The site near Gatehouse of Fleet could have been at the heart of the kingdom

Archealogists think they have discovered a ‘lost dark age kingdom in Dumfries and Galloway. The sixth century Kingdom of Rheged has always been a mystery, now they believe they have found the Royal Pictish Seat of this Kingdom.

Archaeologists believe the royal seat of Rheged may have been in Galloway

The location of Rheged had previously been thought by many historians to be in Cumbria.

Pictish carvings found in this area made them look closer.

The Pictish carvings at the site which sparked a deeper investigation of the area.

Dr Christopher Bowles, co-director of the excavation work in Dumfries and Galloway, said:

“The new archaeological evidence from Trusty’s Hill enhances our perception of power, politics, economy and culture at a time when the foundations for the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Wales were being laid,” he said.
“The 2012 excavations show that Trusty’s Hill was likely the royal seat of Rheged, a kingdom that had Galloway as its heartland.
“This was a place of religious, cultural and political innovation whose contribution to culture in Scotland has perhaps not been given due recognition.”
Dr Bowles said the influence of the kingdom had “rippled through the history and literature of Scotland and beyond”.
Mr Toolis added that they had not been looking for Rheged when they started the excavations.

The excavation found evidence the area had been a royal stronghold

“What drew us to Trusty’s Hill were Pictish symbols carved on to bedrock here, which are unique in this region and far to the south of where Pictish carvings are normally found,” said Mr Toolis.
“The Galloway Picts Project was launched in 2012 to recover evidence for the archaeological context of these carvings.
“But far from validating the existence of Galloway Picts, the archaeological context revealed by our excavation instead indicates the carvings relate to a royal stronghold and place of inauguration for the local Britons of Galloway around AD 600.
“The new archaeological evidence suggests that Galloway may have been the heart of the lost Dark Age kingdom of Rheged, a kingdom that was in the late sixth century pre-eminent amongst the kingdoms of the north.”

The post Could Lost Kingdom of Rheged have been found in Galloway? appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Updated 16.1.17 1

Here is the latest list of what Clans are marching on what days for The Touch of Tartan.

There will be a series of Clan Parades that will take place each night of the Tattoo. This will be a major event within the Clan-themed events that will be happening throughout this year, backed by the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

There are 25 performances of the Edinburgh Tattoo. Tickets have been put aside for the clans to buy for each performance to make sure that as many tartan-clad clansmen, women and children attend as possible.  Each Clan has seats allocated at the Tattoo.

For more information please contact  info@clanchiefs.org.uk

The post List of Clans and Dates for Tattoo Clan Parade appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Rallying the Clans together. Chiefs of Clans Bruce, Leslie, Macnab and Carmichael on Salisbury Crags with Edinburgh Castle below.

Clan chiefs have been sending out rallying calls to their Clansmen and Clanswomen all over the world to come and join them at the Edinburgh Tattoo this August.  Rather than setting a fire on-top of a hill – this time they’re using the internet.

Back in 2009 many of us remember the epic Clan March up Edinburgh’s Royal Mile to the Castle, Clans walking behind their banners and many with their Clan Chiefs, being cheered on by thousands of onlookers.  This was the largest Clan display by far seen in Scotland, Over 125 Scottish Clans took part in the parade . Since then Clans have had their individual gatherings and clusters of Highland games but nothing touching what happened in 2009.

Jamie Macnab – Chief of Clan Macnab said in an interview for The Times  .”It was absolutely phenomenal… I don’t think anyone who took part that weekend will ever forget it.”

Clan Douglas at the Clan Parade in 2009

So now in 2017 the Clans will be marching again – this time to the Tattoo. It will be a series of Clan Parades that will take place each night of the Tattoo. This will be a major event within the Clan-themed Events that will be happening throughout this year, backed by the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

There are 25 performances of the Edinburgh Tattoo. Tickets have been put aside for the clans to buy for each performance to make sure that as many tartan-clad clansmen, women and children attend as possible.

The Edinburgh Tattoo

The Tattoo’s Chief,  Brigadier David Allfrey approached the Standing Council last August to gain support for his ‘Splash of Tartan’ theme for the Tattoo. This opportunity provides an excellent platform to promote Ancestral Tourism to International audiences. 2017 is Visit Scotland’s year of History, Heritage & Archaeology. The Clans will be playing a large part.

