See Dates in History in our Features Section
 

I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding expression adequate to one's feeling.

Robert Burns

We continue our new Feature in this section of the Flag - Scottish Quotations - statements in prose and verse which reflect all aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1^st century to the present day.  New quotes added every week.  The quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert Burns, "To see oursels as others see us"    

Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Your country [Scotland] consists of two things, stone and water.

(After being storm bound, rained on and tossed about in boats during his tour of the Western Isles 1773)

The Very Rev Dr George Fielden MacLeod, Baron of Fuinary MC DD (1896-1991)

Follow truth wherever you find it.

 

 

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894)

A Scotchman is vain, interested in himself and others, eager for sympathy, setting forth his thoughts and experience in the best light. The egoism of the Englishman is self-contained. He does not seek to proselytise. He takes no interest in Scotland or the Scotch, and, what is the unkindest cut of all, he does not care to justify his indifference.

Nick Thorpe

The extraordinary ramifications [of the Declaration of Scottish Independence, Arbroath 6 April 1320] had been felt down the centuries, inspiring other great political milestones such as the American Declaration of Independence. For in asserting the right to remove their monarch if he sold them out, the Scots were effectively the first in European history formally to question the divine right of kings – and, by implication, the ‘divine right’ of anyone else to use God as an excuse to violate their freedom. It was a blow against fundamentalism centuries before the Enlightenment.

(Adrift in Caledonia – Boat-hitching for the Unenlightened 2006)

OF A’ THE AIRTS (I LOVE MY JEAN)
Robert Burns

Of a’ the airts the wind can blow
            I dearly like the west,
For there the bonnie lassie lives,
            The lassie I lo’e best,
Where wild-woods grow, and rivers row,
            And many a hill between,
But day and night my fancy’s flight
            Is ever wi’ my Jean.

I see her in the dewy flowers,
            I see her sweet and fair;
I hear her in the tunefu’ birds,
            I hear her charm the air;
There’s not a bonnie flower that springs
            By fountain, shaw or green,
There’s not a bonnie bird that sings,
            But minds me o’ my Jean.
 

Footnote:  In his notes (1788) Robert Burns wrote: “This song beginning ‘Of a’ the airts the wind can blast’, I composed out of compliment to Mrs Burns. N.B. – It was during the honeymoon.”

See the SING A SANG AT LEAST in our Features section
 

SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

With the New Year celebrations behind us once again, it is back to auld claes an parritch , the usual routine again. That would not have been the case in past centuries when workers could look for ward to Handsel Monday – the First Monday after New Year which was described in Jamieson’s Dictionary as –

The first Monday of the New Year; so called because it has been the custom from time immemorial, for servants and others to ask or receive handsel on this day.

The poet R Anderson recorded how past generations looked forward to Handsel Monday –

They waited till the Auld Kirk bell
Struck twal’ then at the final knoll,
The ladies a’ set up a yell –
‘Hurrah forr Handsel Monday.’

Until late in the 19^th century, Handsel Monday was even more important than Hogmanay or Neerday because it was the only holiday workers were allowed in the entire year, apart from the occasional local fair. It was a day when families could get together, couple marry, a day to celebrate and enjoy to the full. Handsel gifts were given to workers, usually in the form of cash, and it was recognised as an essential part of servant’s wages. The tradition started to die out in towns during the 19^th century but lingered on in the country areas until the turn of the century. This week’s recipe, which dates from 1880, might well have featured on Handsel Monday. Mannies an Horses (men and horses) is a recipe from the Aberdeenshire village of Insh and were a market day speciality.

Mannies an Horses

Ingredients:  8oz plain flour; ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 tsp ground ginger; 3oz lard; 5 tbsp syrup; little warm water if needed

Method:  Preheat oven to 180 deg C/350 deg F/ Gas Mark 4. Beat the lard and syrup together. Mix the dry ingredients, and work into syrup mixture. Roll out and shape into mannies and horses. Bake until golden brown. 

acquant: acquaint
contrair: contrary ; diametrically opposed
hurl: to bowl along ; to wheel ; a vehicle ride
hurl-barra: a wheelbarrow
saum: a psalm
 
It taks a lang spune ti sup wi a Fifer: If you associate with a Fifer be on your guard, they are a smart bunch.

"The Lord's my herd, I sall nocht want
Whaur green the gresses grewe
   sall be my fauld. He caas me aye
whaur fresh sweet burniesrowe.
 
   He gars my saul be blyth aince mair
that wandert was frae hame,
and leads me on the straucht smaa gait
for sake o His ain name."
 
frae "The Twenty-Third Psalm o King Dauvid"  - Douglas Young