later George IV) to search Edinburgh castle for the Royal Scottish regalia. The searchers eventually found them locked in an oak chest, covered with linen cloths, exactly as they had been left in 1707.

Coat of Arms

The Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland was the official coat of arms of the monarchs of Scotland, and were used as the official coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Afterwards, the arms became an integral part of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom.

The shield depicts a red lion rampant on a yellow field, surrounded by and double tressure fleury-counter-fleury.

The crest is a red lion sitting on a crown, holding a sword and a sceptre.

The supporters are two crowned unicorns, the dexter supporter holds a banner of the arms; the sinister supporter holds the national flag of Scotland.

The coat features both the motto Nemo me impune lacessit (No-one wounds (touches) me with impunity) and the Order of the Thistle around the shield.

Today The Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland are not used in any official capacity on their own, although they do feature in the second quarter of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom;

National Day

Although Andrew and his brother Peter were two of the original apostles, very little is known about Andrew. He was a fisherman from Galilee, who went on to spread the Christian religion in Greece and Asia Minor. He is believed to have been killed by being crucified by the Romans on a diagonal cross in Patras in Southern Greece.

Some 300 years after his death, the Emperor Constantine was going to move the saint’s bones, and legend has it that a monk was warned of this in a dream by an angel, who told him to remove the saints bones to the "ends of the Earth" to keep them safe.

Scotland was as near to the ends of the ancient Greek world as you could get, and that is how his remains came to be taken to Scotland. The monk brought the holy relics ashore at what is now St Andrews.

A chapel was built to house them, and by 1160 a cathedral. St Andrews was the religious capital of Scotland, and the destination of many pilgrims. The saint’s remains have now disappeared, probably destroyed during the Scottish Reformation, when the strictures of Calvinism tended to wish to remove traces of Catholic "idolatry". The site of the relics is now marked by a plaque in the ruins of the Cathedral in St Andrews.

Scotland’s National Day is St. Andrew’s Day (30 November), which has now largely been overshadowed by Burns’ Night. St. Andrew, one of Christ’s twelve apostles, is the patron saint of Scotland.

A legend says that in the late 8th century, during a joint battle with the English, King Oengus mac Fergus of the Picts and King Eochaid IV of Dalriada, saw a cloud shaped like a saltire, and declared Andrew was watching over them, and if they won by his grace, then he would be their patron saint.

Burns' Night

Each year on January 25, the great man's presumed birthday, Scots everywhere take time out to honour the national icon, Scotland's favourite son and the champion of the common people. Whether it's a full-blown Burns Supper or a quiet night of reading poetry, Burns Night is a night for all Scots.

Sequence of Events at a Burns Supper

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup,
And surely I'll be mine;
And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,
Sin' auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd.
Sin' auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak' a right gud-wellie waught,
For auld lang syne.

1. Chairman's speech to welcome company, normally a few short sentences.

2. Then the Grace (prayer) follows. Traditionally, Burns's Selkirk Grace is used:

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thankit.

3. First course of the dinner, Scotch Broth or Cock a Leekie.

4. Chairman rises and invites company to rise to welcome haggis being piped in.

5. Once haggis is placed on table, the chef and the piper have a drink then leave.

6. Address to haggis now given and company stand to toast haggis, then it is cut open. Haggis is eaten with "tatties and neeps"

7. Company sit and meal continues. The rest of the meal can really be whatever one chooses. Traditional puddings would be Tipsy Laird or Atholl Brose, with oatcakes and cheese before coffee

8. Coffee is served and the Chairman announces an interval (usually 10 to 15 minutes), when the company can relax before speeches etc.

9. Toasts and speeches follow.

10. Entertainment begins (songs and poems etc), after which the Chairman calls on company to sing "Auld Lang Syne".

The Gaelic Language

There are estimated to be around 85,000 people who can speak the Scottish Gaelic language. It is mainly spoken in the North of Scotland and on the Western Isles. Scottish Gaelic has a certain similarity to Irish Gaelic, but is very different from the Welsh Gaelic and its family (Cornish and Breton).

The Celts, who spoke Gaelic languages, dominated Europe for a thousand years. They had an advanced culture which was handed down orally, rather than in writing. Their education covered Astronomy and Geography, as well as Religion and Philosophy. They had within their societies, Druids, who as well as being priests were also scholars and bards.

The Celts did not have a united kingdom, and the might of the Roman army was able to crush them from Gaul. The Romans were stopped though by the Celtic Picts in Scotland, and they retreated behind Hadrian's Wall. Eventually around 450 AD, Irish Gaels, called Scotti by the Romans, landed and established themselves on the tip of Kintyre, at Dunaverty where a ruin can still be seen. The Gaels spread out into the rest of Scotland, and were fiercely opposed by the native Picts.

