The culture of Scotland refers to the patterns of human activity and symbolism associated with Scotland and the Scottish people. The Scottish flag is blue with a white saltire, and represents the cross of Saint Andrew.
Scotland retains Scots Law, its own unique legal system, based on Roman law, which combines features of both civil law and common law. The terms of union with England specified the retention of separate systems. The barristers are called advocates, and the judges of the high court for civil cases are also the judges for the high court for criminal cases. Scots Law differs from England's common law system.
Formerly, there were several regional law systems in Scotland, one of which was Udal Law (also called allodail or odal law) in Shetland and Orkney. This was a direct descendant of Old Norse Law, but was abolished in 1611. Despite this, Scottish courts have acknowledged the supremacy of udal law in some property cases as recently as the 1990s. Various systems based on common Celtic Law also survived in the Highlands until the 1800s.
Scotland competes in sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup. Scotland does not compete in the Olympic Games independently however, and in athletics, Scotland has competed for the Celtic Cup, against teams from Wales and Ireland, since the inaugural event in 2006.[1]
Scotland is the "Home of Golf", and is well known for its courses. As well as its world-famous Highland Games (athletic competitions), it is also the home of curling, and shinty, a stick game similar to Ireland's hurling.
Scotland has 4 professional ice hockey teams that compete in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Scottish cricket is a minority game.
The earliest extant literature written in what is now Scotland, was composed in Brythonic speech in the sixth century and has survived as part of Welsh literature.[2] In the following centuries there was literature in Latin, under the influence of the Catholic Church, and in Old English, brought by Anglian settlers. As the state of Alba developed into the kingdom of Scotland from the eighth century, there was a flourishing literary elite who regularly produced texts in both Gaelic and Latin, sharing a common literary culture with Ireland and elsewhere.[3] After the Davidian Revolution of the thirteenth century a flourishing French language culture predominated, while Norse literature was produced from areas of Scandinavian settlement.[4] The first surviving major text in Early Scots literature is the fourteenth-century poet John Barbour's epic Brus, which was followed by a series of vernacular versions of medieval romances. These were joined in the fifteenth century by Scots prose works.[5][6]
In the early modern era royal patronage supported poetry, prose and drama. James V's court saw works such as Sir David Lindsay of the Mount's The Thrie Estaitis.[7] In the late sixteenth century James VI became patron and member of a circle of Scottish court poets and musicians known as the Castalian Band.[8] When he acceded to the English throne in 1603 many followed him to the new court, but without a centre of royal patronage the tradition of Scots poetry subsided.[9] It was revived after union with England in 1707 by figures including Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson and James Macpherson.[10] The latter's Ossian Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation.[11] He helped inspire Robert Burns, considered by many to be the national poet, and Walter Scott, whose Waverley Novels did much to define Scottish identity in the 19th century.[12] Towards the end of the Victorian era a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald.[13]
In the 20th century there was a surge of activity in Scottish literature, known as the Scottish Renaissance. The leading figure, Hugh MacDiarmid, attempted to revive the Scots language as a medium for serious literature.[14] Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of post-war poets including Edwin Morgan, who would be appointed the first Scots Makar by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004.[15] From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with writers including James Kelman and Irvine Welsh. Scottish poets who emerged in the same period included Carol Ann Duffy, who was named as the first Scot to be UK Poet Laureate in May 2009.[16]
The earliest examples of art from what is now Scotland are highly decorated carved stone balls from the Neolithic period.[17] From the Bronze Age there are examples of carvings, including the first representations of objects, and cup and ring marks.[18] From the Iron Age there are more extensive examples of patterned objects and gold work.[19] From the early Middle Ages there are elaborately carved Pictish stones[20] and impressive metalwork.[21] The development of a common style of Insular art across Great Britain and Ireland influenced elaborate jewellery and illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells.[22] Only isolated examples survive of native artwork from the late Middle Ages and of works created or strongly influenced by artists of Flemish origin.[23] The influence of the Renaissance can be seen in stone carving and painting from the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century the crown began to employ Flemish court painters who have left a portrait record of royalty.[24]The Reformation removed a major source of patronage for art, limited the level of public display, but may have helped in the growth of secular domestic forms, particularly elaborate painting of roofs and walls.[25] In the seventeenth century there were the first significant native artists for whom names are extant, with figures like George Jamesone and John Michael Wright, but the loss of the court as a result of the Union of Crowns in 1603 removed another major source of patronage.[26]
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music imported from the rest of Europe and the United States, the music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects; indeed, it has itself influenced many forms of music.
