I wrote a Not Your Father’s Gaelic blog post a few weeks ago wherein I expressed how nice it would be to have neighbors who are aware of and interested in their Scottish Gaelic heritage. Perhaps even neighbors with whom I could joke around in Gaelic! As it is, even my own (Italian American) mother’s eyes […]
Just off Edinburgh’s bustling Princes Street sits a grand old building that houses hundreds of years worth of Scotland’s records. HM New Register House is well known as home to the General Register Office for Scotland but also houses the Court of Lord Lyon – Scotland’s centuries-old heraldic authority that can be traced back to […]
What is the SSPCK? Well, it is not the Society in Scotland for the Protection of Christian Kangaroos although much damage and loss might have been avoided if protecting kangaroos had been the organization’s mission. Instead, the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) has followed in the first footsteps of British […]
In a recent Not Your Father’s Gaelic blog post I began to explore the topic of Gaelic influence on today’s Scottish clan and family system. The point being that despite giving lip service to the Gaelic roots of this most active and influential of Scottish heritage communities, we really understand very little about how and […]
One of the many Scottish heritage subjects that could benefit from additional knowledge is the role of Gaelic culture and civilization in the remarkable development of what we lovingly call the Scottish clan system. Go ahead. Google it. It is a simple question but you will not be finding a simple answer. At least not […]
What does it cost to become an American? Entry into freedom’s last refuge has required more from our ancestors – and from us – than we might at first imagine. Consider this for instance: “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American […]
Francis Alexander Mackinnon, born April 9, 1848, was the 35th chieftain of the Mackinnon Clan and a Test cricketer for England. Arunabha Sengupta remembers the life and career of the man who was the second batsman to be dismissed during Test cricket’s first hat-trick. This article was originally written for The Cricket Country, and has […]
Scottish Americans are hearing some interesting news from the United Kingdom today. The UK Labour Party has chosen socialist Jeremy Corbyn as its next leader by a landslide. A big one. It is a result that is sending a few shock waves through Britain. What will the election mean in Scotland? More specifically, what will a […]
This weekend I visited my friends in the countryside, as I had heard there was going to be snow. Being from a semi-tropical climate, snow is still quite a big deal for me, so I jumped at the chance of getting even a tiny bit of white gold. We set out for a walk on […]
Just a few days ago we took note of the first reputable poll ever to have identified a clear majority of Scots in favor of Scottish independence (Bletherskite September 3). Our takeaway, like most others, was well, that is very interesting and definitely worth watching. We asked questions like, is it an aberration that will be erased […]