Clan Chiefs have been contacted and have signed up, now it’s all about mustering up support to get people to follow  them up the Royal Mile. Currently 53 Clan Chiefs have signed up, so each night there will be 2 Clans in the parade. Some Clans have already got 100 people signed up.

Jamie Macnab explains that this is a great opportunity to reposition the views within Scotland of Clan Heritage.  Here especially it can be seen as a bit twee – a shortbread version of Scotland, one that is just for tourists not for the people that live here.   Jamie adds:
” My hope is that our involvement in the Tattoo will get some home-based engagement and Scots will don their tartan and go, ‘Right, I’m putting my kilt on and going on my clan night.’ I mean, I think this is the first time the Tattoo has ever done anything like this so hopefully it will generate some interest.”

Clan events have always attracted people from oversees. the Convenor of the Standing Council, Sir Malcolm MacGregor has been over in the US trying to drum up support for this event.

Visit Scotland’s research has shown that history and heritage is the second most popular reason cited by visitors coming to Scotland from overseas. First was landscape and scenery.

So if you’re interested in joining your Clan – please contact your Clan Society and join in, let’s make this a great event!

For full list of clans and dates please see: http://www.scotclans.com/list-of-clans-and-dates-for-tattoo-clan-parade/

The post Clans to take part in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

At Howburn Farm in South Lanarkshire, a scattering of flints, discovered by the Biggar Archaeology Group, turned out to be the earliest evidence found of human habitation in Scotland. The flints have been dated between 12,000 and 14,000 B.C. The implements are about 4cm in length, and as many as 40,000 fragments have been uncovered so far.

This discovery has changed the previous belief that Palaeolithic man had’t travelled further north than the Midlands, with Creswell Crags often considered the northern limit of Palaeolithic settlement.

Lowborn Farm by Bigger in the Scottish Borders

Much of Scotland would have been under ice. This was the time of the last Ice Age which was followed by temperatures rising around 13,000 BC. People were able to move to new lands now freed from the Ice. The temperatures for the next 3,000 years changed dramatically, going through phases of extreme cold to warm periods. It was in this warm phase probably around 12,000 BC, that the remarkable new finds at Howburn Farm belong.

Lowborn Farm Excavations

The flints were probably used by hunters to kill reindeer, mammoth and giant elk and to cut up prey and prepare their skins.

To put this in perspective.  The size of these prehistoric animals next to a person, armed only with a flint.

Size of an Elk

Size of a Mammoth

Initial estimates suggested stone tools at the scene were made in around 2000 BCE, but in 2009 they were shown to be more than four times as old, making them the earliest signs of humanity so far discovered in Scotland. The flints were described as “strikingly similar” to tools produced in continental Europe during the same period.
“These tools represent a real connection with archaeological finds in north-west Germany, southern Denmark and north-west Holland – a connection not seen elsewhere in Britain at this time,’ says Alan Saville, a Senior Curator in Earliest Prehistory at the National Museums of Scotland who is also the President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a specialist in the study of flaked flint and stone tools.

“This discovery is both intriguing and revolutionises our ideas about where humans came from in this very early period.

“In southern Britain, early links are with northern France and Belgium. Howburn is just one chance discovery and further such discoveries will no doubt emerge.”

“The climate had improved when the game hunters arrived, but the return of glacial weather is thought to have driven humans away until around 1,000 years later. A now-destroyed cave in Argyll had previously provided the earliest evidence of humans in Scotland.”

Howburn Farm is thought to have been an ancient camp where the hunters would make their flint tools. It is thought that these early people were hunting parties and not the ancestors of future Scots, that they took their hunt back across the North Sea basin towards Denmark and Germany. This was a nomadic life which persisted for thousands of years, until the neolithic age saw the advent of farming.

The post Earliest Evidence shows that Scotland was inhabited 14,000 years ago appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

A wonderful story from a broadside (early version of a newspaper) from 1828, about a man who was auctioning off his drunken wife at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh. Details of the extraordinary auction are held by the National Library of Scotland in its vast collection of broadsides, single newsheets which were distributed or pinned up around towns and cities. These were the tabloids of the time.

