Scotland

Our travels this week brought us to Scotland, where we visited the beautiful home of Sir Walter Scott, explored the exciting city of Edinburgh, full of life and friendly people, and toured the Edinburgh castle and Scottish Parliament.  And the hike to Arthur’s seat was well worth the treacherous stairs and uphill steps to the top to see the spectacular view of the city and the landscape.

While in Scotland we visited the Scottish Parliament and learned about its history and function, and about the building itself.   It was very interesting to learn about how they run their Parliament, and compare that to the Welsh Assembly.  In class, we discussed many of the differences and similarities between the two, especially about their identity along with a Parliament separate from England.  One thing I thought was interesting was why there were significantly more Scottish people who voted to have their own Scottish Parliament than Welsh people who voted to have a Welsh Parliament (About 51% voted for the Welsh Parliament while about 70% voted for the Scottish Parliament).  I think the identity of Wales and of Scotland was the major factor behind the result of the vote.  This led me to question of what makes a national identity stronger than others? Scotland has a longer history of having their own Parliament and even their own King for a time, while the parliament in Wales is a more recent establishment.  To me though, the Scottish identity is more distinctive than the Welsh because of kilts and bagpipes.  Right from the start, as we entered Scotland, we were greeted with a man in a kilt playing the bagpipes for visitors at the Scottish border.  This to me was a huge example of how Scottish identity is very distinct, and stronger as a nation.  While in Scotland, there was shop after shop selling kilts, and street performers playing the bagpipes.  I wonder if having a musical instrument tied to one’s country can make their identity stronger? Scotland has their signifier, but what does Wales have? If Wales had a certain instrument linked to their culture, would their national identity be stronger? Looking back to our trip to Wales, it didn’t feel a whole lot different from England, other than the fact that there were more sheep.  In comparing my experience of the two tours of Parliament, I think that since the Welsh people are still trying to create their identity, they are more open to share it with other people, and promote this cool new thing they have got going on.  On the other hand, Scotland knows what they are about, and don’t feel like they need to sell us on their Parliament, because it has already been a part of their identity for a while. I think that by having cultural artifacts like bagpipes and kilts strongly associated with Scotland, their national identity is indeed stronger.  And since their identity is stronger, I believe that is why more people voted for Scotland to have their own Parliament, because they want to continue preserve that part of their own identity separate from England. 

As we left Scotland, the echo of the bagpipes still reverberated softly through my soul.