Meeting of the Parliament 06 January 2015
Today is the 12th day of Christmas, which traditionally marked the end of the period when people lit their homes and streets to dispel the dark, cold days of winter. For many, it also marks the time to take down the decorations and get back to a normal routine.
Winter festivals are part of that same tradition: they are a way of bringing some much-needed festive cheer to the streets of Scotland. The festivals are often rooted in history and heritage, and increasingly provide a focus for modern-day living, community activities and wider interests.
Scotland has always had its share of celebrations in winter time—from St Andrew’s day, through new year, to Burns night. Each of those exists in its own right and features different events and activities. However, given the increasing popularity of the events and the array of local, more community-based events that take place all over Scotland in the winter months, it makes sense to recognise those different celebrations and locations as part of a branding and wider marketing exercise to celebrate our winter festivals.
In reaching out via the traditional festivals, and drawing on the cultural heritage to bring in new opportunities and experiences, we see that the winter festivals form a bridge between old and new. They enable the season’s cultural events to face both ways like the Roman god Janus, after whom January is named: the God of beginnings and transitions, and of doorways, endings and time, looking with his two faces to the future and the past.
Events such as Burns night and St Andrew’s Day are rooted in Scottish tradition, but a more modern and marketable take on them ensures a focus on economic development, and the continuing growth of Scotland’s popularity as a visitor destination. It also provides an excellent balance to the rest of the year, and a counterpoint to the hugely successful cultural events and festivals that dot the calendar throughout the summer months.
As a member for Mid Scotland and Fife, I am delighted to speak today in a debate that draws attention to the increasingly popular St Andrew’s Day celebrations. That wee town in the east neuk of Fife is world-famous for so many reasons, and it is great to see the growing celebration of its namesake and international recognition of what it means to be Scottish. The 2014 celebrations in St Andrews on 30 November took that Scottish identity and celebrated all aspects of it, using influences from the past through to the present in the form of Irish dancing, bhangra beats, a pipe-band parade and a ceilidh in the evening.
The international appeal of other events that make up the winter festival season is evident—for example, in our world-famous celebration of Hogmanay, which attracts visitors from all round the globe. However, we are also seeing increasing participation by local residents and UK-based tourists who are on a staycation and are choosing to have a city break not in Berlin, Paris or Amsterdam, but in Scotland’s cities and major towns.
One criticism is that many of the events that have developed over the past few years, particularly around the festive period, are costly and add an extra financial burden to the pockets of parents, which are already overstretched at Christmas time. Initiatives such as those that have developed in Edinburgh, in which residents are, through having a local postcode, eligible for discounted entry to attractions, are to be welcomed, and I hope that they will be developed further.
Similarly, in Dunfermline the winter festival that is organised by Dunfermline Delivers was designed to attract local residents and visitors alike, and in so doing to provide a boost for local businesses. Visitors to the town centre over the festive period were able to check out the new businesses that were given the chance to trade in the town centre from 14 November until 24 December as part of the town’s venture street competition. From arts and crafts to fashion and food, there was a diverse and appealing mix of businesses drawing people to the area. Budding entrepreneurs were given rent-free premises from which to run their businesses, and the chance to win a support package, worth up to £85,000, for starting a new business in Dunfermline.