Mary Mackintosh was brought to the Grassmarket by her husband, Thomas M.Guisgan, who held her by a straw rope tied around her middle with the words “to be sold by public auction” pinned on her bosom. She was accused of being a notorious drunk and an adulterer but when the sale got underway on July 17 1828, a “bloody battle” broke out with punches thrown and people whacked with stones wrapped in stockings.

It had started out civil enough. Several thousand spectators had assembled to witness this novel sale, held around 6pm, with the auctioneer, described as a “knight of the hammer”, wrestling for attention above the rowdy crowd. According to a report of the day, quietness fell as people started to note the “countenance of the woman”.

Stepping through the crowd, a man pulled his wallet and said: “She be a good like lassie, l will gi’e ten and twenty shillings for her.” The crowd cheered at the offer but it was not long before “a stout tinker” made a bolt to the front of the crowd to say she should never go to the Highlands before offering a six pence. The clamour of the crowd heightened further. The next bid was quick to follow and came from a “Killarney Pig Jobber” whose “mouth open as wide as a turnpike gate”. Half drunk, he offered two shillings more, given she was a “pratty” – or mischievous – woman. It was at this stage that the atmosphere started to tilt. A brogue maker emerged from a public house “as drunk as 50 cats in a wallet – and hit the Killarney man, leaving him knocked out on the ground for a good 10 minutes. Mary Mackintosh is said to have “laughed heartily” at the punch with the cheers of the crowd now “long and incessant”. But the scene rapidly deteriorated as bare knuckle violence broke out, much of it executed by women armed with stones. First, however, the Brogue maker walked up to the auctioneer. A report of the day said:
“He was so enraged, he knocked the auctioneer down, and made his claret flow desperately.”

The women of the neighbourhood gathered to the number of 700, and armed themselves with stones, some threw them, and others put them in their stockings and handkerchiefs, and made a general charge through the mob, knocking every one down that came in their way, until they got up to the auctioneer, when they scratched and tore his face in a dreadful manner, in consequence of the insult the fair sex had received. One woman, described as a “true female hero” and the wife of a sweep, pelted Mr Guisgan, the man who had tried to sell his wife, before decrying him as a “contaminated villain”. Mr Guisgan hit her back between her eyes, leaving them like “two October cabbages.” The report added: “A general battle ensued, and only for the interference of the police, there would have been lives lost.”

After the disturbance was quelled, the husband continued to insist she should be sold. According to report, she was brought up again before the crowd and an elderly Jack Tar – a term used for seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy, stepped forward. He described Mary Mackintosh as “well rigged” before offering half a Crown more than the last bidder. But he was to be outbid by a farmer, described as a widower, who pledged two pounds and five shillings for Mrs Mackintosh. The sale was agreed. The report concluded: “The farmer took her up behind him on his horse, and away they went amidst the cheers of the populace.”

Full Transcript of Original Article

Transcription
SALE OF A WIFE.

A full and particular Account of the Sale of a Woman, named Mary Mackintosh, which look place on Wednesday Evening, the 16th of July, 1828, in the Grass Market ‘of Edinburgh, accused by her Husband of being a notorious Drunkard; with the Particulars of the bloody
Battle which took place afterwards.

ON Wednesday evening last, in the Grass-market, Mary Mackintosh was brought down about six o’clock by her husband, for the purpose of being sold. Her crime was drunkenness and adultery. She was held by a straw rope tied round her middle, and the words, ” To be sold by public auction” in front of her bosom. Several thousand spectators were assembled to witness this novel occurrence. John F——n, pensioner, and knight of the hammer, commenced business, but the acclamations of the people were so great, that no one could get a hearing for ten minutes, to bid for the unfortunate Woman;

