Presentation to Girl Scouts, for your review.

[ohiopiper]

Since I've gotten a bit of help from the rabble, I figured I'd post the content of my presentation to the Girl Scouts here. I've tried to keep it accurate but simple, as the average age present will be second grade. It will be in several posts.


I History

Just off the western coast of Europe there are islands. Some are big, some are small. Some are easy to live on, others are hard.
One of these islands is what we now call Scotland. It is not the biggest of the islands, but it’s not the smallest, either. It’s also in the middle for how hard it is to live there. The southern part is relatively flat with lots of rivers and lakes for water. The northern part, though, is rough country with lots of mountains and less water.

A very long time ago, people called the Picts moved there. They were a relatively primitive people and in some ceremonies and for war they painted themselves with dyes made from plants. This is how they got their name, Pict means “painted”.
After that, some people called the Celts moved into Scotland. They sometimes fought with the picts, but both groups lived side by side for a long time. The Celts eventually moved into the mountains of the north and the Picts settled in the south. Not much is known about the Picts, because they did not have a written language and left no records. The Celts, however, left a lot of stuff, including pictures and art that still have an effect on Scottish culture today. That’s why many Scottish things are described as being Celtic.
A third group of people finally moved in. They were called the Gael. They got along with the Celts and moved near them in the northern mountains. They spoke a language called Gaelic that is still spoken today in Scotland.

The rest of Europe was ruled by people called the Romans. Their leader, Julius Caesar, decide to invade Scotland. The Romans came first to the south, called the Lowlands. The Picts still lived there, but were not able to keep the Romans out. The Romans eventually beat the Picts and most Picts were either killed or taken back to Rome as slaves. Those that escaped went to the Highlands in the north to join the Celts and Gael.
The Romans tried to take over the Highlands, where the Celts and Gael lived. The Celts and the Gael agreed to fight together against the Romans. The Romans weren’t able to beat them and built a wall called Hadrian’s’ Wall to keep the Celts and Gael out of the lowlands they had taken from the Picts.
The Celts and Gael eventually beat the Romans and had all of Scotland to themselves. The people who live in Scotland today are descendant from these Celts and Gael.

Everyone got along for a while, until a group of people called the Vikings came. They were from a place called Scandinavia. The people of Scotland fought against them and the Vikings finally went home.

After the Vikings left, another group of people came along, called the English. They came from the biggest island , called England, and wanted to control all the islands around them. Many battles were fought and many people were killed. Finally, at a place called Stirling Bridge, the Scottish king Robert the Bruce beat the English for good.
Three hundred years later, England needed a new king. Because of who he was related to, James VI of Scotland also became king of England. This is the same king James who commissioned the translation of the King James version of the Bible. Since Scotland and England now had the same king, they became known as the United Kingdom.

After al the centuries of war and fighting, Scotland is a growing country. Their wealth is based on banking and oil production. Edinburgh is one of the biggest banking centers in Europe and the North Sea has a lot of oil to drill for. They also make a lot of money on tourism, people going to see the old castles and historic places of Scotland. One of the most popular places to go is the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

[ohiopiper]

II Food and drink

Even as a modern country, Scotland has many old traditions and one of them is a type of food called Haggis. Haggis is made from sheep’s pluck, pluck is a word that means the heart, lungs and liver. This is mixed with oatmeal and spices and cooked in the sheep’s stomach to make a sausage. It is traditionally served with Neeps and Tatties, turnips and potatoes.
A popular drink in Scotland is Irn Bru, a soda pop that is orange color and taste. It’s a lot like our Orange Crush.
After they were united, England had some influence on Scotland. One of these influences was fish and chips. The fish is fried and the chips are what we’d call french fries. It’s served wrapped up in yesterdays newspaper.

[ohiopiper]

III Famous People

Many people from Scotland or from Scottish heritage have done important things to make a name for themselves in different areas. Here are just a few:

Science
John McAdam invented blacktop paving.
James Pilans invented blackboards and colored chalk.
John Logie Baird invented the cathode ray tube used in televisions and also invented fiber optics.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first antibiotic.

Art
Robert Burns was the most famous poet in Scotland. People liked his poetry so much that many people have parties on his birthday every year.
Sir Walter Scott wrote many books, most of them biographies and history books.
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote two very famous books, Treasure Island and Kidnapped.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about a detective he made up, Sherlock Holmes.
Sir James Barrie wrote the story of Peter Pan.
Sir Sean Connery is an actor who everyone knows best as James Bond.

