Scottish identity

[Sinned]

I came across a QI book in a charity shop a week or so ago and was reading it yesterday. Now the Scottish people have very successfully made themselves a defined identity and they are to be admired for it. But I didn't realise how that identity was built on the creations of others. To quote the book "What's quite interesting about Scotland, kilts, bagpipes, haggis, porridge, whiskey and tartan?"

Apparently Scotland comes from the Scoti, a Celtic tribe from Ireland and kilts either were invented in Ireland or by Thomas Rawlinson in the 1720's. Bagpipes were invented in the Middle East several centuries before the time of Christ. The first known recipe for haggis dates from around 1430 and porridge has been found in the stomachs of 5,000 year old bog bodies. Although distillation as a process is thousands of years old its use in distilling alcohol dates to the 13th century. This spread to Ireland and Scotland no later than the 15th century. The first evidence of whiskey production is 1494. Tartan as a design probably goes back to 400BC.

I have done a bit more research on the web and there does appear to be more than a grain of truth in this. Nothing ever evolves in isolation and the combining of these to produce the unique Scottish identity is wondrous. Anybody have any other examples of this? I seem to remember that James Berke did a series called "Connections" in which he showed the connections between apparently unrelated inventions.

[skirtingtoday]

I had heard of Thomas Rawlinson but I think he only created the "small kilt" (ie Fèileadh beag or philabeg) from the pre-existing "great kilt" (ie Feileadh Mòr) for his workers in a charcoal production factory as a more practical garment. And he was actually a Quaker from Lancashire (in England for those of you not living in the UK) and he employed Highlanders and Lowlanders as his workerforce. As you say that would be in the 1720's. Oh yes and Thomas liked the new garment so much, he wore one himself!

I hadn't heard about the other "traditionally" Scottish items but I believe anything QI come up with but it is all very interesting how cultures develop

[skirted_in_SF]

To satisfy the curiosity of a North American, what/who is QI?

[skirtPlusPlus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI

[pleated]

To satisfy the curiosity of a North American, what/who is QI?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwArLwsP3nA

[skirted_in_SF]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI

Thanks for the link.
It sounds a bit like an updated and modernized for TV version of the old BBC radio shows "My Word" and "My Music". I've been listening to the both for a couple of decades on my local public radio station. I know they've been out of production for a long time, but they rarely have references that tie them to a point in time.

[Grok]

Attended a Celtic festival. Certainly many were wearing traditional tartan kilts. What was on sale? Saw something called a "cargo kilt" with prominent pockets; I believe I saw a woman wearing one. Also, I saw sarongs on sale-one version had Celtic knots.

[Grok]

By the way, the Celtic festival was held on the grounds of the balloon fiesta, held in early October.