When, the crowd got a little quiet the people began to examine the countenance of the woman ; a Highland Drover stepped through the crowd, and pulled out his purse, and Said, ” She be a good like lassie,’l will gi’e ten and twenty shillings for her.” This caused great cheering among the
crowd? then a stout Tinker made a bolt into the crowd, and said she should never go to the Highlands?he then bid sixpence more for her. At this time, one of the KlLLARNEY PIG JOBBERS, with his mouth open as wide as a turnpike gate, and half drunk, eried loudly, FAUGHAHOLLICE , I will
give two shillings more, for she is a pratty woman. A Brogue maker, from Newry, coining out of a public house; as drunk as 5O cats in a wallet, came up to the Killarney man, and hits him in the bread bag, and he lay there for the space of ten minutes, which made the woman for sale, laugh
heartily, and the cheers of the crowd at this time was long and incessant.?
The Brogue-maker being a supposed friend to the woman, went up to the auctioneer,and told him there were three bidders: he was so enraged, he knocked the auctioneer down, and made his claret flow desperately. Great cheering among the people, at the expense of the knight of the hammer.?
The women of the neighbourhood gathered to the number of 700, and armed themselves with stones, some threw them, and others put them in their stockings and handkerchiefs, and made a general charge through the mob, knocking every one down that came in their way, until they got up to the
auctioneer, when they scratched and tore his face in a dreadful manner, in consequence of the insult the fair sex had received. One resolute woman came up with a stone and knocked down Thomas M.Guisgan, husband to the woman who was exposed for sale. This woman, a true female hero,
and a SWEEP’S WIFE, displayed great courage in favour of her sex, and said I will learn you to auction your wife again, you contaminated villain Tom returned the blow, and hit her between the eyes, and made them like two October cabbages. The sweep seeing his wife struck, made a sally with his bag and scrapper ; the women all took the sweep’s part, and cried with a loud voice, mill him the old boar, a general battle ensued, and only for the interference of the police, there would have been lives lost. Alter the disturbance was quelled, the husband insisted she should be sold. She was brought up again, and the auctioneer declared that if he could not be protected, be would have no more call to her. Some young fellows shouted he should, and the sale began again. An old pensioner, a Jack tar, stepped forward, saying, damn my tarry top-lights and chain plates she is a tight little frigate, and well rigged too, and I will give half a crown more than the last bidder. Well done, cried the mob to the sallor, you are a spirited fel-
low, and you must get her; when a farmer, who was a widower, bade two pound five shillings for her, he being a friend to the sex, and the auctioncer knocked her down. The farmer took her up behind him on his horse, and away they went amidst the cheers of the populace.

W. BOAG, PRINTER, NEWCASTLE.

Click to see at full size

The post The Auction of one Drunken Wife in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

12 pits were found

Archaeologists excavating Warren Field, an area next to Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshire from 2004-06 uncovered 12 pits which appear to mimic the phases of the moon and track lunar months.  Unusual crop marks had been spotted from the air by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) which led to the dig being started.

Dave Cowley, aerial survey projects manager at RCAHMS, said: “We have been taking photographs of the Scottish landscape for nearly 40 years, recording thousands of archaeological sites that would never have been detected from the ground…Warren Field stands out as something special, however. It is remarkable to think that our aerial survey may have helped to find the place where time itself was invented.”

Archaeologists believe now they have discovered the world’s oldest lunar “calendar” in the world.

A team led by the University of Birmingham suggests the ancient monument was created by hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.

Vince Gaffney, Professor of Landscape Archaeology at Birmingham, led the analysis project.

He said: “The evidence suggests that hunter-gatherer societies in Scotland had both the need and sophistication to track time across the years, to correct for seasonal drift of the lunar year and that this occurred nearly 5,000 years before the first formal calendars known in the Near East …In doing so, this illustrates one important step towards the formal construction of time and therefore history itself.”

An artist’s impression of warren field about 10000 years ago showing burning material in one of the pits.

The experts who analysed the pits said they may have contained a wooden post.

The pits were placed to copy the positions of the moon – identifying the time of the year.

The Mesolithic “calendar” is thousands of years older than previous known formal time-measuring monuments created in Mesopotamia.

The pit alignment also aligns on the Midwinter sunrise to provided the hunter-gatherers with an annual “astronomic correction” in order to better follow the passage of time and changing seasons.

The universities of St Andrews, Leicester and Bradford were also involved.
Dr Richard Bates, of the University of St Andrews, said the discovery provided “exciting new evidence” of the early Mesolithic Scotland.
He added: “This is the earliest example of such a structure and there is no known comparable site in Britain or Europe for several thousands of years after the monument at Warren Field was constructed.”

