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John Knox founder of the Church of Scotland

"... the kirke within this kingdome is now purged of all superstitious observatione of dayes... thairfor the saidis estatis have dischairged and simply dischairges the foirsaid Yule vacance and all observation thairof in tymecomeing, and rescindis and annullis all acts, statutis and warrandis and ordinances whatsoevir granted at any tyme heirtofoir for keiping of the said Yule vacance, with all custome of observatione thairof, and findis and declaires the samene to be extinct, voyd and of no force nor effect in tymecomeing." 

Act discharging the Yule vacance (2 June 1640)

Nothing like an image of John Knox to put one in the Christmas spirit...

The Scots traditionally have not celebrated Christmas.  Prior to 1560 Christmas was  a time for feasting.  The year 1560 is important as it is the start of the Protestant Reformation.  The Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) - or Covenanters - frowned on anything to do with Roman Catholicism and in 1640 the Scottish Parliament made the Yule vacations illegal.  One has to put this in perspective as 1640 was right at the start of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In England, part of this war is known as the English Civil War.  Even when Charles II was restored to the throne, Christmas celebrations were frowned upon.  It took until 1958 for 25 December to become a public holiday.  This is one of the reasons why New Year's or the Hogmanay is a more important celebration for the Scots.

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Ange joueur de biniou kozh ou cornemuse (sculpture dans le donjon du château de Vincennes).

ABC Notation is a shorthand form of musical notation for computers.  It can be converted to show the standard staff notation of music (i.e. engraving).  It can also be processed to produce a MIDI sound file.  ABC notation is ASCII based and has the flavour of software from the 1990s at a time before the preponderance of Windows and "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG).  The language has evolved but is standardized.  The initial release dates to 1997 but the latest release was in December 2011.  Details are at: http://abcnotation.com/ .  The standard has extensions that can accommodate lyrics (aligned with notes - reminds us of hymn books), chords, tablature and even percussion/drumming. 

The developer of ABC Notation, Chris Walshaw, originally developed the program to notate French bagpipe music (binioù and bombarde).  ABC Notation is an offshoot of MusiXTEX - a typesetting/engraving system for music typesetting.  A further offshoot of this project was LilyPond - but its input files resemble programs.  There are conversion programs.  There are a number of proprietary score-writers available (Celtic Pipes, Bagpipe Writer, MuseScore etc.), but for a not-for-profit society like the Northwest Territorial Pipe Band, the promise of opensource software is compelling.  Because of the origins of ABC Notation for bagpipe music, the notation handles grace notes and other embellishments very well.  Nevertheless it should be noted that ABC notation can handle more than just bagpipe music.

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A kilt is a garment similar to a skirt worn by men.  It was originally a wrap-around full-length garment (belted plaid) that could be draped over the shoulder and head - something like the garment Mel Gibson wore in the field in the movie Braveheart, where he played the role of Sir William Wallace fighting against Edward I (Edward Longshanks) and his army.  This was the "great kilt".  A walking kilt or small kilt was invented in the 1720s which was less unwieldy as the great kilt.  The small kilt was quickly adopted in Scotland, although here is evidence that this kilt was already in used before the 1720s.  A kilt usually has a tartan, although Irish pipe bands often wear a kilt in a solid colour - typically saffron or green.  The amount of material in a kilt (wool) can range from heavy (18-22 ounces) down to light (10-11 ounces).  A full kilt has 8 yards of fabric, although for those who are not girth-impaired, it can range up to 9 yards. 

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 St. Andrew's Day or the "Feast of Saint Andrew" or "Andermas" is celebrated on 30 November each year.  It is Scotland's official national day.  

St. Andrew was a disciple in the New Testament and brother of Apostle Peter.  St. Andrew is the patron saint of Cyprus, Scotland, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodoxy), San Andres Island in Columbia, Barbados and Tenerife.  St. Andrew's day is observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Anglicans and Presbyterians.  It marks the beginning of Advent. 

St. Andrew's Day may have its origins in the Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the start of winter or the darker half of the year (there may be ties to Halloween, the Day of the Dead, Bonfire Night and perhaps even Thanksgiving).  For the Scots there are three winter festivals of significance:  St. Andrew's Day, Hogmanay and Burns Night.

There is a tradition of premonitions on this day for the Scots.  In parts of Eastern Europe it is a time for magic to reveal a young woman's future and her husband.  There is also a belief that this is the most popular time for vampire activity.  There is also a tradition of invoking Saint Andrew to ward off wolves, but if the wolves speak to a human, that human may die soon.  

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Haggis is a savoury pudding. 

When one speaks of a "pudding" one does not speak of cream-based sweet desserts such as custard, mousse, rice or Jell-O.  In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth a pudding could be sweet or savoury.  For example black pudding or a Yorkshire pudding are savoury puddings whereas rice pudding, Christmas pudding or a treacle sponge pudding are sweet puddings. There is a Canadian connection to sweet puddings - the sticky toffee pudding may have origins from two Royal Canadian Air Force Officers billeted in England during the Second World War.

  1. Bannock