Scotland

chapter 5

Scotland is a land of mountains and lakes with a population of 5 million. The Scottish people say some things which you won’t hear from English people: ‘bairn’ for ‘child’, ‘och yes’ for ‘ah yes’ and ‘bonny’ for ‘beautiful’.

‘Men in skirts’

The kilt is a piece of clothing which many Scottish men wear in special occasions. It consists of one 3-metre piece of cloth which is folded round the body to form the kilt.
Tartan is the name of the typical coloured pattern; different tartans are connected with different Scottish families or clans. There are more than 4000 tartans. In 1746 it was banned because the English government though that it was a symbol of Scottish independence.
Pipers- men who play the traditional Scottish musical instrument, the bagpipes- usually wear kilts.

Food

The most food is haggis. This consists of a sheep’s stomach which is packed with bits of meat, onion, oats (cereal), spices and salt. Porridge is another one. It is made by boiling oats in milk or water. Scottish shortbread is a delicious butter biscuit. Scotland is also well-known for its Aberdeen Angus beef and salmon.

Iconic Places

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and is very popular to visit the Castle and the famous streets such as Princes Street and the Royal Mile. Every August, the Edinburgh Festival takes place, one of the most important festivals of theatre and music in the world.
The Scottish Highlands are the mountains and valleys in the northern half of the country. Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Scotland and Loch Ness is the most famous. The tallest mountain is Ben Nevis (1.343m) is there. People have sometimes taken strange objects at the top like a piano or a bed.
The Highlands have a long and sad story: many highlanders moved to America or other countries to escape from a difficult and unfair life of poverty.

Glasgow and Aberdeen are other Scottish cities. Aberdeen is the centre of the North Sea oil industry. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.

Iconic creatures

The Loch Ness Monster is the most famous inhabitant of Scotland! There is a legend that Saint Columba saw a ‘water-beast’ in the six century near Loch Ness. There are other witnesses that talked about it. Loch Ness is very deep and it’s impossible to be absolutely sure whether the monster does or does not exist.
Dolly the sheep is another famous Scottish animal. She was cloned at a scientific institute in 1996; it was the first time that a mammal was cloned.

Iconic people

William Wallace and Robert the Bruce were two great Scottish heroes who fought for independence from England in the middle Ages. Wallace won a great victory against the English army but in the next battle he was defeated. He hid from the English for 7 years but finally he was arrested and executed. Hid head was shown to the people on London Bridge. Robert Bruce was put in prison by the English. He said that when he was in prison, he watched a spider trying six times to make a web. The spider finally succeeded the seventh time. This example taught him to keep trying. Bruce scaped from prison and defeated King Edward II’s army. He was the king of Scotland.
Mary Queen of Scots was crowned Queen when he was a baby. She married a French prince when she was only 15. She was Catholic, so Protestants Scots hated her. Her male secretary was murdered by her husband in front of her(lovers?). her second husband was murdered. She married for third time but she run away from Scotland. She was in prison in England for 20 years. She was beheaded in a castle in Northamptonshire.
Robert Burns is a national poet. His poems in the Scottish dialect became very popular. He died when he was 37 but his poems live on.

There are many other famous Scottish people: (writers) Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (created Sherlock Holmes). (actors) like Sean Connery, who played James Bond and singers like Susan Boyle (who won the Britain’s Got Talent in 2009).There are also scientist and inventors like James Watt, Alexander Bell (telephone) and Alexander Fleming (discovered the penicillin) and John Logie Baird (television).

Sport

Glasgow has the two best-known football teams, Rangers and Celtic.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager of Manchester United is Scottish. Golf is another popular sport. While winter you can go skiing in the Highlands.
The Highland Games is a typical sporting event. It includes ‘tossing the caber’ when men have to throw a long piece of tree trunk. You can see the Games in all over North America but one of the most important ones is held in California.

Celebrations

New Year is more important than Christmas in Scotland.  They have a special celebration on 31^st December known as ‘Hogmanay’. There are street parties in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In the Stonehaven, there is ‘fireball swinging’. Burns Night takes place on the Birthday of Robert Burns, 25^th January. People read poems and sing songs by him. A piper plays as the haggis is carried into the room and, before it is cut, someone reads Burn’s poem ‘To a haggis’.