“Half a capital and half a country town, the whole city leads a double existence; it has long trances of the one and flashes of the other; like the king of the Black Isles, it is half alive and half a monumental marble.” -- Robert Louis Stevenson
Scotland is a unique country to say the least. For starters, they have this spunk about them - a give no, take no attitude that's somewhat undermined by their own sarcastic and mildly self-deprecating humor. Glasgow, especially. Though, nothing summed up Scotland so far, to me anyway, then touring the capital city and hearing the story of their national animal. The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn, a mythical creature that, unlike those found in My Little Pony or some other such show, would skewer people to their deaths with their long horn. They were incredibly violent and proud beasts - Scotland. I learned about all of this standing on the incredibly cold and incredibly clear morning tour of Edinburgh (pronounced "Edin-burough"). The tour of about 25 students, mostly from the United States, stood surrounding a tall brick pillar with a bronze unicorn on top. The tour guide, Gary, explained to us a bit of the history of the national animal. Vikings used to hack the horns of Narwhals, he explained, and sell them to the royal house of Scotland claiming to have killed unicorns. Thus, the royal house would pay good money for the horns believing that not only they came from the dangerous and hated unicorns, but also because they were believed to have magical properties and shaving bits of the horns into a drink would make them function as a powerful aphrodisiac. Upon realizing that they were tricked, the royal house made the Unicorn the national animal of Scotland. Fast-forwarding a few hundred years, the royal house decided that, well, perhaps having a mythical animal as their national animal is a bit embarrassing. To solve this, the government set out a poll saying something along the lines of "what should the new national animal of Scotland be?" The winner? None other than the Loch Ness Monster, of course so the government decided to keep the national animal as the unicorn to save the embarrassment of having to change it and have it still be a mythical creature.
No other story, so far, has summed up Scotland for me. Scottish people are quite funny, friendly, and very very sarcastic. They will turn a joke so fast, it'll make your head spin.
Back to Edinburgh, though, on this bitterly cold walking tour, our tour guide continued to describe the city. Edinburgh, and Scotland as a whole, has a dark history - as do most places given a little digging. Gary took us to a street corner that walled us in with an impressive wall on our left and to our right the "new city" of Edinburgh. The wall, he explained, was designed to prevent invasion from the British people (who never did invade), but was used for more sinister purposes. The street we were standing in used to be underwater in an impressive moat that surrounded the old city. Instead of working as its designed purpose, the moat was used as a test for "witches."
Just like the Salem Witch Trials in the Americas, every country in the Western World seem to be under the presupposition that being a women is a heinous crime punishable by death. King James at the time, was terrified of witches so whenever a women in passing was accused of witchcraft he would ensure that she was tried to the fairest extent of the law, meaning not at all.
Witchcraft, unlike in the Harry Potter series, was not people accused of casting magical spells or transforming into animals (although that was undoubtedly a part of it), but had more to do with keeping women submissive. Women could be charged with witchcraft under the most absurd accounts, such as sneezing when a man talked or burning dinner. Since magic is a difficult thing to prove, the court (King James) found a foolproof way to test for witchcraft, he would through the supposed witch into the moat, and if she drowned then she was a non-witch, and if she survived then she was a witch. Upon making it back to the wall (had she not drowned) she would be hung for witchcraft.
If, perhaps, she had a loyal husband who decided to jump in and rescue her, then both people would be hung for witchcraft. The die were loaded from the beginning against these hypothetical "witches," which makes the various women's marches around the United States all the more important.
All of these murders-by-drowning or murders-by-hanging means one thing, this city is incredibly haunted. Scotland as a whole tends to be an incredibly haunted area, it's the old world Celtic tradition creeping up behind the modern glass-and-steel buildings reminding us that the past is and will always have a grip on our present and future.
The scariest ghost by far is that of a little girl, she lives down in the necropolis below the city, and wears an old fashioned dress of black and a sack-cloth hood. She haunts a small circle of the necropolis, and tradition states to bring her a doll when visiting her haunting site and she will leave the travelers alone. I, fortunately, did not encounter any spectral beings on my walking tour, but many members of the various "ghost tours" swear that they have seen her, felt her behind them, and felt hands on their shoulders during them.
The tour ended with a hike up a mountain of sorts that overlooked the entire city. It is a vast sprawl and a beautiful city to say the least. On the ground, the old architecture is stunning and above the city was a perfect way to see the entirety of the place that we just spent our day walking.
Back to Glasgow, Scotland - the city that I actually study in, I also had the chance to see The Lafontaines, a Scottish band that formed in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. They're a blend of rock, pop, and hip hop so if you're interested I would highly recommend giving them a listen. Glasgow, as a whole, is also known as the "city of music" and there is at least one live performance every single night. The music influences range from everything from rap to rock, country to traditional folk music, American and U.K. influences.
Music is such an important part of the fabric of life here in Glasgow, so unlike Albany, NY or my hometown of Southbury. Glasgow pulls musicians of all calibers, from underground alternative bands and no-name cover bands to musicians such as The Weekend and Drake. While Saratoga and Long Island's Jones Beach can pull acts of similar calibers, the entirety of Glasgow seems to center itself on music. Even just in the city center, there is usually a bagpiper playing traditional Scottish music.
Music is so prevalent in Glasgow that the city was even named a UNESCO Creative City for music. It is the musical capital of Scotland.
That's all I got for now, so until next time. Cheers!
Stephen Pendergast
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