The Spirit of Scotland. Presentation theme.

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Humanity Sciences

Presentation theme

The Spirit of Scotland

Written by: A. Semchenko

Grade 9B

Tutor L.P. Rakitskaya

Khabarovsk

2005

CONTESTS

Introduction………………………………………………………………………....3

1. Scotland FOREVER……………………………………………………………….3

2. A Small Part of England?……………..…………………………………….......…4

3. Born Fighting……………………………………………………………………....5

4. Three Hundred Years\' War……………………………………………………......8

5.

Reformation............................................................................................................11

6. Covenant and

Revolution.......................................................................................14

7. King over the

Water...............................................................................................16

8. The Scottish Enlightenment and

Beyond...............................................................19

9. Three literatures in

One………...……………………...........................................21

10. Trotting the

Globe.................................................................................................22

11. Conclusion………………………………………………………….……………24

References…………………………………………………………….….…...…25

Supplement…………………………………………………………..………..…26

Introduction

I\'d like to start with the fact that nowadays people have been travelling

all over the world and tourism has become an international business. Being

abroad people sometimes feel uncomfortable, confused or embarrassed

because of so called “culture shock”. It happens when they don\'t know the

history of the country, its culture, customs traditions people\'s lifestyle

and so on.

The subject of my work is “The Spirit of Scotland”. Of course, you have

heard of Hogmanay, haggis, Loch Ness Monster, Balmoral, the favourite

holiday home of the Royal family. These are just a few things Scotland is

famous for. Although it forms part of the UK, Scotland has district

national identity and character of its own.

Scotland Forever

Describe Scotland? Where do we start?! \"Land of the mountain and the

flood\" - the magnificent scenery will surely stir even the most sluggish

imagination, and though sometimes it can get wet, Edinburgh\'s rainfall is

no worse than that of New York or Rome, while the Moray coast is the

sunniest place in Britain.

Land of Castles. No one has ever managed to list all these, but in sheer

numbers and remarkable features they are on a par with anything Europe can

offer. Symbols of turbulent past, they represent a vast variety of ages,

layouts and styles - from huge citadels of Edinburgh and Stirling through

stout free-standing peels (tower-houses) to stately NeO-Gothic palaces.

Many are ruinous, not a few are still lived in by the same families that

built them and, needless to say, virtually all are haunted. .The Drummer

of Cortachy, the Green Lady of Crathes, General Tarn of the Binns and a

host of other apparitions mean as much to local lore as castles do to

romantic sights.

Land of Cakes, i.e. baps, buns, bannocks, scones and shortbread, usually

taken with tons of jam, jelly and marmalade. The insatiable sweet tooth of

the natives, who also consume over 9 oz. of confectionery per person per

week, made the Guinness Book of Records.

Land of Football. Scots may have little to celebrate in the World Cup, but

the very first mention of the sport does occur in an act of a king of

theirs as early as 1424. At that period it already had to be banned by the

crown on pain of a fine, obviously because the populace neglected all

other occupations. Later the epidemic spread abroad, and even the English

Football League was launched by a McGregor. Besides, at least two more

games were invented in Scotland - golf (which, over there, can be enjoyed

by everyone, not just the better-off) and curling (now a winter Olympic

event, where they try to hit the target with a round polished piece of

granite, and help it along by rubbing the ice with brooms).

Whatever the nicknames, here is, beyond doubt, one of the most vivid and

distinctive cultures in the world. Is there another race with national

dress as easily recognizable and so much clannish pride that one can

guess a person\'s name by the pattern of his clothes? Is there a country

where a meal course is regularly and respectfully greeted with lines

written by her greatest bard, or where a staple drink is synonymous with

her own identity? And can anyone, fail to acknowledge the sight and sound

of a bagpipe, and readily associate it with its homeland?

A Small Part of England?