Crathes Castle

Crathes Castle and its estate is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).
From 2004 to 2006, trust staff and Murray Archaeological Services excavated the site.
NTS archaeologist Dr Shannon Fraser said: “This is a remarkable monument, which is so far unique in Britain.
“Our excavations revealed a fascinating glimpse into the cultural lives of people some 10,000 years ago – and now this latest discovery further enriches our understanding of their relationship with time and the heavens.”

The post World’s oldest lunar calendar discovered in Scottish field appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The Beaker Pots were decorated with impressions made with a cord.

These early people buried their dead with a beaker full of liquid to ease the journey to the next life (well this is one theory).  There is evidence of beer and mead within some of these jars. Exactly why they used beakers is not fully understood.

The style of graves was also similar – all being round barrow graves. Unlike the Neolithic settlers, they buried their dead in individual graves, a practice which has remained ever since.  This shift to individual burials shows a change in beliefs and social systems. Individual graves had personal belongings added – this was also new.  Men and Women were mostly treated the same, interestingly the only difference was that men were buried tending to face the East, and women facing West. So one had sun rise and the other sun set.

Reconstruction of a Beaker burial, (National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid)

the Upper Mains of Catterline cist

Pottery was only one small aspect of their ingenuity and craft, The Beaker People have been credited with introducing metalworking to Britain, being the first metal-smiths, working first in copper and gold, and later in the bronze which has given its name to this era.  Also spreading the Indo-European language group and building Stonehenge and other stone circles.  Some stone circles were earlier which suggests that the Beaker People and their descendants took over or adopted many of the beliefs and customs of the earlier Neolithic inhabitants.  Historical studies found that the Beaker people appeared to be of a different physical type than those earlier populations in the same geographic areas. They were tall, and heavier boned compared to the earlier people.

The Beaker folk were farmers and archers, wearing stone wrist guards to protect their arms from the sting of the bowstring.  They are said to have brought the plough, wheeled vehicles and even the woolly sheep and breeds of cattle.    Populations grew on the richer farmable land.

Authors Neil Curtis, head of museums at the University of Aberdeen, and Neil Wilkin, curator of the British and European Bronze Age collections at the British Museum have been part of a new study ‘The Beakers and Bodies Project’, looking at The Beaker People in Scotland.  They were particularly interested in the unusual clusters between Inverness and Aberdeen and down the East Coast.

New evidence was found that shows that the Beaker period was shorter in Scotland than that elsewhere in Europe.  This poses new questions, tree rings have shown a dramatic temperature drop which lasted a year after a volcanic eruption in Iceland.  There is evidence in England of abandoned homes at this time.  Could this be one influence?

The team was able to get radiocarbon dates and stable isotope analyses from all surviving skeletons.  This has shown that they didn’t move far in their lifetimes.  This would mean a close and happy community who were able to find reliable sources of food. Interestingly their diet was also able to be studied and although close to the coast they didn’t eat much sea-food.

Surprisingly the Bronze studied in Scotland from this area was found to be produced earlier than in other areas of Britian:

‘We were also able to look at links with metalworking and monuments, discovering that the distinctive Recumbent Stone Circles were probably built at about the same time as Beakers were being made and the earliest bronze being made,’ Mr Curtis said.

‘It seems as though North-East Scotland was one of the first places to made bronze in Britain, drawing on skills from the Netherlands and beyond, copper from Ireland and tin from Cornwall.’

The study also shows that beakers found in many of the graves were decorated with a white powder made from ground up bones – something that appears to be unique to the North East.  Whether animal or human is unknown.

Unlike other places the Beaker People in this area built new monuments, stone circles, and a lot of them. Aberdeenshire has an unusal large number of stone circles –  around 30. None to the scale of Stonehenge but still fascinating. (see The Stone Circle Trail (pdf) >).

‘Much to people’s surprise, these megalithic monuments were not neolithic, but a younger and local development contemporary with the region’s Beaker burials,’ the authors said.

‘Elsewhere in Britain people spent great energy on building barrow mounds and funerary monuments, such as the Clava Cairns in the neighbouring Moray Firth region.

