St Andrew's day ink

[MacLowlife]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8381874.stm

[Smitty]

Yikes. Read the comments below the article for a rather negative view on those with Scottish heritage having the hubris to associate themselves with Scotland or Scots.

Whether those in Scotland wish to accept it or not, those of us across the pond have a unique perspective on our heritage, and many of us feel very close to our ancestral homeland.
I realize that nationality and ethnicity are different things, but I feel no need to disavow my Scottish heritage.

[BruceBC]

I have run into a few Scots who have taken a hard line - if you don't live (or were born and live) in Scotland then don't wear a kilt or "act' Scottish. In a few cases I tell them that many of my relatives fought and died with the Black Watch of Canada - while helping to save their nation. Yes, we are not Scottish ,according to their definition, but we have every-right to celebrate our Scottish roots. Even if we don't have Scottish roots we are all free people and can don a kilt and have a dram.

As a last point, I do bring up with the few hardheads that the best pipeband in the world is from Canada

[Tobus]

The article posed the question, "what is the appeal of Scottish identity?" That's an interesting question.

I can't speak for people outside America (and I don't even pretend to speak for all Americans), but to me the answer is simple. Americans don't have much of a history or a culture of our own. Everything we are, we brought from somewhere else. Those who were born and raised in Scotland - and elsewhere in Europe and Asia - have a pretty good idea where they came from. They have a long history, plenty of cultural roots, etc. We Americans can only look back so far in our own history before we run up against the proverbial wall. We came from somewhere else. Where else would we look besides where we came from?

I think that most Europeans and folks born in the UK really can't understand what it's like not to have history. I would guess that the vast majority of Americans can only trace their family back a couple of generations. It's frustrating. So it's natural for Americans to idealize a culture they might happen to find in their muddled genealogy.

[xena]

I have run into a few Scots who have taken a hard line - if you don't live (or were born and live) in Scotland then don't wear a kilt or "act' Scottish. In a few cases I tell them that many of my relatives fought and died with the Black Watch of Canada - while helping to save their nation. Yes, we are not Scottish ,according to their definition, but we have every-right to celebrate our Scottish roots. Even if we don't have Scottish roots we are all free people and can don a kilt and have a dram.

As a last point, I do bring up with the few hardheads that the best pipeband in the world is from Canada

Not to mention that Canada has more Highland and Scottish Regiments in our army than the UK does at present.

[Smitty]

Sorry, folks, didn't mean to open a can of worms with my post. The article evoked an emotional response, and I typed it before thinking.

Mods- if I was off-topic to the point of being out of line, I'll edit my post. The discussion seems to be friendly and constructive so far, though, so I'll leave it as is unless asked to do otherwise.

[Cavebear58]

12345

[Bigkahuna]

Not to mention that Canada has more Highland and Scottish Regiments in our army than the UK does at present.

I believe it was 15 at last count.

[MacBean]

I found some of the responses more interesting than the article. Some thoughts....

If 47,000 ex-English visited England each year (and I suspect they do), I wonder if you would even know they were there? In Scotland, with the sparser population, it makes an economic impact. I visit Scotland because I like it, just as I like England or Wales or Brazil, or any other place. Having Scottish ancestry does make some difference, but isn't the only reason.

The thing is that we of the New World don't have an identity in the same way that those of the Old have. We don't have traditions, and language, and history reaching back before civilization itself. Instead our identities are forged intentionally. If we pick Scottish identity, it is because we chose to. I do, my brothers don't, and that's fine. What I find harder to understand is those who berate New Worlders (Americans?) for affecting a Scottish identity. But then, I guess they get tired of noisy foreigners. As a child in England they embarassed me too.

[Nighthawk]

I found some of the responses more interesting than the article. Some thoughts....

If 47,000 ex-English visited England each year (and I suspect they do), I wonder if you would even know they were there? In Scotland, with the sparser population, it makes an economic impact. I visit Scotland because I like it, just as I like England or Wales or Brazil, or any other place. Having Scottish ancestry does make some difference, but isn't the only reason.

The thing is that we of the New World don't have an identity in the same way that those of the Old have. We don't have traditions, and language, and history reaching back before civilization itself. Instead our identities are forged intentionally. If we pick Scottish identity, it is because we chose to. I do, my brothers don't, and that's fine. What I find harder to understand is those who berate New Worlders (Americans?) for affecting a Scottish identity. But then, I guess they get tired of noisy foreigners. As a child in England they embarassed me too.

I felt a need to post a comment on that article. One thing the Old World Celts don't understand is that most of us aren't trying to be Scottish. We're trying to intentionally forge our own identity as New World Celts. It's nice to have ancestral traditions to draw from. And that's the point- we draw from those traditions, without trying to directly take them or to mimic them. In the post that I made, I mentioned that I see us in the new world as having a relationship to the Scots that is similar to the relationship that the Welsh have to them. We're cousins; not clansmen. When I meet a Scot or an Irishman, etc, I intentionally refer to him/her that way as a matter of fact, while New World Celts I refer to as brother.