In the eyes of many Scotland is a mere extension of her bigger and richer

southern neighbour. There are few fallacies so complete! It is true that

by the Union of 1707 she has lost her parliament and was governed from

London ever since. But any serious comparison between the two makes one

wonder what they have in common, apart from sharing the same island. Their

landscapes, national characters, languages, churches, social, legal and

educational systems, architectural styles and even senses of humour - all

differ markedly. They are as much alike as mountain and valley, granite

and brick, whisky and gin, or thistle and rose.

This diversity was shaped by nature and history. Often called a small

country, Scotland, in fact, is about the size of Austria and twice as big

as Switzerland; on the patchy map of medieval Europe she was one of the

major kingdoms. But the number of her inhabitants was never large. Even

today it is just over 5 million, half the population of Greater London or

Moscow, and the bulk of it is concentrated in the Glasgow-Edinburgh belt,

while in the north-west you can roam for days with not a soul around.

There are also countless lakes, including Loch Lomond (Britain\'s biggest)

and Loch Ness with its elusive monster. Of the many rivers the longest is

the Tay, and some smaller ones achieved universal fame for a lot more

than salmon-fishing - the Clyde for its great shipbuilding tradition

(until World War I it supplied one-third of all British tonnage), the

Tweed for fine wool and knitwear produced on its banks, and the Spey for

the malt whisky distilleries about it.

Scottish mountains, although tallest in the British Isles, are

geologically very old and yield in height to the Alps and Pyrenees.

Nonetheless, the challenge they pose to human endeavour and the

admiration their stern grandeur excites in the spirit strongly

influenced national character. So did the unpredictably changeful

climate, that of a Northern country, but rather tempered by the sea. The

Highlands are often shrouded in snow into the summer months, while just

several dozen miles away the Gulf Stream allows palm trees and subtropic

plants to grow. Sometimes all seasons seem to come and go in a single

day. As a result, the Scottish temperament is one of barely reconcilable

contrasts, defined by a modern author as \"fiery imagination, incisive

intellect, tough stoicism and gentle affection\". It is a nature at once

daring and cautious (canny, to use a Scots word), thrifty and generous,

mild and aggressive. Warlike qualities, in particular, came to the fore —

and they had to be there.

Born Fighting

The Scottish realm, goes the proverb, was born fighting. Since the days of

the Roman Empire, Caledonia, as she was known to the ancients, was under

constant threat of invasion. In the first centuries A.D. the Roman legions

led by able commanders like Agricola, and even the emperors in person,

strove to subdue the unruly northern tribes. Despite the seemingly

decisive defeat of their chieftain Calgacus (the first native recorded by

name), and the construction of colossal protective walls against them

across the whole country, Caledonia never became a province of Rome,

unlike southern Britain. In the end, the mighty conquerors were forced to

abandon their crumbling defences and withdrew from the island.

During the \"Dark Ages\" Caledonia was a melting pot of peoples vying for

supremacy. The most powerful adversaries of Rome were the Picts (the word

literally means \"painted folk\"). For hundreds of years they dominated

northern Britain from the Shetland Islands to the Firth of Forth. By the

eighth century their ruler Brude mac Bile and his heirs forged a kingdom

that foreshadowed a unified Scotland. Carved Pictish symbol-stones and

metalwork with graceful ornamentation are among the finest of that

period. Still, the written evidence is so scarce that their language is

undeciphered, and in many respects they remain a mystery. It is not even

clear whether these natives were full-fledged Celts or not. One striking

fact may indicate non-Indo-European origin. Pictish monarchs, unequally in

medieval Europe, inherited power through the female line.

In the south dwelt another group of tribes, there definitely the Celtic

Britons. As subjects of Rome for quite a while they were strongly

influenced by Roman culture, then formed several early kingdoms of their

own. The biggest of those, Strathclyde, stretched to the borders of Wales,

where the legendary British King Arthur is said to have reigned. Scotland

looms large in the Arthurian romance, and from times immemorial the

highest point of Edinburgh, a city founded in the land of the Britons, was

called Arthur\'s Seat. A less illustrious Briton named Aneirin composed the

epic poem \"Gododdin\", the oldest surviving literary work to come from

Scotland.

