Scottish Society - Cultural Icons

Cultural Icons

Cultural icons in Scotland have changed over the centuries, e.g., the first national instrument was the Clarsach or Celtic harp until it was replaced by the Highland pipes in the 15th century. Symbols like the tartan, the kilt and bagpipes are widely but not universally liked by Scots; their establishment as symbols for the whole of Scotland, especially in the Lowlands, dates back to the early 19th century. This was the age of pseudo-pageantry: the visit of King George IV to Scotland organised by Sir Walter Scott. Scott, very much a Unionist and Tory, was at the same time a great populariser of Scottish mythology through his writings.

Read more about this topic:  Scottish Society

Famous quotes containing the word cultural:

    They’re semiotic phantoms, bits of deep cultural imagery that have split off and taken on a life of their own, like those Jules Verne airships that those old Kansas farmers were always seeing.... Semiotic ghosts. Fragments of the Mass Dream, whirling past in the wind of my passage.
    William Gibson (b. 1948)