Introduction
I want to begin my paper with the words of famous Scottish poet Robert Burns:
My heartТs in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heartТs in the Highlands a-chasing the deer
A-chasing the wild deer and follТwing the roe;
My heartТs in the Highlands wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birthplace of valour, the country of worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove;
The hills of the Highlands forever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high covered with snow;
Farewell to the straths and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;
Farewell to the torrents and loud pouring floods.
My heartТs in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heartТs in the highlands a- chasing the deer,
A-chasing the wild deer and fool Сwing the roe;
My heartТs in the Highlands wherever I go.
Part I. Geography
The most interesting and beautiful part of Scotland is the north and west of it. Most Scottish cities and towns are in the Lowlands (the south of Scotland). Such as Glasgow which is the biggest city in Scotland. Glasgow is about one million inhabitants. It is famous for its shipyards, which lie along the banks of the River Clyde.
There are other important industries too, of course. Besides, Glasgow is an important center of Scottish culture.
The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It lies on seven hills and goes down those hills to the sea. The highest hill is the three hundred meters above the sea with the ancient castle on its top, which is more than one thousand years old.
From the street in the center of the city you can see ships coming to Edinburgh from different countries of the world. In the Уold townФ the streets are narrow, but in a new town streets are very well planed. The people say that only two cities in the world are so well planed: Edinburgh and St.Petersburg. Many great men have lived and worked in Edinburgh. Robert Burns- famous Scottish poet published his first book of poems in Edinburgh.
The highlands are in the north of Scotland. Highlands are a country of great sea-lochs. Many tourists can see loch Lomond famous Loch Ness and many other Scottish lakes.
A lot of Scottish family names start with УMacФ or УMcФ-like MacDonald, Macmillan, McLean and etc. Same men in the north wear a kilt every day. The kilt is a short skirt for men.
The Scots speak English but with their own accent. So you can hear the sound УrФ in such words as УarmФ, УcarФ and etc.
Part II. Highland Games
Scottish Highland, at which sports (including tossing the caber, putting the weight and throwing the hammer), dancing and piping competitions take place, attract large numbers of spectators from all over the world.
There meetings are held every year in different places in the Scottish Highlands. They include the clans led by their pipers, dressed in their kilt, tartan plaids, and plumed bannets, who march round the arena.
The features common to Highland Games are bagpipers and Highland dancing competitions and the performance of heavy athletic events-some of which, such as tossing the caber, are Highland in origin. All competitors wear Highland dress, as do most of the judges . The games take place in a large roped-off arena. Several events place at the same time pipers and dancers perform on a platform, athletes toss the caber, put the weight, throw the hammer, and wrestle. There is also a competition for the best-dressed Highlander.
Highland dancing is performed to bagpipe music, by men and women, such as the Sword Dance and the Reel.
No one knows exactly when the men of the Highlands first gathered to wrestle, toss cabers, throw hammers, put weights, dance and play music. The Games reflected the tongh life of the early. Scots Musclepower was their means of livelihood-hand ling timber, lifting rocks to build houses, hunting. From such activities have developed the contest of tossing the caber, putting the weight and throwing the hammer. Tossing the caber originated among woodmen who wanted to cast their logs into the deepest part of a river.
Tossing the caber is not a question.
Of who can throw it farthest. For a perfect throw the caber must land in the 12 oТclock position after being thrown in a vertical semicircle. The caber is very heavy and long lag.
Part III. Scottish emblem and holidays
The Thistle is the national emblem of Scotland. Why did the Scottish people choose thorny plant as the national emblem of their country?
The answer is interesting, and it can be found in the history of Scotland. The people of that country choose the thistle as their national emblem because it saved their land from foreign invaders
many years ago.
People say that during a surprise night attack by the invaders the Scottish soldiers were awakened by the shouts of the invaders as their bare feet touched the thorns of the thistles in the field they were crossing.
This, of course, was a good reason to choose the thistle as a national emblem!
In Scotland there are many wonderful holidays. Christmas which is celebrated on December 25 is rather a quiet holiday in Scotland-not as important as in England. People give presents and same people go to the kirk. But if you want to see the Scots celebrating you should be in Scotland for Hogmanay. This is the Scottish name for New YearТs Eve.
Nobody knows what the word УHogmanayФ means, but it does not matter, because everybody knows what to do on Hogmanay. At midnight wrights a young Scot: УWe welcome the New Year in. We all join arms together and sing Burnes song УAuld fang SyneФ-That means: УFar old times sakeФ. Than you kiss everybody and wish them a happy New Year.
Part IV. Loch Ness Monster
As I have already said many tourists in the Highlands enjoy beautiful lakes such as Lock Ness.
Loch Ness is one of the famous lake in Scotland. It is thirty-five kilometers long. The water of the lake is dark and always very cold. And Loch Ness is full of fish.
Who have not heard of the Loch Ness monster УNessieФ. Same people sow it. They said that it had a giraffe-like neck, a very small head and a great dark gray body. Is the monster a fact or fiction?
One of the theories about the Loch Ness monster is that these animals lived in the lake to produce their young in it. After volcanic action in this area, some of them could not come back to the North Sea and stayed in Loch Ness. They continued to live there. Underwater photographs however did not help to find out what the monster really is.
A lot is written and said about the monster. Now it is a good business: shirts with УNessieФ, books about the monster and all kinds of postcards and souvenirs are sold to visitors.
The Loch Ness monster is a real attraction for people from all parts of Britain and from other countries. It is interesting to know that a museum of the Loch Ness monster was opened in Scotland several years ago. It has more than four thousand written reports and drawings of УNessieФ made by those people who have УseenФ it.
Let us hope, however that scientists will be able to say one day if the Loch Ness monster is a fact or fiction. As for me I believe in that the monster is a real fact. And I like to read science fiction about it and see films.
Polomoshnova Katya
15 years,
Okha, 2002