It was not, however, the indigenous Picts or Britons who eventually gave

their name to the country Jin the last years of the fifth century a band

of Irish Celts, called Scoti in Latin, crossed over from Ulster to

Kintyre peninsula under Fergus mac Ere. They established a settlement

which soon grew into the tribal kingdom of Dal Riata. From then on, it

coexisted with rival states, engaging in conflicts and mutual contacts.

Differences notwithstanding, the peoples of northern Britain shared a

similar social structure and way of life. A vital force which drew them

even closer together was Christianity. Of the multitude of obscure Celtic

churchmen several saintly preachers stand out - Ninian and Kentigern (or

Mungo), both British, and Columba, the Irish Scot who founded the famous

monastery at lona. The fervent labours of these \"Caledonian Apostles\" and

their followers brought about the conversion of the Picts. Curiously, St.

Patrick of Ireland was very probably born on Scottish soil, in

Strathclyde. As for the veneration of St. Andrew as Patron of Scotland,

his relics were presumably brought from Greece to the Pictish province of

Fife, where the see and city of St. Andrews were dedicated to him. His

diagonal cross (the saltire) became a national emblem in the thirteenth

century.

Relations between all these tribes were far from friendly, and as if the

ethnic picture of northern Britain had not been complex enough already,

pagan Germanic invaders imposed themselves upon it -the Angles from the

south in the sixth century, the Scandinavians from the north in the eighth

and thereafter. The former occupied Lothian (the most fertile part of

Scotland around Edinburgh) and pushed further on, but were rebuffed by the

Picts at the battle of Dunnichen in 685. The fast-sailing Vikings, the

scourge of entire Europe, infested Scottish waters and shores in the first

place, as lying nearest to Norway, and soon seized and colonized the

islands of Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides as well as parts of mainland.

Joint resistance to common enemies, along with dynastic ties, trade and

cultural affinity caused the union of Scots and Picts under Kenneth mac

Alpin. In 843 he became sole ruler of the kingdom of Scotia, or in the

Celtic tongue, both then and now, Alba. The capital was moved to the

heart of the country, Dunkeld and Scone, where kings were enthroned on the

Stone of Destiny. Few of Kenneth\'s successors died in their beds, but they

did all they could to strengthen and augment their dominions. Royal

authority was often threatened from within, by their own kinsmen. One such

case gave birth to the tragedy whose title actors usually avoid for some

superstitious reason, referring to it as \"that Scottish play\". In 1040 a

northern governor named Macbeth rebelled against King Duncan, slew him and

usurped the crown, only to be overthrown by Malcolm, the rightful heir,

with English help. Strangely enough, medieval annals do not support the

image of a wicked tyrant; on his pilgrimage to Rome, for instance, Macbeth

\"scattered money, like seed, for the poor\".

The auspicious reign of David 1(1124-1153), who made himself master of

northern England as far as Lancashire, ushered in a new epoch. In the

twelfth and thirteenth centuries many burghs (i.e. towns), castles and

abbeys were built, as Anglo-French or Flemish knights and tradesmen

settled all over Scotland in significant numbers. In sharp contrast with

England, where the violent Norman conquest wiped out the Saxon elite, it

was a gradual and peaceful penetration, so that Celtic monarchy,

aristocracy and customs stayed very much alive. Feudalism and the clan

system evolved side by side at the same time and, far from being

antagonistic, complemented each other. The avowed differences between

clannish, pastoral. Gaelic-speaking Highlands and feudal, agricultural,

Scots-speaking Lowlands were never clear-cut or insuperable. Despite the

unlikely mixture, Pict, Briton, Scot, Angle and Norseman blended into one.

When the grim hour of trial came, the kingdom rallied and stood firm.

Three Hundred Years\' War

The long spell of peace and prosperity came to a close with the accidental

deaths of King Alexander III in 1286 and his only descendant, the

Norwegian princess Margaret (The Maid of Norway), four years later. Since

the ruling I house became extinct. Scottish magnates wisely appointed six

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