Проект Scotland Customs and Traditions

        Выполнил: Никитин Дмитрий

                                                                                                                                          Ученик 6А класса

МБОУ г. Астрахани «СОШ№14»

Contents

1. Introduction.
2. Scotland. General information.
3. Scotland. Customs and traditions.
4. Conclusion.
5. Literature.

Introduction

“As many cultures you know as many times you can be called an educated person” said A.P. Chekhov.  I think we can agree with this statement. To begin with I would like to say that this topic is very actual today. Customs and traditions play a very important role in our life. All countries have their own unique culture, customs and traditions. Even in one culture you can find many differences not only in the culture but also in the language it depends on the territory. It’s not a secret that those traditions and customs which are accepted by one culture may be very unusual and unacceptable for the other culture.  It is important to learn and to study different cultures as not to get into an unpleasant situation, especially if you like travelling.

Today we have got a lot of opportunities to see the other towns, cities and countries. My dream is to visit Scotland one day that’s why I have chosen this country for my study.

The subject of my study is different customs and traditions of Scotland.

The aims are to remind that we live in one big world and should respect, understand and to be tolerant to different cultures as it is useful for living in peace, to study customs and traditions of Scotland and to find some common features with Russian culture.

Scotland. General information

Scotland is a country in the north of Great Britain. It is a part of the United Kingdom. Scotland is divided into three natural regions: the Southern Uplands, the Central Lowlands and the Highlands and islands. The territory of Scotland is about 79,000 square kilometers, but the population of Scotland is only five million people.

Scotland is full of mountains and lakes. The highest mountain is Ben Nevis. There are a lot of rivers there. The river Clyde is Scotland’s most important river.  The hills are covered with purple heather. The lakes are beautiful. They are called lochs. The best known is Loch Ness, but the biggest and the most beautiful lake is Loch Lomond.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. There are two large cities here Glasgow and Aberdeen. Shipbuilding is one of the most important industries in Scotland; other industries are iron and steel, heavy and light engineering and coal-mining. There are two languages spoken: English and the Scottish form of Gaelic. The Scottish flag is a white cross on a blue background. This cross is the cross of Saint Andrew.

Numerous castles, stately homes, churches and abbeys allow the visitors to “touch the history”. Scotland is a land of many famous people: writers and poets, scientists and philosophers, for example, A.G. Bell, W. Scott, R.L. Stevenson, R. Burns and many others.

Scotland. Customs and traditions

Holidays.

The first one is St Andrew’s Day which is celebrated on 30th November honoros St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. It is celebrated with ceilidhs--dances--and in the village of St. Andrew, there is a big festival.St Andrew’s Day is a traditional celebration, where young women pray to St. Andrew for a husband and then make a wish and look for a sign that they wish and prayers were heard. In the same day, the sign can be seen by throwing a shoe at a door and the toe of the shoe is pointed in the direction of the exit, then she would be married within the year and be leaving her parents’ home. Another sign or clue could be found by peeling an entire apple without breaking the peel. Then throw the peel over her shoulder to see if the peel formed a letter of the alphabet which might suggest the name of her future groom.

Christmas is celebrated much like in the rest of the world. On 25thDecember, people sometimes make big bonfires and dance around them to the playing of bagpipes. Bannock cakes made of oatmeal are traditionally eaten at Christmas.

     Other important celebrations are Hogmanay and New Year. The Scottish people have their big celebrations on New Year's Day, called Hogmanay. A long time ago there is a superstition that it is bad luck for the fire to go out on Christmas Eve.  . Street parties are held at midnight with the ringing of bells and fireworks, and it is considered good luck to have the first person to enter the house after midnight to be a male with dark hair.

Burns Night - the 25th January is the day where Scots throughout the world celebrate the life and work of our famous poet Rabbie Burns with a Burns Supper.

Easter Day is a festival that marks the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is observed throughout the world with solemnity.   Easter traditions in Scotland include the age-old custom of painting on an egg and rolling it down the hill and lighting up huge fires.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an unique event that draws crowds (and performers) from all over the world with massed pipes and drums, massed military bands, display teams, dancers and the haunting lament of the Lone Piper set against the magnificent backcloth of Edinburgh Castle.