‘But in north-east Scotland, communities focused their collective and ceremonial attentions on recumbent stone circles.

‘Suddenly, there was an exciting new dimension to the puzzle of how and why north-east Scotland adopted new and international customs.’

So  many new questions have been raised from this study; why were the Beaker burials in these areas of Scotland so popular and why so exclusive and separate from other traditions in this region?  Why such a shorter time span? How did bronze come first to Scotland?  Also why an apparently unique addition to their burial ceremony, animal or human ash on the beakers?

Examples of Beaker burials in Scotland include the case of ‘Ava’, the name given to a woman whose remains were discovered at Achavanich in Caithness in 1987 during road works.  A young women between 18 and 22.

Artists reconstructed Ava:

Ava – This Bronze Age woman died more than 3,700 years ago

The post The Mystery of the Aberdeenshire’s Beaker people appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

So nothing to do with canny Scots having a punch up over a Boxing Day sale.

Scottish Farm Servants

Into boxes and barrels would go supplies of cloth spun by the spinsters, the cobblers leather goods, new tools and supplies of salt and spices. Also dried goods such as meat, fish, vegetables and some fruit and cereals grown on the estate for bread making. This the giving out of such boxes became “Boxing Day”.

Boxing Day wasn’t always on December 26th but the first working day after Christmas.

sweetie scone

In some parts of Scotland Boxing Day was once known as ‘Sweetie Scone Day’, when the lords and ladies of great estates would make cakes with dried fruit and spices to distribute among the poor.

This tradition continued into regular working class homes where ‘sweetie-skons’ (Sweetie Scones), which contained dried fruit and spices, and were the forerunner of oor modern “Currant Loaf”. The ingredients more than likely given by the Lord or Lady of the estate, as there were few homes that could afford such luxury of dried fruit and spices, but friendly neighbours would make up the deficit to those that could not afford, nor had the ingredients. So it was the custom that either the Lord / Lady of the estate, to their workers, would invite them to sample or to give the ‘sweetie-skon’ or that neighbours would invite neighbours to sample or give the ‘Sweetie Scone’ to others.

A lovely idea that the community would look after it’s most vulnerable in this way.

The post Boxing Day – Sweetie Scone Day appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

James Edgar emigrated from Edinburgh in 1878 when he was thirty-five, hoping to find work in America.  He went on to own department store in Brockton, Massachusetts, but his real legacy is he was to inspire a tradition that has defined Christmas for millions of children.

Research by an amateur genealogist has revealed the story of James Edgar.

James Edgar

His story was rediscovered by distant relative Hugh Smith, 69, from Thornliebank, Glasgow, when he began looking through family archives and found research from his uncle, James Edgar Grant Lockhart, a keen family historian.

Mr Smith said: “My late uncle was a great one for the family tree. I was clearing out a cupboard when I found his research, which told the tale of James Edgar, my grandmother’s cousin. It’s great to think that the first Santa in the biggest nation in the world was Scottish.”

As well the family tree, Mr Smith found an article from a defunct magazine called Modern Maturity, which featured an interview with James Edgar, a “roly-poly” man who left his home in Berwickshire to search for a better life in America.

He founded Edgar’s Department Store in 1878 and would stand on its the roof every Saturday morning to scatter pennies for local children. He would even offer impoverished youngsters jobs at his department store, even if he had no need for new employees.

“My life in Scotland was a poor one,” Mr Edgar once said. “When I came to this country I had to scratch to get by. I never really had a childhood because I was out working. I think that’s why I enjoy children so much. I was trying to make up for the childhood I never had.”

One Christmas he hit upon the idea of dressing up as a clown to walk around his store and choose a girl with the prettiest bow in her hair to win a doll.

One of James’ Costumes

James was known for dressing up and walking around the store.  One of his favourites was to dress in full Scottish regalia.

As a Scottish Chieftain

He then decided to dress as Father Christmas, adopting the familiar white beard and a red Santa suit that he based on famous 1863 illustrations by Thomas Nast, a celebrated cartoonist who invented the modern image of Father Christmas.