Scotland's media are partly separate from the rest of the UK. For example, Scotland has several national newspapers, such as the Daily Record (Scotland's leading tabloid), the broadsheetThe Herald, based in Glasgow, and The Scotsman in Edinburgh. Sunday newspapers include the tabloid Sunday Mail (published by Daily Record parent company Trinity Mirror) and the Sunday Post, while the Sunday Herald and Scotland on Sunday have associations with The Herald and The Scotsman respectively.
Scotland has its own BBC services which include the national radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Gaelic language service BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. There are also a number of BBC and independent local radio stations throughout the country. In addition to radio, BBC Scotland also runs three national television stations: the Scottish variant ofBBC One, the BBC Scotland channel and Gaelic-language TV channel BBC Alba. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such as news and current affairs programmes, and the Glasgow-based soap opera, River City, are intended for broadcast within Scotland, while others, such as drama and comedy programmes, aim at audiences throughout the UK and further afield.
Two ITV stations, STV and ITV, also broadcast in Scotland. Most of the independent television output is the same as that transmitted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the exception of news and current affairs, sport, comedy, cultural and Scottish Gaelic-language programming.
The soft drink Irn-Bru is cited by its manufacturer A.G. Barr as Scotland's 'other' national drink owing to its large market share in Scotland outselling major international brands such as Coca-Cola.
Halloween, on the night of October 31, is a traditional and much celebrated holiday in Scotland.[51] The name Halloween was first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of All-Hallows-Eve,[52] and according to some historians it has its roots in the Gaelic festival of Samhain, when the Gaels believed the border between this world and the otherworld became thin, and the dead would revisit the mortal world.[53] In 1780, Dumfries poet John Mayne noted Halloween pranks: "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associations of that night, "Bogies" (ghosts).[54] The bard of Scotland Robert Burns' 1785 poem Halloween is recited by Scots at Halloween, and Burns was influenced by Mayne's composition.[54][55] In Scotland, traditional Halloween customs include: Guising — children in costume going from door to door demanding food or coins — which became established practice by the late 19th century,[56][57]turnips hollowed out and carved with faces to make lanterns,[56] and parties with games such as apple bobbing.[58] Further contemporary imagery of Halloween is derived from Gothic and horror literature (notably Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Hammer Horrors). Mass transatlantic Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America.[59]
Scotland also has its own unique family of languages and dialects, helping to foster a strong sense of "Scottish-ness". See Scots language and Scottish Gaelic language. An organisation called Iomairt Cholm Cille (Columba Project) has been set up to support Gaelic-speaking communities in both Scotland and Ireland and to promote links between them.[60]
^"Scottish athletics and Wales competing in two leagues, the top four teams from each league qualifying for a final knockout cup competition". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^R. T. Lambdin and L. C. Lambdin, Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature (London: Greenwood, 2000), ISBN0-313-30054-2, p. 508.
^T. O. Clancy, "Scottish literature before Scottish literature", in G. Carruthers and L. McIlvanney, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Scottish Literature (Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2012), ISBN0521189365, p. 19.
^K. M. Brown, Noble Society in Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture from the Reformation to the Revolutions (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), ISBN0748612998, p. 220.
^N. Jayapalan, History of English Literature (Atlantic, 2001), ISBN81-269-0041-5, p. 23.
^J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN0-7486-0276-3, pp. 60–7.
^I. Brown, T. Owen Clancy, M. Pittock, S. Manning, eds, The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: From Columba to the Union, until 1707 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), ISBN0-7486-1615-2, pp. 256–7.
^R. D. S. Jack, Alexander Montgomerie, (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985), ISBN0-7073-0367-2, pp. 1–2.
^R. D. S. Jack, "Poetry under King James VI", in C. Cairns, ed., The History of Scottish Literature (Aberdeen University Press, 1988), vol. 1, ISBN0-08-037728-9, pp. 137–8.
^V. G. Childe, The Prehistory Of Scotland (London: Taylor and Francis, 1935), p. 115.