Historical Achievement
Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, defeated the English.
William Kidd was a famous pirate, Captain Kidd.
John Witherspoon helped write and then signed the Declaration of Independence.
John Paul Jones came to America from Scotland and founded the U.S. Navy.
Allan Pinkerton started the first private investigator business in America, the Pinkerton Agency. That later became the F.B.I.
Dr. William Spiers Bruce was an explorer who went to Antarctica.

[ohiopiper]

IV Language

There are three official languages in Scotland; English, Gaelic and Scots Gaelic. English is the most common and the other two are becoming less and less common. In fact, there are more Gaelic speakers in America than in Scotland.
Just like here in America, Scotland has some words and phrases that are only used there.

Cheesered and chuffed mean happy.
To ken something is to know something.
A burn is a stream or creek.
A loch is a lake.
Wee means small.
A bairn is an infant or toddler.
Lads are little boys.
Lasses are little girls.
Aye, right means the same as yeah, right. In other words, I’m not buying it.
Good on you is a way of saying good job.
Messages are the things you buy every time you go to the store, like bread and milk.
You might use this one, jammies means pajamas.
Police is said like Polis
Here’s one for the adults in the room to use, whischt means be quiet.
If I’m feeling crabbit, it means I don’t feel well.
Instead of a midnight snack, in Scotland you’d get a midnight piece.
Thirty back of nine means thirty minutes past nine.
If something is really great, you can say it’s braw.
And finally, craick is fun. Isn’t this craick!

Can you figure out what this means?
Many a mickle makes a muckle.
Lots of little things can be made into something big.

[ohiopiper]

V Traditional Highland Dress

For hundreds of years, Scotland has been known for raising sheep and making wool products. When the Gael made their clothes, they made them out of wool. The simple clothes they made for themselves eventually became the kilt.
Dyes from plants were used to color the wool cloth and what plants grew near your home determined what colors you could use. Eventually, specific colors and patterns, called tartans, came to represent clans, or families.
The kilt was originally a long piece of cloth that was wrapped around the waist, put up over the shoulder and held in place with a belt. The modern kilt, like I’m wearing today, dates to about 1790, over two hundred years ago. Kilts today range from four to nine yards of cloth and can be made from traditional wool, leather or synthetic material. Most tartans represent clans, but many are available that represent places, groups and jobs.
The kilt was not worn much in the southern lowlands, but was worn by all men in the Highlands. It has come to be recognized as traditional Scottish clothing.

These shoes are called Ghille Brogues. The laces wrap around the ankle to keep them from slipping off. They’re a light shoe that stays on like a boot in rough terrain.

The hose, or socks, are just like any other socks, except they are seen by everyone so they come in lots of colors to go with the kilt. They are made out of wool, just like the kilt

The knife is called a sgian dubh, Gaelic for black knife. It’s pretty much a Scottish pocket knife, but has become more tradition than useful.

The kilt pin keeps the lower edge of the kilt down and can be had in many designs and shapes.

This kilt is in the MacKay tartan. This would identify me as a MacKay to someone else. Kilts usually have three buckles to keep them in place, one on the left and two on the right.

The belt doesn’t really hold up the kilt, but is a reminder of the old kilts that had to be belted to keep them on. The buckle has a design on it that reminds me of the artwork made by the ancient Celts

The pouch is called a sporran. Kilts do not have pockets, so the sporran is where I can keep my keys, cell phone and wallet.

Since Scotland is so well known for sheep and wool, even the jacket is made out of wool.

This hat is called a glengarry. Another type of hat, called a balmoral, is also popular in Scotland and with people who wear kilts.

This is called a cap badge. It has the clan crest on it, wrapped in a belt. This signifies allegiance to the clan chief.

[ohiopiper]

VI Legend and Myth

Scotland is a country with thousands of years of history, dark mountains and lonely moors. The people of Scotland have fought countless wars, built hundreds of castles and lived close to nature on this island. All this combines to make for some great legends and ghost stories. Some of them are even true.

The thistle is the national flower of Scotland and here’s the story of how that came to be. One of the Viking groups that came to Scotland was led by King Hakkon of Norway. He landed his army at Port Lairge. They were trying to sneak up on the Scotsmen during the night and had taken off their shoes so they could walk very quietly. One of the Vikings stepped on a thistle and yelled “OOWW!” The Scots heard this and the sneak attack failed. The Scots won the battle and the thistle has been the flower of Scotland ever since.

There’s also a story about how Scotland got its flag. Saint Andrew was the first disciple Jesus called. Years later, he was crucified on a cross that was shaped like an ”X”. Saint Andrew appeared in a dream to Scottish King Angus MacFergus the night before a battle with people called the North Umbrians. The very next morning, the clouds in the sky looked like an “X”, Saint Andrews cross. The Scots took this as a good sign and they went on to win the battle. The Scottish flag is blue to represent the blue sky and has a white cross to represent Saint Andrews cross in the clouds.

