Guid Hogmanay!

So it's actually New Year's Eve if you can believe it! I can't. This year has seemed to fly by. But I'm not sad to part with it either. I hope that this year is better than the last, and that it bodes well for Scotland.

By the way, the Christmas Pudding turned out really good! It was very delicious and we served it with caramel sauce and whipped cream. (My Americanized version of custard ;-) Over all, I think it is a tradition I will keep going.

Today, I am going to try out a new shortbread recipe my grandma gave me and I will tell you how that works out as well.

Today is also the birthday of Bonnie Prince Charlie, so be sure to drink a toast to the King over the Water tonight.

That's all I have time to write about for now, but have a good Hogmanay and here's a little bit of Burns sung by Dougie MacLean to end the year 2010

Slainte, Hazel

Scottish Traditions and Christmas Pudding

Since it's almost Christmas, I thought I should write something about Scottish holiday traditions. But guess what. Like so many other things in Scotland, the celebrating of Christmas was banned. And stayed banned, for almost four hundred years. It started with Oliver Cromwell in the Reformation. In 1647, parliament put a ban on celebrating Christmas and it lasted fifteen years. When Cromwell lost his power, the ban was lifted from most of Britain, but not Scotland. The ban was actually not lifted until the 1950s!

Because of this, the Scots celebrate New Years or Hogmanay. However, most of the Scottish Christmas traditions started to be celebrated on Hogmanay instead so they do still exist today. First Footing is one of those traditions. The first visitor to a home on Christmas day was a First Footer and he had to bring gifts and money. They also lit a candle in the window to welcome strangers into their houses. Yule Bread was another tradition (the eating of it was banned as well). Each person would get a Yule Bread and the person who found the hidden trinket in their loaf would have good luck the next year. There were several other traditions like that, and also burning the twig of a Rowan tree to bring peace between family members. ;-)

The Scots also upheld the old Viking tradition of keeping a fire going to keep away evil spirits. I also remember reading somewhere too, that they had to keep a fire going all night on Christmas Eve so elves would not come and steel the gifts!

Traditional foods, included Black Bun which is like a fruit cake and also Called Twelfth Night Cake along with Turkey, lot's of shortbread and, my favorite, venison stew!

This year, however, I decided to embrace the English part of my heritage and make a traditional Christmas pudding! My mom and I put it together this morning and everyone stirred it and made a wish! It's cooking right now, and I will be sure to tell everyone how it turns out, even if it turns out bad! I love trying traditional recipes. I like to think of all the people who have made the things over the years. How many of my ancestors might have eaten the same things. And if it's really good, I may have started a new tradition! I used this recipe in case anyone is interested, though I did not used either candied peel, or raisons and sultanas. I used apricots and dried cranberries instead.

So I hope everyone has a very good holiday, and I will be back next week to wish ye all a Guid Hogmanay!

Happy Hollidays, and Merry Christamas!

Slainte, Hazel

St. Andrew's Day

Happy St. Andrew's Day everyone! Fly your Saltires! I don't have much time to write anything today, but here's a poem I wrote a while ago about the Saltire:

To the Saltire

To our ancestors you showed yourself

On the bright blue Summer's sky

As a sign that they would win the day

As their enemies drew ever nigh.

The white cross of St. Andrew

Is your foreground fair,

And your background of the brightest blue

Is the sky of the Summer's air.

You've flown above the bloody field

Of many a battle won.

Since the days of brave Calgacus

'Till all our fighting will be done.

You were the standard of the normal Scots;

The crofters and the Highland men.

The Lion Rampant is fine for kings,

But you were good enough for them.

You are Scotland as it was and is

And you'll be here is years to come.

For something that has been here so long

Your legacy will forever go on.

You flew in the field with Wallace

And won Bannockburn with our Hero King.

You flew with Bonnie Charlie

And still fly more freely than bird on wing.

Happy will be the day wen you fly

Over a Scotland once more free;

To rid your land of the usurper

And fill the people's hearts with glee.

So keep on flying

For Scotland needs you still.

And one day we all hope to see

The White and Blue on every hill.

Slainte, Hazel

The Draw at Sheriffmuir

Today commemorates the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715. It was considered the last battle in the 1715 Jacobite Uprising and was also a draw.

The Jacobite forces were led by the Earl of Mar also called "Bobbing John". His nickname came from his ability to duck and weave in battle and also because he was known to change sides when it suited him. On November 13th the two forces, Mar's Jacobites and the Hanoverians under the Duke of Argyle met at Sheriffmuir. Mar had more men than Argyle, but he was not a very good military leader. He was more of a politician than a fighting man and it showed in the way he directed the battle. Neither side took advantage of its artillery and both armies attacked on only one flank. Argyle, as was usual with English forces, had superior cavalry and used it to attack Mar's right wing. They fought relentlessly for three hours, the Macrae clan in the Jacobite army were nearly wiped out and the Jacobite's left wing was overcome. Meanwhile Mar's right wing took up a ferocious Highland charge and attached Argyle's left which immediately broke and fled to Dunblane.

Argyle regrouped his right and then joined up with his center battalions who had not yet seen action. He had only about a thousand men left and he saw that Mar was regrouping as well, raising his standard on the Gather Stone (more about that in a minute). Before the fighting could continue though, the sun when down on that cold wet day and both armies retired back to where they had come from. The next morning, Argyle sent out scouts and found the field deserted. Mar had retreated to Perth where he awaited King James who was missing in action due to his detainment in France. The French were doing their best to keep him where he was, not wanting him to join the Uprising in person. It was said that the English ambassador had tried to have James assassinated, but eventually, he made it back to Scotland and landed in Peterhead.

