Without knowing much about the country or why I wanted to visit, I boarded the train for a weekend trip to Scotland. Looking back on my weekend, I gained knowledge about the unique features of the nation north of England as well as an understanding of how societies all over the world have similarities. On this trip, this was especially evident in the fields of architecture, sovereignty, and dancing.
Trick question. Which country constructed the first skyscrapers, conducted the first extradition, and is home to more than 2,000 castles? That’s right, Scotland. In the 16th century, the Flodden Wall was constructed in Edinburgh, the capital. A byproduct of enclosing the city was limiting the real estate within it. Therefore, the only way to build was up. So basically, the Willis Tower of the 1500s resided in Scotland. According to our guide, the buildings reached up to 15 stories and were considered the world’s first skyscrapers.
About 150 years later, the Edinburgh town council decided to arrest Deacon William Brodie on charges of theft. Before they got him, he fled to the Netherlands with the goal of retiring in America. During 1786 and 1787, Edinburgh cooperated with the Amsterdam government and successfully brought him back to face a trial, where he was sentenced to hanging. This marked the world’s first extradition. At the time, Brodie’s final destination, The United States, was meeting to reform the Articles of Confederation. The convention’s end result owes much of its rhetoric to the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The declaration established the Scots were fighting “for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
Although modern-day relations between England and Scotland are civil, this was not always the case. From the 13th century until 1707, the British were often attacking their northern neighbors. William Wallace’s victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling in 1297 remains a proud moment in the nation’s rich history. The Wallace Monument, which contains Wallace’s 700-year-old sword, stands to pay homage to the sacrifices he and the Scots made to remain a separate nation. In this way, Scotland and the United States share a commonality. Freedom was something which both nations viewed as a just cause. As a citizen of a nation who fought for its freedom against Britain, I felt a connection with the Scots who fought a similar battle. The sites of old battle fields and castles reinforced the universality and durability of that concept.
In addition to defense against the English, castles were part of a cultural hierarchy known as the clan system, especially in the highlands. Clans, kind of like American mafias with less racketeering and more cow herding, used the castles as home bases within their territorial domains. Fighting among clans was comMonday, especially when cows went missing.
According to our guide, the frequency of fighting in Scotland contributed to the sword making its way into the culture by way of the sword dance. Traditionally, the dance takes places at a Scottish social gathering, called a cèilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). A single dancer walks onto the floor with a hilt of some special meaning to the gathering.
Wearing dark tie-up shoes and the tartan kilt of their clan, they slowly unsheathe the sword and lay it on the ground to create a plus sign with the sheath. A single bagpiper in the background begins a song. The dance isn’t ornate; more focused on precision. All eyes are on the dancer as he or she leaps around the quadrants and shifts weight from heel to toe. As the song ends, the dancer picks up the sword and sheath and crosses them before putting the sword back in its place. I was out of my comfort zone going to a cèilidh, but the social aspect of the event was similar to many other situations I’ve been in. This realization led me to the following conclusion.
Often, manifestations of an idea or goal are often pursued differently depending on the location in time and place. For example, the songs and steps have changed dramatically, but the use of music and dance remains a viable way to meet new people. In the same way, architectural innovation is at the heart of the transition from the buildings in
Edinburgh to the modern skyscrapers all over the world. Finally, the settings and weapons were different, but the Scots and Americans fought the British for a common reason, national sovereignty. I was initially excited to see the Scottish culture because it was new and unique, but I came away with the understanding of how these unique manifestations of culture relate to more universal traditions and values.
Ray Whitehouse is a Medill junior currently studying abroad in London. He can be reached at [email protected].
