Tag Archives: romance

I’m in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for the month of April.  I need your help!  To meet this challenge, I’ll be doing one post a day, working through the alphabet.

Your job is to comment and keep me motivated!  Let me know you’re out there and following along.  Can she make it?  Will she?  Of course she will!  With you as my cheering section, I won’t be stumped by J or Q or even X.

So without further ado, here is today’s post.

T is for Tartan.  

Here’s a bit more poetry for you, along with the Blair Tartan.  Cheers!

The above is from a post-Victorian piece by Scots-Canadian poet Murdoch MacLean.

Interested in finding the other nearly 2000 blogs participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge?  Click on the title, then scroll down to find the sign-up list.

I’m in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for the month of April.  I need your help!  To meet this challenge, I’ll be doing one post a day, working through the alphabet.

Your job is to comment and keep me motivated!  Let me know you’re out there and following along.  Can she make it?  Will she?  Of course she will!  With you as my cheering section, I won’t be stumped by J or Q or even X.

So without further ado, here is today’s post.

S is for schooling.  

The first university in Scotland was established in 1413 at the University of St. Andrews.  It is the third oldest university in the English-speaking world.

The first compulsory schooling in Scotland was mandated by James IV in the 15th Century!

The Education Act 1496 was enacted by the Parliament of Scotland and made schooling compulsory for the first time for male children of Scottish nobility and large landholders.  It mandated the study of Latin, law and the arts, and was intended to ensure that local authorities were competent to deal with local problems.

Interested in finding the other nearly 2000 blogs participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge?  Click on the title, then scroll down to find the sign-up list.

I’m in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for the month of April.  I need your help!  To meet this challenge, I’ll be doing one post a day, working through the alphabet.

Your job is to comment and keep me motivated!  Let me know you’re out there and following along.  Can she make it?  Will she?  Of course she will!  With you as my cheering section, I won’t be stumped by J or Q or even X.

So without further ado, here is today’s post.

R is for Robert.  There are two of special note in Scotland – Robert the Bruce, and the poet Robert Burns.   After the horrific events of earlier this week, I’m choosing to keep this light and talk about Robbie Burns, the poet.  

Burns is so venerated in Scotland and around the world that his birthday, January 25, is a holiday in many areas and is celebrated with a special dinner.   Of Haggis.  More about that in a minute.

His most famous poem in the United States is certainly Auld Lang Syne, sung every New Year’s Eve just at midnight.  

But his next most famous might be Address to a Haggis, recited during the Robert Burns birthday celebration dinner.  I won’t quote it here (it’s quite lengthy).  The haggis is then slit open with a very sharp ceremonial dirk (see D is for Dirk) – or a kitchen knife - and dinner is served.  

After dinner, there is more singing, quoting Burn’s works, and of course, consumption of ale and whisky.  The evening ends with Burns’s Toast to the Lasses, Reply from the Lasses, a recitation of Burns’s Tam o’Shanter and singing – you guessed it – Auld Lang Syne.

If that sounds like fun, mark your calendar for January 25th!  

Interested in finding the other nearly 2000 blogs participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge?  Click on the title, then scroll down to find the sign-up list.

I’m in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for the month of April.  I need your help!  To meet this challenge, I’ll be doing one post a day, working through the alphabet.

Your job is to comment and keep me motivated!  Let me know you’re out there and following along.  Can she make it?  Will she?  Of course she will!  With you as my cheering section, I won’t be stumped by J or Q or even X.

So without further ado, here is today’s post.

Q is for the Quincentenary of the Battle of Flodden Field.  

(You didn’t think I could do it, did you?  Ha!  I fooled you.  Just wait until you see what I’ve got for X!)

A quincentenary is the 500th anniversary of an event.  This year, in September of 2013 is the 500th anniversary of the disastrous Battle of Flodden Field.  

Memorial Cross at Flodden Field

Disastrous for the Scots, not the English.  Scotland’s King James IV was killed, along with most of his nobles, lairds and their heirs.  James V was 18 months old.  Queen Margaret, sister to Henry VIII – yes, that Henry VIII – was named Regent for a short period of time, but lost that to the Duke of Albany.  He wasn’t much help, preferring to spend time in France.

So chaos ruled, especially among the clans that had been left leaderless.  This is the setup for my Highland Talents series.  I chose this time period because of the leadership vacuum and the opportunity for stories that fit within a historical setting but didn’t depend on recognizable historical figures.

Flodden Field Today
Courtesy of Jody Allen

Interested in finding the other nearly 2000 blogs participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge?  Click on the title, then scroll down to find the sign-up list.