Need help from any Scottish DISers

[mtemm]

my 7 year old son is doing a school project where he studies our family ancestry. Part of our family history is Scottish, but we have no family left there to ask about traditions. Am wondering if any of you can help.

some of the info we need are:

1) what are some traditions from our ancestors' culture?

2) Any special holidays?

3) what types of games?

4) foods?

5) music?

6) well known sites/events/landmarks?

thanks so much!!!!!

[cherjp]

do you know whereabouts your scottish family roots are from? different areas in scotland might have different traditions and such.

I am from the west coast of scotland - Burns Country- where Rabbie Burns is from, Burns night is celebrated in January. St Andrews the patron saint of Scotland is celebrated on the 30th November. Hogmanany which is whats Scottish people call New Years Eve. sorry if you know some of these already but pm me with more info and I will try to help a little bit more.

Edinburgh is the Capital of Scotland its situated on the east side of scotland.

Traditional scottish foods that I know of are Haggis, Neeps, Cullen skink, Cranachan.

Haggis and Cullen skink are acquired tastes!!! Cranachan is a desert, lovely in my opinion!

Let me know what else you want to know.

[mtemm]

thank you so much!

honestly my family has been here for generations...as far back as the revolution, so long by american standards. my maiden name is Wallace, though, so we are sort of using that as our scottish base.

I've heard of haggis before, but not the others. would love a recipe for Cranachan if you have one.

we were doing some searches on line and hogmanany sounds like a lot of fun.

any info is very welcome. :)

[scottishgirl87]

You may also want to look up Irn Bru and Scottish tablet ;)

Ohhh and bagpipes and tartan. It should be pretty easy to trace the Wallace tartan? Don't know if you've tried that already.

[scojos]

shortbread is scottish, you could make some and impress your son!!
see if you can get some scottish comedians on u tube, you ll be able to listen to the accent- though you may need subtitles!!
dont forget the deep fried mars bars;)
tracy

[cherjp]

You may also want to look up Irn Bru and Scottish tablet ;)

Ohhh and bagpipes and tartan. It should be pretty easy to trace the Wallace tartan? Don't know if you've tried that already.

Gosh cant believe i forgot about scotlands other national drink!!! iRN BRU !!

Whisky of course , tablet and edinburgh rock, tattie scones.

will have a think about others.

[natalielongstaff]

. would love a recipe for Cranachan if you have one. :)

http://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/cranachanrecipe.htm

[cherjp]

Wallace !! you might be related to William wallace!!.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/independence/features_independence_wallace.shtml

this website gives a wee bit of info. hope that worked as not to good with technical stuff.

If you can access www.youtube.co.uk then you can find allsorts of stuff there to do with scotland, music, language etc Check out the Red Hot Chilli PIPERS they are fab.

Will find recipe for crannachan and shortbread too.

[cherjp]

The link that Natalie has given you has a fantastic amount of recipes and info.

:thumbsup2

[natalielongstaff]

I might have a go at making that myself, it looks lovely :thumbsup2

[cherjp]

I might have a go at making that myself, it looks lovely :thumbsup2

it is yum!

Dont forget about the Loch Ness monster too!

[orlandothebeagle]

You may also want to look up Irn Bru and Scottish tablet ;)

Ohhh and bagpipes and tartan. It should be pretty easy to trace the Wallace tartan? Don't know if you've tried that already.
ehh, you forgot something, see next post
shortbread is scottish, you could make some and impress your son!!
see if you can get some scottish comedians on u tube, you ll be able to listen to the accent- though you may need subtitles!!
dont forget the deep fried mars bars;)
tracy

Tracy,you took the words right out of my mouth!

Do you want anything posted, dont forget to look up your tartan
I could send a few cheap books if you want (my treat) see its not true what they say about us:lmao:
that tells story about william wallace,our flags, and Mary Queen of Scotts, she is a true scottish hero, even although she was french!

[orlandothebeagle]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Wallace_tartan_(Vestiarium_Scoticum).png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wallace_tartan_(Vestiarium_Scoticum).png&h=520&w=520&sz=3&tbnid=4IeViHV_ujK7QM:&tbnh=131&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwallace%2Btartan&hl=en&usg=__kb_dy6losNiHkWwUY_NlA23m2cM=&ei=eKs7S83lJZ-I0wTo7JySBQ&sa=X&**=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&ved=0CA4Q9QEwAA

[orlandothebeagle]

Wallace !! you might be related to William wallace!!.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/independence/features_independence_wallace.shtml

this website gives a wee bit of info. hope that worked as not to good with technical stuff.

If you can access www.youtube.co.uk then you can find allsorts of stuff there to do with scotland, music, language etc Check out the Red Hot Chilli PIPERS they are fab.

Will find recipe for crannachan and shortbread too.

Mum went to see them AGAIN last week and loved it, I must try and go sometime!

[cherjp]

Yip they are fantastic, total toe tapping and jigging stuff!!!

[Head_in_the_clouds]

My Mum is Scottish, and I was Christened there and spent a lot of holidays there too. I recommend Maw Broon's Cookbook;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1902407458/?tag=googhydr-21&hvadid=4707598869&ref=pd_sl_2fy6yzpocs_b

Its got LOADS of traditional Scottish recipes in there like Black Bun, Lorne Sausage and Clootie Dumpling, and its also funny as its written in the dialect of the characters from the The Broons comic strip. My Mum's cousin gave it to us as a gift and it is great!

