Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
The Importance of Tradition
The new age of “everything started with me so I must discard everything that came before me” makes your road much more difficult. As you cancel what came before, the only certainty you have left is that you will be canceled yourself.
I have three videos that you might want to watch. There are those in Scotland who do their best to keep their tradition and their history alive.
.
Published in Culture
Julie Fowlis is excellent.
(What’s the Gaelic word for ‘potato?’ Potatoes aren’t native over there.)
bhuntàta, or buntàta, generally when bh is followed by a vowel the pronunciation is v, the same applies for mh
Okay, that make sense. English got ‘potato’ from the Spanish ‘patata,’ and the Spanish got that from whomever showed them some.
Julie Fowlis on hard lives of song originators: “They lightened their lives with song”.
Had to listen closely to the 2nd video…the ‘brogue was strong with that one’.
What a shame, she (Ms. Fowlis) is prevented from traveling for over a year. She must be doing some online performances, and I’ll bet she’s doing a lot of learning! There used to be a Celtic band in Seattle that did some of the songs she sang. I miss them now.
Ironically, Scotland is the wokest part of the UK. The SNP is replete with ethnomasochism and Scotland has the most extreme Covidian adherents.
I had to laugh when they presented their standard “government number 1 alpha kilt”.
The U.S. military also has those kinds of designations for uniforms used as inventory item numbers. All the services refer to their every day office wear with coat and tie as “Class A’s”. And in the 1950’s through the early 1970’s, the Air Force khaki uniforms worn during the summer were called 1505’s.
Of course the military does the same things with non-uniform items, the F16 fighter plane, the M16, and even a standard can opener for use in the field gets that kind of treatment, the P38.
I admire anyone who develops a passion, and with hard work masters a skill, whether an art or a trade, that is no longer highly valued by the mainstream.
This includes the very few blacksmiths still practicing that trade, or carpenters that use the older skills without benefit of power tools.
Andrew Klavan said something interesting about Fred Astaire during his last podcast. He, and his talent was right for his time. If he had lived during this era, he’d probably own a dance studio, but he wouldn’t be famous.
That’s what those pipers and Julie Fowlis are doing.
I have one great-grandmother whose name is Agnes Stewart. She was born and raised in Scotland and moved to the US as an older teen. Would I be able to have bagpipes played at my funeral? I know that most funerals I’ve attended with a piper have been for a military veteran. I’m just the daughter, wife, and mother of veterans; I didn’t personally serve. Is there some rule that anyone knows of that would prevent me from having a piper? (I’m just a nut for bagpipes…)
No, bagpipes may be associated with the military, and someone, somewhere may make a wrong assumption, but go for it.
Frankly, bagpipers need all the love they can get.
If Scotland exits from UK, do Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victories count for Great Britain?