In 843 a great Gaelic leader, Kenneth MacAlpin was able to unite the Picts and the Gaels for the first time. His territory was called Alba (still the Gaelic name for Scotland) covered most of Scotland north of the Clyde. The Gaelic language and culture therefore spread to cover most of the country.
There was then a period of Viking raids and invasions, but after some two hundred years Somerled, one of the great Celtic leaders, drove the Vikings out. He became the Lord of the Isles, controlling both the Western Isles and parts on the mainland in northern Scotland…

In 1745, with an army of only 5000, Bonnie Prince Charlie took Scotland and marched as far as Derby in England. He eventually ran out of supplies, did not get any support from the French or English, and had to retreat. In April 1746 the Jacobite cause died at the Battle of Culloden

With this defeat came repression of both the Gaelic language and all things Gaelic. There was a methodical eradication of the Gaelic culture by the British government. Everything from tartans to bagpipes was banned, and the clan culture was removed by new landowners.

It took until 1886 for crofters to be given security of tenure on their land, but Gaelic was still discouraged. It has only really been since the 1980's that there has been a revival in Gaelic. There are Gaelic playgroups and the language is taught in some schools. Many organisations like banks and local authorities are using Gaelic names.

The Thistle

…is known as Scotland' s national symbol. One of the proudest orders of knighthood, the "Order of the Thistle" was established in 1540 by King James V of Scotland.

As the story goes, a long time ago when Scotland was being ravaged by Viking invaders, prior to the Battle of Largs in 1263, a group of Scottish fighting men were resting overnight in a field. Unknown to them, a raiding party was preparing to attack this group of Scots, under cover of darkness. As the attacking Vikings approached the encamped Scots, they stood on a patch of Thistles with their bare feet and let out cries of pain as the thorns dug deep into their feet. The Scots, having been awakened by the noise were able to fight off the attackers and drive them back across the North Sea. Decisive in terms of ending the threat of the Norsemen, so from that day, the Thistle has been adopted as Scotland' s national symbol.

Tartan

A kilt is a skirt-like traditional garment of Scottish, possibly Celtic (Yes, men in Wales also wear kilts especially on St David's day or during cultural festivals) culture that exists in various modern forms and forms inspired by the historical garment.

Formal Highland regalia: kilt and Prince Charlie jacket with Black tie.

A tartan is a specific woven pattern that often signifies a particular Scottish clan in the modern era. The blocks of colour repeat vertically and horizontally in a distinctive pattern of squares and lines. Kilts almost always have tartans.

Parti-coloured cloth was used by the Celts from the earliest time, but the variety of colours in the breacan was greater or less, according to the rank of the wearer. That of the ancient kings had seven colours, that of the druids six, and that of the nobles four.

For many centuries, the patterns were loosely associated with the weavers of a particular area, though it was common for highlanders to wear a number of different tartans at the same time. In the 17th c. the tartans seemed to be used to distinguish the inhabitants of different districts and not the inhabitants of different families as at present. The inhabitants of various islands were not all dressed alike, and colours of the various tartans varied from isle to isle. The naming and registration of official clan tartans began only in 1815.

Music

Many outsiders associate Scottish folk music almost entirely with bagpipes, which has indeed long played an important part of Scottish music. It is, however, not unique or indigenous to Scotland, having been imported around the 15th century and still being in use across Europe ( kecskeduda in Hungary) and farther abroad. The pìob mór, or Great Highland Bagpipe, is the most distinctively Scottish form of the instrument; it was created for clan pipers to be used for various, often military or marching, purposes.

Scottish music comes in many forms. First of all there are the summer shows you will find throughout Scotland, mostly aimed at tourists. These shows host a predominance of tartan, bagpipes, highland dancing, comedy and songs of hills and heather - essentially the image many tourists have of Scotland.

Increasing in popularity is the 'Ceilidh Dance' (pronounced kay-lay) which is an informal evening of Scottish county dancing, singing and, of course, drinking good whisky where formality goes out the window. A dance caller shouts out instructions to experienced dancers and beginners alike. The main objective is enjoyment, getting the dance steps wrong is almost irrelevant.

Folk festivals comprise of a mixture of concerts, ceilidhs and workshops where young and learner musicians can seek tuition from some of Scotland's top folk artists.

The music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects; indeed, it has itself influenced many forms of music, though Scottish traditional music has been influenced by both Irish and English traditional music.

There are three principle categories of Scottish music: ballads, dance music and military music.

	There are ballads and laments, generally sung by a lone singer with backing, or played on traditional instruments such as harp, fiddle, accordion or bagpipes.
	Dance music is played across Scotland at country dances, ceilidhs and Highland balls. Group dances are performed to music provided typically by an ensemble, or dance band, which can include fiddle (violin), bagpipe, accordion, Tin whistle and percussion.
	Military music, typically massed pipes and drums. Major Scottish regiments maintain bagpipe and drum bands which preserve Scottish marches, quicksteps, reels and laments. Many towns also have voluntary pipe bands which cover the same repertoire.

learn more:

Scottish Clans

Almost everything about Scotland and the Scots

TARTAN TV

ElectricScotland

sources:

National Statistics, UK 2002, The Official Yearbook of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Wikipedia: Tartan, Coat of Arms, Music

www.highlandscots.com

www.maybole.org

Scottish Music

Music in Scotland

credits:

The text was composed by using private works of the authors and relevant materials of...