Thomas Nast’s Santa

In an interview James answered the question ‘How did you come up with the idea of dressing like Santa Claus?’:

“Last year I dressed as a clown and walked around the store. The children loved it! Recently I saw an illustration of Santa Claus by Thomas Nast.

Ah, the one he did for “The Night Before Christmas?”

Yes, that’s the one. I thought, “Ha, Santa looks like me!” Then I thought that would even be better than a clown. The children would love it! I have never been able to understand why the great gentleman lives at the North Pole. He is so far away…only able to see the children one day a year. He should live closer to them.

I tried to find a Santa Claus suit, but couldn’t find one. So I had one special made, based on Nast’s illustration. I was surprised by the reaction. The children had smiled at me when I dressed as a clown, but when I approached them as Santa, their eyes got big. They yelled, “Look! It’s Santa Claus!””

Edward Pearson, who remembered meeting Edgar as Santa, was interviewed in the Modern Maturity article. He said: “Nowadays Santa Claus is everywhere, but back in 1890 we had only seen him in newspapers or magazines. We never thought we would have a chance to meet him unless we sat up all night on Christmas Eve.”

After his first appearance, word soon spread that Santa was appearing in person and families flocked to see him. Demand grew to such an extent that another Father Christmas had to be hired as children began coming from as far away as New York to meet the hirsute Christmas hero. The following year, hundreds of stores across America copied his example and installed their own Santa.

Although the fact Edgar invented a fundamental Christmas tradition is often forgotten, he managed to achieve one wish.

“I have never understood why Santa lived at the North Pole,” Edgar added. “He is so far away and only able to visit children once a year. He should live closer to them.”

Now, when every child who chooses to can meet Father Christmas, the Scottish Santa’s ambition has been realised.

Located across the street from the original Edgar’s Department Store on the City of Brockton’s Adams Parking Garage is a bronze plaque to honor James Edgar, the first Department Store Santa.

The post The First Shop Floor Santa was Scottish appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

Recently we’ve been getting asked a lot about how to move to Scotland to live so we thought we’d put together a bit of a helpful guide. Maybe the pipes are calling you home?

Edinburgh

Scotland compared with other places does not have many people – we only have around 5.5 million people and about 70% of these people live in the central belt and the lowlands.  Glasgow has the highest population, followed by Edinburgh.
I have heard Edinburgh described as a ‘truly cosmopolitan town’ – this is a perfect description.  It doesn’t feel like a city, and is a wonderful mix of people from different countries.

Unless you are moving from a very expensive city like New York the cost of living here is high.  Our houses tend to be a lot smaller and have less space around them.

We are not that religious, and those who are tend to be very quiet about it.   30% of people here are church of scotland, 15% catholic, 5.5% other christian, 1.5% Islam.   Around 36% of Scotland say they have no religion.

Move for the right reasons – Scotland is not Kilted Celtic Pirates

There is a bizarre image that gets portrayed of Scotland. Attending games in the US we see this a lot – the celtic kilted pirate. Seeing the skull and cross bones flag flying next to the saltire is a confusing one, buxom women in basques and gents with kilts and pirate sabres. Bit of a confused mixture of Walt Disney, Willam Wallace – Mel Gibson version and Captain Jack Sparrow.
Scotland is not like this so would be a bit of a shock for someone thinking it was.

So … still want to relocate – here’s some help

We should start by saying – the rules of visas change constantly so please check up.  The number one rule with visas is you have to get these before you enter Scotland.  Do not come to Scotland and try to apply for the correct visa.  You’ll waste a lot of money

Applying for this visa is quite stressful and expensive but once it’s done that feeling must be amazing. It’s going to take at least 5 years of doing various visas and extensions to be able to apply for indefinite residency and become a citizen. Then you can officially get the accent

Visa Confusion

Now I will try and talk you through the different visas.
A basic vistors visa allows you to travel around Scotland and the UK for up to 6 months. You are not allowed to work on this visa and have to return home to apply for different visa.

No Visa for Retiring

Retiring to Scotland is understandably appealing. When I think of retiring –  it’s on a Scottish island with a peat fire, maybe a bit of knitting. Sadly no actual retirement visas exists – this was stopped in 2008. You could only maybe come over as a dependant of a family member living in Scotland otherwise I don’t know how you can do it for longer than 6 months.

