From Tartan Day to Scotland Week
The celebrations on April 6 this year, widely known as Tartan Day, were the biggest and best yet. Indeed 'Tartan Day' doesn’t quite cover it anymore as it looks like more and more cities and countries are beginning to adopt a week-long celebration of all things Scottish!
Tartan Day’s first appearance came in 1982 when New York State Governor Hugh Carey and New York City Mayor Ed Koch declared July 1 as Tartan Day; a one-time celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Repeal of the Act of Proscription, which forbade Scots to wear Tartan (or plaid, as it is usually known in the USA). Many people believe that this date has greater relevance to Tartan and July 1 is still used as the date for official Tartan Day celebrations in Australia, New Zealand and some other countries.
In Canada, the idea of a 'Scots Day' – immediately renamed 'Tartan Day', to visibly promote recognition of Scottish heritage – originated with the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia in 1986, with April 6 being proclaimed Tartan Day: the date chosen to commemorate the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, the first known formal Declaration of Independence, signed six years after Bannockburn.
It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.
Koch and Carey’s idea was eventually revived, with the United States following Canada’s lead and, since 1998, April 6 has been officially recognised by the United States Senate as a day for celebrating the contribution made by generations of Scots-Americans to the foundation, freedoms and prosperity of modern America.
Since then, Tartan Day has gone from strength to strength around the world and over the last three years, many places have begun to expand Tartan Day into a week-long celebration; Scotland Week.
The impact of the Scots on the development of Canada is remarkable. It is said that sailors from Scotland accompanied the early Vikings who landed in Newfoundland in 1010. Much later the worsening economic conditions in the Highlands, following Culloden in 1746, caused many Highland Scots to emigrate to countries around the world in search of a sustainable life. Scots came in vast numbers to Nova Scotia, Quebec and Eastern Ontario in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. While conditions were harsh in the new country, the hardy Scots adapted well and soon prospered. Highland and Island Scots were the prime movers in the North West Company of fur traders, based in Montreal and helped to establish trade routes and explore vast areas of country which only native peoples had known before. The Scots helped build Montreal; established banks, insurance, and merchant trading companies; and established educational, medical and legal institutions.
This rich history was celebrated this year on Thursday April 3, as Toronto's iconic landmark, the CN Tower, became the venue for Tartan Day and the 16th Annual Scot of the Year Award Presentation. The event acted as a showcase for modern Scotland's key strengths in knowledge, skills, technology and innovation. More than two hundred and fifty guests watched as Caledon, Scotland's Tenors, performed their set against the dramatic backdrop of the Toronto skyline.
Other highlights included fabulous Scottish food, the all-female trio Scotlandia, and a rousing address by Scottish Government Minister, Linda Fabiani, MSP. Also attending the event was Glasgow’s Lord Provost, Robert Winter.
The Scottish Studies Society's 16th annual 'Scot of the Year' in Canada award was presented to Donald Stewart, President and CEO of Sun Life Financial Inc. This award was initiated in 1993 to honour individuals with a Scottish connection who have achieved distinction through their contribution to Canadian society or the international community at large. As a fund raising event, it had been hoped that up to $C15,000 would be generated – in fact more than three times that amount was raised, helping to achieve the longer-term aim of supporting the Chair of Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph.
Tartan Day is now firmly established in the Scots/American calendar too. The Tunes of Glory Parade in 2002 saw 10,000 pipers and drummers march through the streets of New York; the centrepiece of an event where thousands of Americans celebrated their links to Scotland. And in 2005 one of Scotland's great national treasures, William Wallace's sword, left its homeland for the first time in 700 years and was flown to New York for the celebrations.
This year, for Scotland Week 2008, another priceless Scottish artefact also made the trip to NYC: the original manuscript for the world’s most famous song; Auld Lang Syne, one of only six known copies scribed by Robert Burns himself. The manuscript is on loan from the Robert Burns Collection at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow (with 4,000 Burns-related items, the largest collection of its kind in the world) and was on display at the Grolier Club in New York.
And Burns – one of the world’s greatest love poets – would no doubt have been pleased by a Tartan Day inspired romance!
Last year, New Yorker Karl Dusen won the 10K Scotland Run which formed part of NYC’s Tartan Week celebrations. His prize was a trip for two to Edinburgh to compete in the city’s Marathon. Karl chose to take along his friend Emily. ‘We were totally engrossed by Edinburgh’, he said. ‘We were strolling through the majestic city streets filled with wonderful shops and restaurants. We were really enjoying each other’s company.’ Their running team came second overall in the Hairy Haggis Team Relay event and Karl said that he and Emily celebrated by ‘taking in more of the city . . . and each other! Spending time with this wonderful woman in this romantic city made for one of the best times in my life.’
Upon their return to New York, in leafy Central Park in October, Karl asked Emily to marry him. ‘She said yes! Edinburgh will always have a special place in our hearts and we hope to come back as much as possible to experience the city and the race again, making more memories.’ Burns would surely have approved!
However, Scotland Week is not all about romance. During his visit, Scotland’s First Minister made it clear that the relationship with the United States and Canada is as much, if not more, about enhancing economic and cultural ties in the future as it is about celebrating historic ties of country and kin. Three issues in particular have been recognised as being of major importance: Scotland's commercial links with the United States and Canada; the building of cultural links; and the strengthening of political ties and the enhancement of Scotland's image abroad.
When he spoke at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC, he made clear his Government's desire for Scotland to act as a pioneer and innovator in the global effort to tackle climate change and demonstrated the depth of our commitment by launching the £10 million Saltire Prize – the world's largest ever single prize for innovation in marine renewable energy.
He also announced that Terry Garcia, the National Geographic Society's head of global missions, and Professor Anne Glover, Scotland's chief scientific adviser, had been invited to become the first members of the international expert prize committee. This small nation is going to have a big impact on a global challenge.
So it looks like Scotland Week is set to continue expanding.
Scotland has strong links with many countries around the world and where opportunities arise we are interested in exploring ways of promoting Scotland, and building on these relationships. Scottish culture has always been popular down under – in Australia there are more statues of Robert Burns than any other individual save for Queen Victoria – with Australia and New Zealand already enthusiastically celebrating Tartan Day.
Also south of the equator is Argentina, where this year’s Tartan Day parade was the biggest yet. Thousands took to the streets of Buenos Aries, where the parade – which this year included representatives of many clans, including the MacDougalls, MacDonalds, MacRaes and MacKays – marched with a symbolic key to the gate of recreated Arbroath Abbey, accompanied by the Highland Thistle Pipe Band. The festivities even included a recreation of the coronation of King Robert the Bruce by an Argentine Scandinavian Heritage group! At the end of the march the pipers entertained the public who danced on the esplanade until the event finished with the traditional Highland Toast. You can view a selection of photographs from the event here:
Meanwhile, as a fitting finale to Scotland Week in New York, Karen Cunningham – Glasgow’s Head of Libraries, Culture & Sport – delivered a lecture on Burns and the Mitchell’s outstanding collection as part of a seminar titled “It Is Time to Come Home – Homecoming Scotland 2009”, at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street.
Let’s hope that during next year’s ‘Year of Homecoming’, thousands of the Scots diaspora around the world will heed the call and head back to visit the place where it all began. Tartan Day to Scotland Week to Year of Homecoming. . . .
Haste ye back!
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