^R. G. Collingwood and J. N. L. Myres, Roman, Britain and the English Settlements (New York, NY: Biblo & Tannen, 2nd edn., 1936), ISBN978-0-8196-1160-4, p. 25.
^J. Graham-Campbell and C. E. Batey, Vikings in Scotland: an Archaeological Survey (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), ISBN0-7486-0641-6, pp. 7–8.
^S. Youngs, ed., "The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th–9th centuries AD (London: British Museum Press, 1989), ISBN0-7141-0554-6, pp. 26–8.
^C. E Karkov, The Art of Anglo-Saxon England (Boydell Press, 2011), ISBN1843836289, p. 5.
^B. Webster, Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity (St. Martin's Press, 1997), ISBN0-333-56761-7, pp. 127–9.
^J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), ISBN0-7486-0276-3, pp. 57–9.
^N. Prior, Museums and Modernity: Art Galleries and the Making of Modern Culture (Berg, 2002), ISBN1859735088, p. 102.
^A. Thomas, The Renaissance, in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), ISBN0-19-162433-0, pp. 198–9.
^J. Wormald, Scotland: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), ISBN0-19-162243-5.
^D. Campbell, Edinburgh: A Cultural and Literary History (Oxford: Signal Books, 2003), ISBN1-902669-73-8, pp. 142–3.
^R. J. Hill, Picturing Scotland Through the Waverley Novels: Walter Scott and the Origins of the Victorian Illustrated Novel (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), ISBN0-7546-6806-1, p. 104.
^Whitaker's Concise Almanack 2012 (A&C Black, 2011), ISBN1408142309, p. 410.
^ abD. Macmillan, Scottish Art 1460–1990 (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), ISBN0500203334, p. 348.
^M. MacDonald, Scottish Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), ISBN0500203334, p. 151.
^R. Billcliffe, The Glasgow Boys (London: Frances Lincoln, 2009), ISBN0-7112-2906-6.
^S. Tschudi-Madsen, The Art Nouveau Style: a Comprehensive Guide (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002), ISBN0-486-41794-8, pp. 283–4.
^C. Richardson, Scottish Art Since 1960: Historical Reflections and Contemporary Overviews (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011), ISBN0-7546-6124-5, p. 58.
^D. Reid, The Rough Guide to Edinburgh (London: Rough Guides, 3rd edn., 2002), ISBN1-85828-887-8, p. 114.
^P. Küppers, The Scar of Visibility: Medical Performances And Contemporary Art (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), ISBN0-8166-4653-8, p. 61.
^M. Garber, Patronizing the Arts (Princeton University Press, 2008), ISBN1400830036, pp. 55–6.
^R.-B. M. Quinn, Public Policy and the Arts: a Comparative Study of Great Britain and Ireland (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998), ISBN1840141743, p. 137.
^M. Chisholm, Structural Reform of British Local Government: Rhetoric and Reality (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000), ISBN071905771X, p. 141.
^Simpson, John; Weiner, Edmund (1989), Oxford English Dictionary (second ed.), London: Oxford University Press, ISBN0-19-861186-2, OCLC17648714
^O'Driscoll, Robert (ed.) (1981) The Celtic Consciousness New York, Braziller ISBN0-8076-1136-0 pp.197–216: Ross, Anne "Material Culture, Myth and Folk Memory" (on modern survivals); pp.217–242: Danaher, Kevin "Irish Folk Tradition and the Celtic Calendar" (on specific customs and rituals)
^ abFrank Leslie's popular monthly: Volume 40 (1895) p.540
^Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p.48. Oxford University Press
^Samhain, BBC Religion and Ethics. Retrieved 21 October 2008.
^Rogers, Nicholas. (2002). "Coming Over: Halloween in North America" Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. pp.49–77. New York: Oxford University Press.
^"Iomairt Cholm Cille". Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
^L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), ISBN0-903903-24-5, p. 63.
^Lucas Quensel von Kalben, "The British Church and the Emergence of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom", in T. Dickinson and D. Griffiths, eds, Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 10: Papers for the 47th Sachsensymposium, York, September 1996 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), ISBN086054138X, p. 93.
^"About the Festival". National Celtic Festival website. National Celtic Festival. 2009. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2010.