Blowing Hot Air

I was amused and deflated when I read an article regarding the great ‘Highland Bagpipes’,

iconic, larger than life, and a symbol of cultural ethnicity in the North……. are in fact a middle-class invention in the early C19 th. The story goes that in order to re-invent the highland lifestyle and culture, the history of the pipes, was extended by flights of fantasy to prior conflicts like Flodden and Bannockburn, and given a significant and mythological role in highland folklore.

Contrary to popular myth, the great Highland Pipes never led the hoarded clans into battle against the English, nor did kilted pipers play around castles of the chieftains, playing laments to the fallen. A new history, by a dignified authority (Hugh Cheape a leading Gaelic historian), claims the Highland bagpipe was invented less than 200 years ago and primarily for urban audiences. Pipes arrived in Scotland relatively late and had been played widely throughout the Islamic world, the mediteranean and eastern Europe for centuries before then.

Morris Dancing, conjures up images of bearded Sociology Lecturers leaping around bells and tassles hankies all aloft and floating in a reverie of pastoral haze, a glimpse of custom and a nostalgic continuation of ‘Merrie England’. The reality is that many customs and traditions were lost in the historical fuzz of the industrial revolution, from 1750 onwards and other social and urban upheavals not to mention wars, spikes of extreme poverty, industrial unrest, the enclosures and trans-population migration. The inventive Victorians ever with an eye for nostalgia re-invented Morris dancing, and rural nostalgia just as Queen Victoria demonstrated a love for Highland culture, ironically as the British Ruling Classes did their level best to destroy anything ethnically ‘highland’ after the massacre at Culloden (1746). This includes wearing the plaid and speaking the Gaelic language.

Saint George, the great patron Saint of England (died 303) was martyrised for good Christian works and remembered, according to Syrian church inscriptions most profoundly for slaying a Dragon representing the Devil. In the C14, he became the patron saint of England. The symbol of Englishness (whatever that is) was born in Cappadocia (eastern Asia minor). There has been a resurgence of interest in St George’s day, he is a little known Saint who lived in the dark past and as far as is known had nothing at all to do with England, other than his adoption as a patron Saint.

There is a tendency to believe that History is a final process, it is what has happened…however these myths or quasi –myths serve to show that, History is not a finality and it is constantly being reviewed or reinvented depending on the flavour of the day. Don’t just take my word for it there are many examples of this if you care to look into the glass darkly.

• Post to:
•  del.icio.us
•  Digg
•  Newsvine
•  Nowpublic
•  Reddit