Growing up I LOVED Edinburgh Castle, its so interesting and Edinburgh is a beautiful city and holds the Fringe Festival every year and there is a real buzz. I think if your child could research Edinburgh castle on the internet then there would be loads of information about it and also the Scottish monarchy. The Forth Road Bridge is also a famous landmark which is well worth a google! Some random things worth looking into, Highland Cows (or Coo's), The Highland Games (tossing the caber etc!), Highland Toffee, Highland Dancing, Scottish Country Dancing, Arran Sweaters, Heather, The Thistle, Edinburgh Rock (its a sweet), PORRIDGE! Oatcakes, and there are lots of Scottish Folk Songs such as "Will ye go, lassie go?", "Speed Bonny Boat" etc as well as my family's favourite (my Brother even had it piped at his wedding!) "Oh Flower of Scotland". You have had lots of good suggestions from previous posters! Good luck and PM me if you need anymore help :goodvibes.

[Muscateer]

Stovies and Irn Bru, magic:thumbsup2

O Flower of Scotland, best song you will ever get. Sung even better after a few drams. Lots of us Scots here in the Middle East will be singing this at midnight tonight at the top of our voices. Gieing it laldie:lmao:

[disneyqueenuk]

Ceilidhs (traditional Scottish dancing) which are often part of wedding receptions.

Gaelic which is spoken more in the Northern parts of Scotland and the Islands, this is different to Irish Gaelic and there are often even differences between Islands.

At this time of the year Hogmany is the big celebration with another tradition being to "first foot" someone, this is being the first person over the door in the New Year and you would bring them a small gift. It used to be a dark haired man and the gift would be a lump of coal to signify "lang may yer lum reek" (good health).

If you are going to research into William Wallace then there is the Wallace monument at Stirling which is worth looking at.

Can recommend the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, but also look at other types of Scottish Music, Fiddlers Rallys (large gatherings of fiddle, accordian players, usually organised by a Strathspey & Reel Orchestra/Society)

If you want to hear some of the tradional music search on You Tube of Ally Bain, Paul Anderson, Alistair Fraser or Duncan Chisholm (in my opinion some of the best Scottish Fiddlers around)

There is also Celtic rock from the likes of Runrig, Wolfstone, Capercaillie, the list goes on, if you want more names let me know.

Other things that come from Scotland are the Beano & Dandy comics which are produced by DC Thomson.

Hope that this is of some use

[disneyangel]

If you are going to research into William Wallace then there is the Wallace monument at Stirling which is worth looking at.


I was just thinking that would be fitting :thumbsup2

Here is the link to the official site http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/

[orlandothebeagle]

I was just thinking that would be fitting :thumbsup2

Here is the link to the official site http://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/

Yeah, but trust me you wont walk to walk to the top???lol
My friends from Kansas made me walk to the top, good training for a bloomin iron man or something!
They bought me achievemints at the bottom,lol.they were very yummy.

[SouthernExplorer]

Fellow American here. If you know what clan/sept you are descended from you might want to check out their website. Many clans and cheifs are online and can be a wonderful source of information. Ah, I see you are a Wallace-

Clan Wallace Wikipedia Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Wallace

The above article has a link to the Clan Wallace Society. Also, there is probably a Scottish American Association that you can Google for.

Other Scottish things:

Bagpipes of course.

The Lord Lyon King of Arms (deals with Scottish heraldry):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_King_of_Arms
The above article also has a link to the Court's official site.

The Order of the Thistle is a Scottish order of chivalry, and ranks second in precedence below England's Order of the Garter.

The Divine Right of Kings is a political theory that is closely associated with the Stuart Dynasty and especially Charles I.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (nee Bowes-Lyon) and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (nee Montagu-Douglas-Scott) were both Scottish. Perhaps your son could research Glamis Castle, Princess Margaret was born there. Sarah, Duchess of York is also part-Scottish, and is also related to above mentioned Princess Alice.

Also, for the monarchy research Scone Abbey and the Stone of Scone.

Presbyterianism and John Knox.

Hope this project gets your son interested in his family tree :)

[Dimplenose]

see if you can get some scottish comedians on u tube, you ll be able to listen to the accent- though you may need subtitles!!



Check these out on your own first as I'm not sure how many Scottish Comedians would be suitable for a 7 year old to listen to.:scared1:

[orlandothebeagle]

Check these out on your own first as I'm not sure how many Scottish Comedians would be suitable for a 7 year old to listen to.:scared1:

Good point, Billy Connelly:lmao:

[mtemm]

wow! thank you so much!!!!! this has been an amazing help. and makes me want to go someday!

[orlandothebeagle]

wow! thank you so much!!!!! this has been an amazing help. and makes me want to go someday!

You are very welcome,please come visit our gorgeous country and meet our fab people one day

[Roddy lawrie]

Check these out on your own first as I'm not sure how many Scottish Comedians would be suitable for a 7 year old to listen to.:scared1:

Robin williams explaing how the scots invented golf ( goafer holes ) is funny , though language not suitable for kids