After that the Uprising seemed to peter out until it flared again in 1719 at the Battle of Glenshiel. The Earl of Mar dithered around doing nothing and King James had caught a fever and was said to have spent his time huddled in a chair, shivering. There had been an attempt to coronate him at Scone, but it seems never to have gone over. The Jacobite ladies even donated their jewels to make a crown for him, but it never seemed to have happened.

There is now a monument at the site of the Battle of Sheriffmuir and commemorations are held every year, usually after dark. There is also a stone called the Gathering Stone which it where they clans gathered before the fight and sharpened their blades. (There are a lot of stones in Scotland that the clansmen have sharpened their swords on.) It is still there for people to see today.

Another interesting fact about the Battle was that Rob Roy MacGregor was there, though he was never said to have actually taken part in the battle, but seemed to have been just an observer. He was a Jacobite born and bred, but the Duke of Argyle was known to be his protector and thus he was not allowed or at least his honor would not allow him to fight against him. A jeering Scottish ballad says:

Rob Roy he stood watch

On a hill for to catch

The booty, for aught that I saw, man;

For he ne'er advanc'd

From the place where he stanc'd

Till nae mair was to do there at a' man.

However, he did act as a guide for Mar as the land they were traversing was practically on his home turf.

So the battle was a draw and as an old Scotch ballad says (I actually think it's from the same one as above):

There's some say that we won,

And some say that they won,

And some say that none won at a', man,

But of one thing I'm sure,

That at Sheriffmuir,

A battle there was, that I saw, man.

And we ran and they ran,

And they ran and we ran,

And we ran, and they ran awa' man.

Robert Burns also wrote a song about the Battle and here's a link to The Corries singing it. And also this other one I just found while I was looking for the other! :-P

Also, today we should all say happy birthday to one of Scotland's greatest novelists: Robert Louis Stevenson!

Slainte, Hazel

Remember, Remember...

Remember, Remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Anyone who lives in or around England probably knows that today is Gunpowder Plot Day. This commemorates the day in 1606 when Guy Fawkes was foiled in his plan to blow up Parliament and King James I (and VI of Scots.) I have always found this a somewhat fantastic story. Guy Fawkes and his conspirators were Catholics while James was a Protestant and so there was that age old rivalry. It was just enough to make Guy Fawkes and his friends to decide they were going to blow up Parliament and King James with it. (I always feel sorry for poor James. He seemed to have no end of bad luck!) They plotted and conspired and Fawkes assumed the pseudonym "John Johnson". They rented a house in London that had a cellar that went under the houses of Parliament and piled barrels and barrels of gunpowder into it, waiting for the time when they would get to use it.

However, Guy Fawkes, who was to light the fuse while all the others got out of there, was caught in the act and was foiled in his plan. He was drug to the Tower of London where he was tortured for information. What ever he might have done, you cannot deny the fact that Guy Fawkes was a very brave man. He withstood the torture and refused to give any names but his own. His friends were captured as well, but it was not because of him.

As soon as Guy Fawkes confessed to what he had done they took him and his friends to Westminster where they were tried for treason and hung, drawn and quartered. The story goes that Guy Fawkes leapt from the scaffold while he was being hung, thus breaking his neck and disappointing the executioners.

Here's some more information of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot if you wish to know more.

So happy Guy Fawkes Day to any of you English out there!

Slainte, Hazel

Another Birthday!

Today is the birthday of another of Scotland's greatest heros: James Graham, the 1st Marquis of Montrose. Montrose--as he is commonly called--fought for Charles I (the king who got his head cut off) in the time of Oliver Cromwell. Sadly, Montrose is quite forgotten and almost never mentioned outside of Scottish history books. I have never seen him in a history text book even when Charles I was mentioned. It is truly a shame that he seems to not be recognized outside of Scotland, for he was a truly wonderful man. He was brave and a very good military leader. He was the only one to be able to tame the Highland clans and they followed him out of respect. He was sadly, like Wallace, betrayed by his own countrymen and taken for execution. There is a beautiful poem detailing his last moments that you'll find at this link.

Montrose himself wrote a bit of poetry. One of his poems he wrote in his cell on the eve of his execution.

Here's a link to the 1st Marquis of Montrose society where you can find out some more information on him and also the poems he wrote.

The great Scottish novelist, Nigel Tranter wrote two books about Montrose--ones that I have not as yet been lucky enough to get my hands on!-- and I'm sure they would be a wonderful read for anyone who was interested.

Here's also a link to The Corries singing one of Montrose's songs, My Dear and Only Love

I will try to be back sometime, probably by next month to write some more posts. I have a couple things I was thinking of writing about, I just need to start pulling my books out again and looking through them to find what I need! Again, if anyone has anything they wish to know more about, please let me know.

Slainte, Hazel

New Info Regarding the Safe Conduct Letter!

For any of you who read my post several months ago about the Wallace Safe Conduct Letter you'll find this information as exciting as I! It seems that they have found that the letter is actually the original French document and not an English copy as the English historians said before. So it is looking up for us getting it up to Scotland! Here's a link to the information. Or you can go to The Society of William Wallace.

I'll be keeping you posted about any new installments as soon as I find out about them! We can only hope that by next year, the Safe Conduct Letter will be back in Scotland where it belongs. It would be a very nice start to a next year. If enough people get involved, I think we can all make it happen, so please do all you can to help! Just caring is enough sometimes.

Slainte, Hazel