Stovies is a traditional winter warmer in Scotland and was traditionally made from leftovers from Sunday dinner. Nowadays, stovies is popular in its own right and a favourite meal to heat you up on a cold winter’s night. There are as many recipes for stovies as there are hot dinners and most people use whatever ingredients they have lying around and whatever they prefer in them. The size of the portions depends on how many are going to be eating it so I’m just going to list the ingredients.

Ingredients
Potatoes
Onion (one should be enough)
Sausage (or meat of your choice)
Seasoning (optional)
Stock

Method
The idea is to build layers in the pan. Slice the potatoes and add a layer, then do the same with the onion and then the sausage. Keep doing this until all the ingredients are used. Keep adding enough water to keep the mixture moist unless you like your stovies really dry in which case just add enough to keep it all from sticking to the pan.

Cook on a low to moderate heat for about 30 minutes but remember to keep stirring and adding water when necessary.

Next year, Scotland will mark its first ever Homecoming celebration with events spanning ten months of the year. The aim is to unite Scots all over the world, whether you were born in Scotland, are of Scottish descent or just love the country. The Homecoming events also coincide with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Rabbie Burns - our national poet and the first ever virtual Burns Supper will take place on 25 January 2009.

The planned events will celebrate Scotland’s unique contributions to the world such as golf, whisky, discoveries, inventions and cultural heritage.

For more info:
Homecoming Scotland
Burns Supper 2009

In the UK, we have a fascinating BBC programme called Who Do You Think You Are which takes celebrities on a journey through their family roots. The programme became a surprising hit here and the concept has since been sold to other countries, particularly the US. The stories are often very painful viewing and none more so than the recent show involving Jerry Springer, his Jewish roots in Europe leading him to the gas chambers where one of his great grandmothers died.

What does this have to do with Scotland? Well, genealogy is a subject close to my heart and I’ve been tracing my family tree for over four years now. There are many people over the world who have proud links with Scotland and there are also those who seem desperate to find some Celtic blood in their veins!

In Scotland, tracing your family tree couldn’t be any easier because we have a unique website called Scotland’s People where you can view birth, death, marriage certificates and census records online. In fact, people all over Scotland are now listed on this site, even me, but you can only view older certificates because of privacy rules.

When I began searching the records, I began with my maternal great grandmother, mainly because I knew more about her and my grandma was still alive at the time to help me. I couldn’t get her birth certificate as that year had not been released at the time but I knew the names of her parents so was able to find their marriage certificate. Scottish marriage certificates are also unique in that they record the names of the bride and groom’s parents so armed with that information, you can step back another generation.

Statutory records began in 1855 in Scotland, so to get further back, you need to rely on the Old Parish Records (OPR) which don’t give you a lot of information and families weren’t required to register births. When I began my research, the images weren’t online yet but they have been for the past year or so and I’ve been able to get back to the mid 1700s with some of my family lines.

I’m totally obsessed with genealogy and I’ve no idea what I’m going to do once I run out of lines to research. I’m particularly lucky that most of my family are Scottish and have been for generations because it makes it so much easier doing everything on one website. My maternal grandfather was English and I haven’t had as much luck tracing records for his family, mainly because there are no websites as good as Scotland’s People down there. You can find census records on Ancestry but at the end of the day, they don’t give you much information. The Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes in England tell you nothing, not even the proper date of birth or the identity of parents so they are virtually useless as far as I’m concerned.

My hope is that one day, England will provide a way of viewing certificates online much in the same way as Scotland’s People, even if it is done county by county, but until then a large part of my ancestry will remain under wraps.

Researching my family tree was a big project I shared with my grandma who sadly passed away two years ago. She was as fascinated as I was about my discoveries which meant a lot to me as no one else in the family seems to care. I love doing this so much I decided to create a website which makes everything so much easier and accessible.

If you have Scottish roots and want to find out more, then Scotland’s People is the best place to start.

Tablet is a traditional Scottish sweet which dates back to the early 18th century and it is very similar to fudge but is harder and grainier. It’s also very sugary. Too sugary for my liking but most people love it. It is also quite hard to make because you need to keep the temperature really high in the pan and beat well, otherwise it goes all soft and yucky.

Ingredients
2 lb Sugar
2 tablespoons Syrup
Small tin condensed milk (sweetened)
2 oz Margarine
3 oz water
Teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation

Place all in pan.
Melt slowly.
Stir till boiling.
Boil about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and beat well and pour into greased tin.
Mark when cool; cut when cold.

Be very careful when stirring the pot as the mixture will be very hot and you will get a nasty burn.

The gods smiled on us last night and Edinburgh was perfectly dry for the opening show of the 2008 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The Royal Mile and surrounding streets were jam-packed with people but we just camped out by St Giles Cathedral and waited until the crowd had thinned out before making our way up towards the castle.

