SCOTLANDPeople and Culture

• Scotland’s population numbers just over 50 milion and it declaining. Like the rest of Britain, its people descend from various nothen tribes, including the Picts, Celts, Scandinavians and, to a lesser extent, Romans.

Scottish, Scotch or scots?• A Scottish person is called a Scot. Never describe a Scot as

English or, at best, they’ll never speak to you again. Scots are above all else Scottish. Similarly, don’t refer to Britain as ‘England’ and don’t call a thistle a rose.

• Scottish is the adjective used to describe something or someone that originates from Scotland, as in ‘Scottish castle’.

• Scotch describes certain Scottish products, for example ‘Scotch whisky ’ and ‘Scotch eggs’.

• Scots is used in limited contexts, for example to describe certain regiments, as in ‘Scots Guards’

Language• Scotland has two recognised languages: Gaelic,

spoken mainly in the Highlands and Western Isles, and English.Scots English has some marked regional accents but all are distinctively Scottish.

• Did you know?The Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters : J, K ,Q ,V ,W ,X ,Y and Z are not used. A stroke or ‘grave’ above a vowel indicaes that sound of that vowel is lengthened , ex: a- is sounded like ‘ah’ as in ‘father’, and not short ‘a’ as in ‘dad’.

Literature• Scotland has long fostered generation of world-class

writers and poets, most natably Roberts Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Iain Banks etc. More recently, JK Rowling created the Harry Potter phenomenon, writing from Edinburgh café.

Religion• Scotland is a Christian country, the

official denomination begin Presbyterianism, represented by the Church of Scotland, although Roman Catholicism also maintains a strong following.

• St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, a role he also plays in Greece, Russia and Romania. The brother of St. Peter and one of the original Apostles, fied on the same shape cross as Christ, he has crucified on an X-shaped Saltire, whici subsequenly became his symbol.

National symbols• The Scottish national flag is the Saltire-

a white diagonal cross on the blue background-that derives from the shape of the cross on which St. Andrew was crucified.

• The thistle in one of the most identifiable symbols of Scottishness.One legend tells how sleeping Scots warriors were saved from invading Viking when one attaker trod on a wild thisle and his cries woke the Scots who dulydefeated the Danes

• Tartan is a Scottish brand that is instantly recognizable around the world. The word tartan derives from an old French word tiretaine, which was a woolen cloth. What sets tartan apart from other checkered fabrics is the gallantry, romance, and stirring tales of Highland clans that seem to be woven into the very fabric.

• The Bagpipe is Scotland’s national instrument. It is reed instrument with a small cane blade or pair of blades inserted into the end of pipe that vibrates under air pressure to produce the distinctive note. Three pipes are called drones, and chanter - a pipe pierced with finger holes and played with both hands