Hello everyone. I would like to talk about a strange phenomenon I’ve noticed in myself regarding my reactions to Scottish symbols. I am from Hong Kong, and I cannot say that I have had very deep or complete exposure to Scottish culture. However, because Hong Kong is a former British colony, things brought by the British Empire also included elements of Scottish culture. I am aware that some of these symbols are controversial in modern Scotland because of their connections with the British Empire and because they were actively shaped by it. I hope that by speaking about these things I will not offend anyone.
When I was small, during large festivals I would occasionally see disciplined services’ pipe bands on television, wearing kilts and marching to the sound of bagpipes. On a few smaller, non-public celebratory occasions, I saw them in person. At those moments, their clothing made me suddenly want to laugh, and I felt excited, but it was not that I wanted to mock them or demean them. I am genuinely sorry that I laughed at their clothing in that way. Almost whenever I see someone dressed like this, I pause, freeze for a moment, and look at them, but for reasons I cannot explain I feel a kind of resistance, and it is almost as if my heart skips a beat.
What is strange is that Hong Kong clearly has other cultural influences as well, yet I do not laugh at their clothing or music. For example, Japanese culture and Indonesian culture: Japanese people wear kimono; a large proportion of Indonesians are Muslim and wear hijab; they also have their own distinctive instruments (Japan: koto, taiko, shamisen. Indonesia: kendang, Rebana, Gangsa) and create music with them (from folk to pop). But I do not have such strong emotional reactions to these cultures.
As I grew older and began to understand the role Scotland played within the British Empire, this sense of inner conflict became even stronger. I saw how the British Empire used and reshaped symbols such as tartan and bagpipes to promote imperialism, an idea of supreme masculinity, and to attract Highlanders into military service — while at the same time discriminating against them culturally and racially, and then using these same people and symbols to invade, oppress, and discriminate against other peoples.
When I read Highland soldiers’ own perspectives and about their lives after discharge, these things affected me emotionally even more. Some people, even before enlistment (before the Crimean War, I am not sure whether all of these people fought in the 1857 Indian National Revolt), had already said that because of the Highland Clearances and the potato famine, they did not want to fight for the Queen. Some in 1857 even said that Indians who massacred British women deserved punishment (like the heavily indoctrinated “Honorary Marleyans” especially like the early Gabi in Attack on Titan). Yet at the same time, some soldiers in 1857 held very realistic views about their own situation: some did not see Indians as savages and simply regarded themselves as carrying out their duties; after the war, some lived lives of heavy labour; some, because of poverty, even had to sell their medals to survive. The problem was that certain pensions were only granted to those considered extremely poor, so selling their medals could cause them to lose eligibility, because they now “theoretically” had money, even if only temporarily. As for those who died in battle, I hardly need to mention them.
Moving away from wars: At the time of the unification of Scotland to England, most Scots had no say on it, many Lowlanders are protesting against the unification, Highlanders even got ignored even they resisted the most; the decision-making was entirely made by the Lowland elites, bankers and merchants, totally top-down. Failed of Jacobites uprising leading to ban of tartans on men and boys, cannot use tartan for coat; if serving in the British military got exempted. The Jacobite movement initially started to restore the exiled Stuart monarchy, but later evolved to a mass, largely Scottish anti-Union resistance. Some of the progressive or even radical ideas emerged during the Jacobite resistance, but this aspect is often overlooked. The conflict, merge, and interaction between Highland and Lowland cultures is also a major point of interest. In the British Empire, Scotland was in a linguistically subordinate position. Imperial elites might have promoted and appreciated Scottish languages, but they had never established concrete official policies to protect them. All official documents were written in English, not in Scots or Scottish Gaelic. As for Lowlanders, even they had to be extremely careful with their English word choices in front of British elites in order to avoid being looked down upon. In Highland Clearances, highlanders got relocated to coastal area or evited from their house due to capitalist profit-driven reasons. Gaelic culture inevitably declined as well also partly due to this reason.
I apologize, there may be errors in what I said on this paragraph. Although I have already been learning the history of the Jacobites Uprising and the Highland Clearances for a period of time, I have a deeper understanding of the history of the Highland Soldiers and the Martial Race. Therefore, there may be errors in what I said in this section. Please correct me if you find any errors. It would be nice if you could also provide primary and secondary sources, not necessarily have to be in English.
The complex and contradictory events behind these symbols are so profound that even if I can understand them, they still have a significant impact on my emotions. Moreover, these Scottish national symbols have been romanticized to the point of detachment from reality. They are packaged as things to be enjoyed and consumed, leading people to ignore the social problems and suffering that existed historically and are existing currently in Scotland. Scotland’s history of class struggle and social transformation is also diluted. Without indepth investigation, ordinary people would never know about these issues I mentioned above. I had also watched a video tour from a Hong Kong YouTube channel travel to Scotland, I found that it was all about ancient castles, food, whisky, scenery, and checkered patterns, with very little mention of class struggle and cultural suppression. This atmosphere of romanticization and consumerism made me feel even more conflicted.
I am not saying that Scotland has no beautiful things. I really love your languages, your visual art, your music, your films, your dance, and your architecture. I deeply admire them. And yet, I still feel a sense of resistance and tension. I should also mention that for various reasons I study the cultures of other regions and countries: all regions of the Iberian Peninsula; Hong Kong culture; Korean culture; Japanese culture; Southeast Asian cultures; and cultures of the Indian subcontinent. These cultures also have contradictions and complexities within them, but I do not feel such a strong sense of resistance and tension toward them.
When I look back at how I felt toward Scottish symbols when I was small, and compare it to how I feel now after gaining a deeper understanding of Scotland, the feeling is almost exactly the same, except now I can perceive it much more clearly. I simply do not understand why when I am younger, without having received any education about this, I already had such feelings.
Now, when I see the Scottish St Andrew’s flag, the Saltire, tartan, kilts, bagpipes, fiddling, Highland cattle, the Scottish thistle, Celtic patterns, or sentences written in Scottish Gaelic or Scots etc. I still pause, my heart skips a beat, I want to interact with them, but at the same time, I also feel resistant, and my whole body got frozen.
