Scottish Govt put the kibosh on Dressed to Kilt

[Monkey@Arms]

Scottish govt. puts clamps on Tartan talk

Published: March 8, 2008 at 6:38 PM

EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 8 (UPI) -- The Scottish government reportedly is trying to burnish Scotland's image by showing there's more to the country's culture than kilts and whiskey.

To that end, the government has renamed the country's annual Tartan Week celebration next month as Scotland Week. Scottish government leaders also want to differentiate the event from New York's annual Tartan Day celebrated by its Scottish residents and descendants, The Scotsman said Saturday.

"Tartan Week has promoted entirely the wrong image of Scotland," one unidentified source said. "It's all been far too shortbread tin. Too many embarrassments."

Tartan Week will now lose its annual Dressed to Kilt fashion show and Scottish Village, while Tartan Day will be limited to a parade and a few other functions. Likely no more filling up on sheep organ-filled haggis before tossing a caber or two, either.

Scottish government officials who will be in the United States next month will take a more serious tone, touting the country's business opportunities.

"Our objectives will be to extend the reach of the celebrations … and showcase modern Scotland," a government spokeswoman said.

Best regards,

Jake

[beloitpiper]

I can understand why they want to modernize, but they don't have to END the traditional celebrations...

[Rex_Tremende]

Awww... But I LIKE shortbread!

Rex.

[Tattoo Bradley]

Awww... But I LIKE shortbread!

Rex.

Me too Rex. Me too.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I seem to recall last year a to-do in the Scottish media about just how much money their government was spending on Tartan Week festivities in NY, and that being a bit of a controversy. I wonder how much this cutting back has to do with those financial concerns?

[McClef]

If they do this they will show themselves up as a load of caber tossers. Yes Scotland is more than kilts and whisky but you don't improve the overall presentation by reducing these to a sideline.

[Larry124]

Doesn’t make sense to me.
Is there more (or less) to this than meets the eye…?
Lowlands vs. Highlands?
Fear (or disdain) of “Scotland as a Theme Park” (for tourists rather than business investors?)
Some kind of counter-reaction to rows like Forbes vs. Trump?
Tartan Army? Tartan tat?

What?

Didn’t Lidi (for better or worse) just recently sell a boatload of economy tartan kilts?

[James MacMillan]

Doesn’t make sense to me.
Is there more (or less) to this than meets the eye…?
Lowlands vs. Highlands?
Fear (or disdain) of “Scotland as a Theme Park” (for tourists rather than business investors?)
Some kind of counter-reaction to rows like Forbes vs. Trump?
Tartan Army? Tartan tat?

What?

Didn’t Lidi (for better or worse) just recently sell a boatload of economy tartan kilts?

What he said.

[MacDanar]

If I may regress for a moment... what a buncha poopypants!

What happened to "any press is good press"? Besides, the educated know that there is more to Scotland than kilts, whiskey, haggis, the Bay City Rollers, ad nauseam. And dadgumit, I like shortbread, too. You don't hear about the Irish government complaining that everyone thinks Ireland is a country of drinking and potato-eating. The Scottish government needs to mellow out a bit.

[Phil]

This discussion came up here last September after a Scotsman article saying Edinburgh was pulling out of the Tartan Week celebrations. Here is a selection of comments (all from US residents I may add) -

“I cannot understand why Scotland does not get heavily involved with the many Scottish events and bodies in the US, Canada and elsewhere. Tartan Week does not work, if you look at the US press during it, hardly any reporting is done.”

“Problem with Tartan Week in (yuk) New York is that most of us in the US don't know about it. It's not advertised in most areas and I don't blame Edinburgh for pulling out. Taxpayers are not getting their money's worth by sending people over to gad about in NY. Here on the Main Line there's a lot of Brits and Scots who never heard of tartan week.”.

“I'm sure the folks at Tartan Week don't have a clue that the oldest Highland Games in North America are hosted by the St. Andrew's Society of Detroit (Michigan). Next year marks their 159th annual Highland Games. How many Highland Games has New York City held?”

“I have lived in America for 7 yrs and as far as knowing where Scotland is they STILL think Scotland is in England.
They know very little about why its called Gt Britain.
There are Clan Gatherings all over America but again as someone pointed out they are all claiming their heritage.
When asked where my accent comes from i ask them to guess.... i have had English,Irish,Australian... and god forbid Czech...
Don`t get me wrong i like it here but it does grate a bit having to explain where Scotland is.”

“Like I said before get out of NYC. The Scots, Scot-Irish, were at first only welcomed to Pennsylvania mountains and then down thru the Applications. After the Civil War they moved West.
There are many clan societies in the U.S.A. and they do have games. True we have fun and enjoy celebrating our ancestors, however there is where represenatives of Scotland should go. It would also be the best way to reach out to the people and educate us on modern Scotland.
While there are chapters nationwide, the action seems to be in Georgia, a nice state for a visit.
Canada also boast of many of Scottish heritage, Nove Scotia, and are also very active. I probably have cousins in Canada.
I know that the Scottish Societies in Canada and America would only be too glad to help spread not only the historical Scotland but also the modern one.”

If you read the whole of this article in the Scotsman you will discover that representatives plan to spread the net a bit wider this year - no doubt in response to the type of response seen above.
http://heritage.scotsman.com/tartanw...ake.3857592.jp