Every year people gather from all over the world to enjoy the Edinburgh International Jazz & Blues Festival. This is the biggest jazz event in Britain and it is generally held over ten days during the summer months in Scotland.

Both adults and children have inquiring minds and the Edinburgh Science Festival is the perfect place to quell that curiosity. Every year the science festival seems to grow a little bigger and have even more interesting things to see and learn about than the previous years.

Drress and Highland games.

The first thing to know about Scottish dress is that only men wear the kilt. Women wear a pleated skirt in the tartan colors. The kilt is shorter and has more pleats than the woman's skirt. Other parts of the Scottish men's dress include the jackets, sporran, kilt hose and garters. There more than 4,000 recognized Scottish tartan patterns.

To a Scot, the Highland Games are the World Series, Super Bowl, Olympics and a dance party all in one. There are three competition categories: music, dance and games. In the music category, there is competition in piping, pipe band, massed band, drumming, drum major and Scottish fiddle. The dance competition includes the Highland fling, the sword dance, strathspey and Highland reel, strathspey and half tulloch, and the sailor's hornpipe. The sporting events include shot put, weight throw, weight toss, stone throw, Braemar stone, hammer throw, farmer's walk, tug-of-war, kilted mile, tossing the wellie, tossing the caber and the Bonnie knees contest.

Folklore, myths and legends.

Scotland is full of folklore, myths and legends. The most spread and well know is about Loch Ness Monster.

The first sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was in the River Ness in 565 AD the Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he came across the locals burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man had been swimming the river when he was attacked by a "water beast" that had mauled him and dragged him under the water.

Scotland is often associated with bagpipes but the interesting fact is that bagpipes aren't originally from Scotland. Bagpipes originate from southern Europe and appear in Scotland around 1400 AD. The Scottish Bagpipe, or Great Highland Bagpipe, became established in the British military and achieved the widespread prominence it enjoys today, whereas other bagpipe traditions throughout Europe, ranging from Spain to Russia, almost universally went into decline by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though widely famous for its role in military and civilian pipe bands, the Great Highland Bagpipe is also used for a solo virtuosic style called pibroch.

Food.

Scots have some very unique food traditions such as haggis, which is stuffed sheep's stomach; tipsy laird trifle made with sherry and whiskey; clootie dumpling, clootie being the cloth it is boiled in; forfar bridie, a meat pastry; Scotch pies, which are meat pies made with minced lamb or beef; Christmas pudding, which is made with suet, spices and brandy or rum, and is boiled; and cullen sink, a fish soup made with smoked haddock and milk.

        Conclusion

To sum it up we can say that traditions and customs show the entity of a nation. They have its own long history and still have been reflecting in the modern life. They keep them for people from different parts of the world.

I understand that Scottish enjoy their traditions, they are fond of different festivals, which are held practically in every part of the country, such as The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, International Jazz & Blues Festival, Edinburgh Science Festival.

They are proud of their country and its history and traditions; they are very closed, united and friendly nation.  Even today they dress national clothes as kilts on special days.  Scottish people keep their traditions in music, you can enjoy bagpipes; in food, on holidays you can try national dishes such as haggis and Scotch pies.

They still believe different legends and myths; every castle in Scotland has its own story.

And we are not as different as it seems. We have the same holidays like Christmas and Easter. The ceremony of dressing up is also spread in our country. I think we both like different holidays, sport completions and festivals.

In my opinion it is not hard to find common language if you know the history, the culture and traditions of the other country.  It is important to learn different cultures because trough the history and the culture of the country you begin to understand your own culture better. We should respect and keep our traditions, customs, culture and history, because if you don’t know you past you’ll have no future.

Literature

1. Бережная О.А. «Сборник новых тем современного английского языка», 2013.
2. http://www.scotlandinfo.eu/scottish-culture-and-traditions.html
3. http://www.ehow.com/about_5081721_scottish-traditions-customs.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Scotland#Folklore