Everybody likes a good ghost story, so I’ll tell you one that just might be true. In 1644, the MacDonalds lived in a castle called Duntroon Castle. They were fighting with another clan called the Campbells. The Campbells marched to Duntroon Castle to fight with the MacDonalds, but they were gone! That’s because the MacDonalds had left to go to where the Campbells lived and fight them. The Campbells figured they would just wait for the MacDonalds to come home and ambush them.
There were just a few MacDonalds left at Duntroon, mostly women and children and one bagpiper. When the bagpiper saw his people coming back, he knew he had to warn them of the surprise attack. He took his bagpipes and went to the top of the castle wall. He played a tune called “We are in His Hands”. The MacDonalds knew then that Duntroon Castle was in Campbell hands.
The Campbells were very angry that the bagpiper had ruined their plan and to punish him, they cut off his hands. The bagpiper bled to death.
For hundreds of years, people claimed to see the bagpiper standing on top of the castle wall and sometimes said they could hear his bagpipes.
Duntroon Castle got old and began to fall apart. In 1992, [people went in to try to fix it up. When they lifted some of the paving stones in the Castle courtyard, they found a skeleton there. The skeletons hands had been cut off.
The workers took the skeleton to a cemetery and gave it a proper burial. Since then, nobody has seen or heard the piper of Duntroon.

[ohiopiper]

VII Bagpipes

People have always liked music. Songs can tell stories, just like poems or books. Music can be made by chanting, singing or playing an instrument.
A very long time ago, so long that nobody remembers when, someone invented this.
**Show Practice Chanter
It’s a lot like the recorders you play in school music class, except this uses a reed to make the sound.
**Remove cap to show reed
When I blow into this, the reed moves back and forth to make the sound.
**Play scale
With nine notes to use, I can play songs
**Play Skye Boat Song
You probably saw that I had to stop and take a breath once in a while. Somebody figured out how to fix that. They attached a bag to the chanter and now when I need to take a breath, I can squeeze the bag to keep the music going.
**Skye Boat Song on goose
One day, so long ago that nobody remembers when, someone was playing music like this and had an idea. He added more pipes to the bag.
**Mouth blow drones
They sound pretty neat by themselves, but all put together, they make a very special sound.
**Skye Boat Song on smallpipes
Bagpipes can be even more fun when you know the song. Do you know this one?
**On Top of Old Smokey on smallpipes
Bagpipes like this eventually wound up all over the world. Spanish bagpipes are bigger than this, but have only one drone. They are called Gaita. Italian bagpipes are also bigger than this and have two drones. They are called Zampogna. There is even a Swedish bagpipe called a Sackpipa.
When bagpipes like this came to Scotland, the Gael living in the Highlands liked them. They made them bigger and louder. They also added another drone, for a total of three, two tenors and one bass.
The Gael used bagpipes for lots of stuff. They played them just for music and fun. They also played them in war. Specific tunes told soldiers to do specific things. Bagpipes were also played at funerals. The Gael thought the sound was so special that it could be heard in our world and also the world of the dead.
I’d like to play some songs for you now on the Great Highland bagpipe. The first one you’ll know, I’ve already played it on the smallpipes. Are you ready to sing “On Top of Spaghetti”?
**Play On Top of Old Smokey
Here is another one I’ve already played on the smallpipes. It’s called “The Skye Boat Song”. Listen to how different it sounds on the different bagpipes.
**Play Skye Boat Song
I’m going to play two more. The first is called Amazing Grace. Bagpipes are still played at funerals and this is a very good song for that. I’ll play it through twice.
The second tune was written to tell the story of a man who left Scotland. He misses his family and friends, but most of all he misses Scotland itself. It is called “The Dark Island”.

**Amazing Grace X 2
**The Dark Island w/repeats.

[ohiopiper]

Part Eight will be a Q & A session.

[kc8ufv]

Looks like a good long afternoon lesson

[Tony]

Just a couple of points.

A popular drink in Scotland is Irn Bru, a soda pop that is orange color and taste. It’s a lot like our Orange Crush.

Heresy!

= After the Vikings left, another group of people came along, called the English. They came from the biggest island , called England,

England, Scotland and Wales are pretty much on the same island.....

Many battles were fought and many people were killed. Finally, at a place called Stirling Bridge, the Scottish king Robert the Bruce beat the English for good..

You mean Bannockburn, 1314. Stirling Bridge was Wallace and Moray in 1297.


Have you timed it? Better yet have you timed it in front of a seven year old to see if the attention span has been exceeded?