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Tartan
The tartan is mainly associated with the Highland
clans, each one of which has its own distinctive version. The
Gaelic word for tartan is breacan, which means "chequered"
and reflects the familiar pattern of bands of different colours
crossing at right angles. In olden times, the wool was woven in
the home and the dyes found locally. There was a natural source
at hand for each colour: the sorrel plant for red, ivy berries
or whortleberries for blue, birch leaves or onion skins for yellow;
and so on.
The berries, bark or plants were boiled in a large
pot and stirred like porridge. Salt was used to set the dyes and
the finished cloth was washed in a nearby stream. Compared to
the modern manufactured tartan, the cloth had a somewhat faded
look and the colours would vary greatly depending on what natural
substance had been used to produce them.
Following the Battle of Culloden in 1746, when Bonnie
Prince Charlie's uprising was brutally crushed and his Highland
army decimated, Scots were forced to abandon their traditional
apparel. The 1747 Act of Proscription outlawed tartan, the kilt
and anything else associated with the former clan warriors. The
official revival of Scottish culture came in 1822, when George
IV paraded through the streets of Edinburgh in an act of reconciliation
between the two countries. He publicly drank a glass of whisky
and appeared at a grand reception dressed in full Highland regalia,
including a kilt – though traditionalists might have winced
at the flesh-coloured stockings he wore underneath. Tartan was
back for good.
Thomas Telford's bridge
Scottish engineer Thomas Telford was born in
Dumfriesshire in 1757, the son of a poor shepherd. He studied
engineering in his spare time whilst employed as a stonemason.
During his long and distinguished career, Telford built some 1,200
bridges and more than 1,000 miles of roads, as well as docks and
various buildings. Two of his greatest achievements were the half-mile-long
Menai Strait suspension bridge in Wales and Scotland's Caledonian
Canal. The roads he laid in the Highlands helped stimulate industry
and commerce, and paved the way for the tourism that would follow
more than a century later.
In 1814 Telford built a bridge across the River
Spey at Craigellachie, a couple of miles from Aberlour, a magnificent
cast-iron structure that is considered to be one of the finest
examples of his work. Until 1973, when another was erected nearby,
Telford's bridge carried the main road and all its traffic. Thomas
Telford died in 1834 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Toasts
People have been raising a glass to each other
ever since serious drinking began. The custom of drinking someone's
health probably started with the Greeks and Romans, who prudently
acknowledged their numerous gods and goddesses in this way. The
ancient Celts followed a similar custom when celebrating victories
in battle, or when welcoming strangers to the community.
The English word "toast" stems from the
17th-century practice of putting a piece of spiced toast into
the wine cup to improve the flavour of the drink. According to
one story, a certain man-about-town during the reign of Charles
II toasted a famous beauty with a glass of water taken from her
bath – prompting one of his rivals to say that he would have
nothing to do with the liquor, but he would happily devour the
toast! Slainte mhath! – Good health!
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