Scotland and the Scottish

 

The Massed Pipes and Drums – Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Click on the picture and listen.

 

The climate of Scotland is quite moderate and very changeable. Rainfall totals vary widely across Scotland. As the old Scottish saying goes, ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes!’

Scotland is famous for its stunning landscape: From wild coastlines to sandy bays, dense forests, sparkling lochs, and the Highlands.

  

‘Loch’ is the Scottish word for lake. The legendary lake monster ‘Nessie’ is told to live in Loch Ness, a lake in the Highlands. The Highlands are famous for the ‘Highland Games’.

The Scottish Highland Games had their historical beginning in the middle ages. It was then when the  chief of clans started to choose the best men at arms.

These games still take place with caber tossing, stone throwing, weight throwing for distance (the weights are made of metal and have a handle attached by means of a chain, the implement is thrown with one hand using any technique), weight throwing for heights and sheaf tossing (a bundle of straw (the sheaf) weighing 20 pounds (9 kg) wrapped in a burlap bag is tossed vertically with a pitchfork over a raised bar).

STAPP…Steve Stapp of Aurora, Colo., competes in the caber toss at the Pikes Peak Highland Games, Saturday, July 17, 1999, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The caber toss is a traditional Scottish athletic event, dating back to the 16th century. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Jay Janner)

The Great Highland bagpipe  is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It is now also used in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. Playing a bagpipe goes back in Scotland to the middle ages.