Ancestry Visa

If you are a citizen of a Commonwealth country and have a grandparent who was born in the UK (this includes the Republic of Ireland if born before 1922 as it was then part of the UK), you can apply for a visa to live and work in Scotland and the rest of the UK. This visa lasts five years. For this visa you must have the intention to undertake work, as well as showing that you have enough money to support yourself in Scotland.
You do not need a job offer for an Ancestry Visa, just to prove that you are looking for work. You can come in on this visa if you’re studying full-time as long as you are also working part-time. An Ancestry Visa would allow you to study in the UK but you would have to pay the International fees. Remember you are not a citizen while on an Ancestry Visa – this has to be applied for afterwards.

To apply you need birth certificates for your UK born grandparent (it doesn’t have to be Scotland). Also funds – in your bank account you’ll need £1200 – £1600, 90 days prior to your date of application.

Dependants have to apply to join you from outside the UK.

Cost: £405
Length of visa: 5 years
more info:
https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Ancestry_Entry_Clearance

After visa:  you can apply to extend or stay permanently. £811 – £1,311 to extend

Get a job offer – so invited to Scotland

These are looked at case by case.
An employer would normally sponsor the works visa.  If single the employer needs to show that the job can not be offered to someone within the same country – how this person is uniquely qualified for this job that they have to bring them in from another country. If you have studied within the UK this can be easier. If not this is quite a hard process to go through.

If one person of a married couple from the US gets offered a job in Scotland you have to show that the job is the dominant job in the family (so highest paying). Then the spouse comes as a ‘dependant’. The dependant has to be granted the visa before coming to the UK.

No job offer – but are bringing a business to Scotland

For this you can apply for a Entrepreneur’s Visa. This is for people who want to set up or run a business in the UK. The big hurdle with this one is you need access to at least £50,000 investment funds to apply. It costs around 1.2k and you can only stay for 3 years and 4 months. After this you can apply for a 2 year extension. Like other visas after 5 years you can apply for indefinite settlement and become a citizen

https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur

Youth Mobility Scheme

If you come from certain countries, are aged between 18 and 30 and have £1,890 in savings, you may be eligible to apply for a Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa. This visa will last for up to two years and will allow you to live and work in the UK during this time.

I want to invest in Scotland

If you are going to make an investment of £2,000,000 or more into Scotland, you can apply for a Tier 1 (Investor) visa.

Marrying a UK citizen

Firstly visas need to be applied for before leaving your country.

Applying for a visa before you are married.
A marriage visa only allows you to marry in Scotland not live there. A separate spouse visa needs to be applied for once married. A marriage visa allows you 6 months to get married. Then when you are married you get an allowance of 30 days to stay in Scotland. After that a spouse visa needs to be applied for – you will most likely have to return to your home country and apply for this there.

A marriage visa costs around £85

The spouse visa will allow you 2 1/2yrs residency in Scotland, you are applying “To join family living permanently in the UK” as a SPOUSE. You have to apply for this visa outside the UK. Then after the 2 1/2yrs you have to apply again (so 5 years in total) then you can apply for citizenship. Before this 5 year point it’s like a probationary period where you are not a citizen so have to cover health care and prove you can support yourself. It’s a 70 page form you need to fill in.

If you marry a UK citizen outside the UK and plan to live in the UK then the marriage has to be recognised within the UK.

You can not just marry in the UK without a visa.

You have to wait 5 years to get a Full UK Residency.

You have to answer various things – like how much your spouse earns and show bank accounts also have to do a 15 minute English test to show you know the language.

So there you have it – like most countries applying for residency is difficult but not impossible. With our impending exit from the EU there will be inevitable changes, the small matter of Scottish Independence is still a consideration, given that the Scottish government is more open to immigration than the UK as a whole (as a country we desperately need to build our young workforce to keep tax revenues flowing). It’s entirely possible that if Scotland became independent or if immigration became a devolved issue we could see a considerable change in these regulations. lets just see…

Scotland is an open, diverse, multicultural, and welcoming country. (in our opinion and experience) We welcome those who share these values…. just leave the cutlass and eyepatch at home

The post How to Relocate to Scotland appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.