The haggis

Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. Have you dared to try it? Yes, it looks totally unappealing, but it’s actually crumbly, spicy and quite tasty! Scots poet Robert Burns' (post incoming) even wrote the poem ‘Address to a Haggis’ in 1787 to celebrate this unique dish, you can’t ignore that.

Scottish folklore says haggis is a small and wild animal living in the mountain with longer legs on one side so that it can run only in one direction around the hills. If you want to catch one, you have to scare it so that it will turn around, lose its balance and fall over. Poor little thing!

/!\ Spoiler
That’s not true.

Despite that tourists (mainly Americans) are known to believe this legend, the reality isn’t that silly. Don’t be disappointed though, you can still buy a cute haggis soft toy to comfort yourself.

So what is really haggis? Here are the main ingredients:

• sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs)
• oatmeal
• onion
• salt and spices

It’s usually served with mashed turnips (neeps) and potatoes (tatties), with some local whisky or Irn Bru if you prefer soft drinks.

Traditionally, it was cooked encased in the animal's stomach. It was a ration cooked for men to eat during their long journeys through the Highlands. Women added different ingredients they had at home, and to pack the dish conveniently, they used the cleaned animal’s stomach as a cooking bag. Nice and tidy, no washing-up required! It was a cheap popular and nourishing dish that used rests of meat that would otherwise have been thrown away.

Nowadays natural casings are still used sometimes, but artificial ones are often replacing them to avoid affecting the flavour. Of course, now you can also easily find vegetarian or vegan haggis.

If you have a restaurant where to eat the best haggis, write it down in the comments!

Ok, after writing these lines I’m getting so hungry, I’ll stop here and have a snack.

See you next time pal! 

Th' leid (the language)

Scotland has three recognised languages: English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic (they are not official languages of the United Kingdom though). Scottish English is the name given to the English dialect spoken with a Scottish accent, with some specific Scottish terms and expressions. Scots has some similarity with English but often differ, as we’ll see below, and Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gael is a more distinct language.

A minority of people can speak Scots but it’s being promoted at the moment by tourism organisation to celebrate the unique Scottish culture. Even if a few people can fluently speak Scots, many Scottish people use Scots words and expressions. The accent and even the worlds vary a lot depending on the area and some people can actually tell what part of Scotland a speaker comes from depending on the way he talks.

The data is from 2001 but that gives a global idea of the situation

What about some examples

One of the main things to notice is the pronunciation of some words having two consonants that follow each other. For instance, ‘world’ becomes [woruld], ‘girl’ becomes [girul] and so on. Try it and tell me if you're able to pronounce those words with a Scottish accent: ‘curly’, ‘purple’, ‘burglar’, ‘alarm'.

Usually, you can hear ‘heya’ for ‘hello’ and ‘cheers’ for ‘thanks’. Here are some other basic words you may need if you come to Scotland for the first time.

• Yes = Aye
• No = Nae
• Can = Kin
• Can’t = Cannae
• Do = Dae
• Don’t = Dinnae
• Some = sum
• From = fae
• Nice = braw

I won’t make an exhaustive list, it was just for you to get a wee taste of it!

This video makes me laugh every damn time

Now let’s play a game: here are 5 Scottish words, can you guess their meaning? Tell me your answer in the comments below!

Wain – Bonnie – Laddie – Lassie – Eejit


See you next time pal! 

The unicorn

You’ve read the title, we’re talking about unicorns today. No, I haven’t lost my mind and yes, it is totally related to Scotland, let’s see how.

I guess you all know about this legendary creature looking exactly like a horse except a very tiny difference, the large spiralling horn they have in the forehead. Through the years and the societies, it used to represent purity, innocence but also masculinity, strength and some people even believed they had mysterious healing powers.

That you’ve been there or not, it’s quite well-know that Scotland is famous for being fond of myths. Not so surprising to find a horse-like beast legend in this region then (do you want a post about Kelpies?).

Folklore

One story says the unicorn symbol comes from the Vikings. They would have traded unicorn horn in Scotland in order to obtain lands, princess and other various riches. In reality, they were using narwhal horns, taking advantage of Scottish people being quite naïve. Little by little, Scottish folks became attached to this animal, describing it as peaceful but strong and defensive, just as the Scottish people!

Have you ever saw the unicorn bounded in a golden chain? In Celtic mythology, in addition to the qualities we saw, it was also considered as the most powerful animal that only virgin maiden could tame. Showing that you were capable of controlling such a wild animal was surely a big deal for kings at that time! During its reign (from 1466 to 1488), King James III actually introduced gold coins that featured a unicorn, and the heraldic symbol was firstly used on the Scottish royal coat of arms by William in the 12th century.

So yes, as crazy as it may sound, the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn. Folks are still very proud of it and it’s not rare to find unicorn status in a lot of cities. Honestly, I find it quite original and also so lovely! What do you think about it?

See you next time pal!