Once we got settled in our seats, it was really hard to believe that all those people were packed into such a little space. The event kicked off with the Massed Pipes and Drums consisting of The 1st Royal Tank Regiment; The Royal Scots Borderers; The Royal Highland Fusiliers; The Black Watch; The Royal Ghurka Rifles; Scottish Universities Officers Training Corps; The Rats of Tobruk Memorial Pipes and Drums; Queen Victoria School Pipes and Drums and the Singapore Police Gurkha Pipes and Drums.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos because the lights on the esplanade make it too hard.

The rest of the programme consisted of bands visiting from different parts of the world, including The Golden Eagles from S E Missouri State University; Highland dancers from Canada along with the Tattoo’s own Highland Spring Dance troupe; the Singapore Police Force Band; the Lochiel Marching Drill Team from New Zealand; the Indian Army Chiefs Military Band from India; His Majesty the King’s Guard and Drill Team from Norway; Queen Victoria School, Dunblane; massed bands from the Royal Marines of Scotland, Plymouth and Portsmouth.

The highlights for me were the Singapore Police Force Band who also had dancers in traditional costume and their very own dancing lion (not a real one!). The costumes were lovely. The King’s Guard of Norway, all of whom are doing their year’s national service, were also really excellent with the award for the shiniest shoes in the whole show. They began with noisy Vikings (on skis) pouring out of the castle and proceeded to do a lot of fancy rifle displays. They also sang the first verse of Loch Lomond which earned them a cheer from the crowd.

The grand finale saw all the cast come together to commemorate the American War of Independence and the British casualties with the theme from The Last of the Mohicans. The bands all joined together for a rousing rendition of Auld Land Syne after the national anthem. It was also the 100th anniversary of the Territorial Army so they were honoured along with the armed forces currently serving in different parts of the world. The Evening Hymn was played and then a Lone Piper played a Centenary Toast from high on the castle ramparts. The bands all marched out to Scotland the Brave and other traditional Scottish songs.

The whole show is spectacular and you can’t help but feel proud of how Scotland has influenced other cultures around the world. However, the true star of the show was, as always, the castle itself which looked beautiful lit up with braziers and other lights. It truly is a jewel in the crown of Scotland.

Dunvegan Castle (Dun Bheagan in Gaelic) towers above the coastline on the northwest of Skye and has existed for over 800 years as the ancestral home of the Clan MacLeod. The current resident is Hugh MacLeod, the 30th Chief of the Clan MacLeod. However, there is archaeological evidence to suggest the castle has existed in some form since the ninth century.

The castle’s association with the MacLeods actually began with Olaf the Black, King of the Isle of Man who was a descendant of the eleventh century Norse King Harald Hardrada. Olaf’s son, Leod married Lady Macarailt, an heiress to Dunvegan. The couple went on to have two sons, Torquil and Tormond, who took the name MacLeod (Mac means “son of” in Gaelic). The descendants of Torquil became the MacLeods of Lewis and the descendants of Tormond became the MacLeods of Harris.

When the powerful Norse King, Haakon, was defeated at the Battle of Largs in 1263, it marked the end of Norway’s stronghold on the islands in the north of Scotland and a new chapter began at Dunvegan Castle. Each generation of MacLeods has left its mark on the castle as architectural styles changed and the castle contains many priceless treasures from the clan’s history. For me, the most special item is pictured below.

It doesn’t look like much, does it? But what you are looking at is an ancient piece of silk cloth that is known as the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan and it has a magical history. There are many different legends surrounding the existence of the flag but there is said to be an element of truth running through all of them. The most popular tale is of an early chieftain who spent time in the fairy realm and fell in love with the daughter of the fairy king. She agreed to marry him and return to Dunvegan Castle for a period of seven years (the time span varies), after which she would return to the fairy realm. Just before she departed, the fairy princess gave birth to a son and she made her husband promise to never leave him alone.

The chieftain was so distraught by the departure of his wife, the clan organised a feast to distract him which lured the child’s nursemaid from the nursery. Discovering the child was alone, the chieftain dashed up to the nursery to find his fairy wife had returned to comfort the crying child. The fairy princess was singing to her son and had wrapped him in a silk cloth. She vanished when her husband came into the room. The song she sang is still sung by the clan today and is known as either the Dunvegan or Fairy Lullaby.

The silk cloth became the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan and legend has it would protect the clan from harm and would summon a fairy army if waved three times. The flag has been used twice, again stories differ, but the clan was saved each time. During WWII, pilots descended from the clan took pictures of the flag into battle and all of them returned safely. It has also been claimed MacLeod soldiers who took tiny pieces of the flag into battle, all came home safely.

Fantastical tales aside, the flag is made from silk from the Middle East and dates back to somewhere between the fourth and seventh century.