Full mask sporrans revisited...

[Nathan]

Nicely said, Calgacus. You're a credit to your Countrymen.

It's interesting, BCAC, that your daughter is a French girl and not a Scottish-French girl. I wonder if the French see her that way, assuming you have an identifiably Scottish last name. I know the Algerian, Morrocan and Haitian communities in France don't get to be just "French" even when they're born there. In Quebec, even if your daughter spoke perfect French and had a French mother, she wouldn't be considered "100% pure laine" and there would be a difference.

I find your attitude on the matter peculiar and I'm very glad that not all Scots are so easily and willingly assimilated - there is another way. The Jews travelled the world outside of their Levant homeland for 2000 years and remained an identifiable nation. They didn't disappear into the broader populations of Morocco, Spain, Poland, Germany or Russia. They remained a nation even though they were scattered amongst the nations. Today there is a State of Israel. Is there an obvious difference between an Israeli and a diaspora Jew from Crown Heights, NY? Certainly there is - but they are kin, they are both Children of Israel (Jacob) and while they are nationals of different countries, they are both part of a common ethno-cultural nation.

I am a son of Somerled. My Scottish origin is obvious to everyone who looks at me. I carry the name of one of the most powerful Highland clans in history. I'm also a proud Canadian - A Scottish-Canadian, a Canadian-Scot, a Cape Breton Gael, a New World Scot, a Nova Scotia Highlander - whatever term you wish to use. The reason these terms exist (and I clearly didn't invent them) is to articulate a concept which you seem incapable of grasping. We aren't exactly like all the other Canadians - we're the Scottish variety. It is the simple idea of a variety of ethno-cultural communities, sharing a diverse country. You don't have to check what you were at the door when you get here. That's enshrined in law.

Perhaps my forefathers should have stopped singing Gaelic songs and telling stories, smashed their pipes and fiddles, swore an oath off tartan, invented last names that weren't identifiable to any other country, invented brand new dances to brand new music and chugged maple syrup by the pint but that's not what happened.

Instead, they hosted feisinn, mods, ceilidhs, milling frolics and Highland Games. They established St. Andrew's Societies, and Caledonian Societies, and Sons of Scotland Societies, and lodges. They wove the symbols of Scotland into the symbols of Canada. They formed Scottish and Highland Regiments and defended the British Empire at home and on foreign soil. They made bagpipes, fiddles, spun wool and wove plaids. They baked scones and cooked white pudding. They taught these things to their sons and daughters who, in turn, taught them to theirs and so on.

It is for these reasons that I bristle at being called a "non-Scot". It's not because I'm of the delusional belief that I was raised in the Northern United Kingdom, it is because in my country, for my whole life, people have and do refer to me as Scottish - whether I wear a kilt or not. I know I wasn't born and raised in Scotland. I also know it doesn't change the facts. A Siamese cat that has never seen Thailand is, nonetheless, a Siamese cat. We still call the English Sassanchs and it has been a mighty long time since their ancestors have lived in Saxony.

The most valuable possession in my family is worthless to anyone else. It is a box of heirlooms (photos, obituaries, newspaper clippings, a prayer book and genealogy information that my family has been passing down since they arrived in Nova Scotia (New Scotland) in the early 1800s. All the expensive things could burn, but that is what any one of us would run back into a burning building to save.

You are entitled to think the efforts of my family and my community to resist assimilation and preserve our identity is folly. What you don't have the right to do is say it aloud without eliciting a forceful retort.

The wealthy landowners succeeded in forcing us out of Scotland, but they did not succeed in forcing the Scotland out of us - and neither will you.

P.S. I really like the polecat sporran - she did great work. You must be pleased!