Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Plenary, 18 Jun 2009

18 Jun 2009 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Scotland's Festivals

Allan, Dr Alasdair SNP Western Isles Watch on SPTV

Aside from the Edinburgh festival, I am sure that there will be healthy competition among us all today to get in the most references to the local festivals in our respective constituencies.

Strangely enough, I was anxious to get into the debate before Jim Hume—who is now not here—who represents the other end of Scotland. I have the twin advantages not only of representing the Western Isles, but of being—as a certain Labour publication tirelessly reminds my constituents, although apparently without the desired effect—a borderer. In the Borders, local festivals are both enjoyed and taken very seriously.

Selkirk common riding is the classic example of a local festival that exists for a reason. It has not been concocted for tourists but is held by and for the benefit of a community that wants to celebrate its identity. Selkirk common riding provokes a powerful response in souters—the natives of Selkirk, of whom there are three in the Parliament. Like all genuine festivals, it has things about it the reasons for which are lost in the mists of time or which are pleasantly incomprehensible to anyone who might stumble on it. I am thinking of the fact that it begins at 4 am—or, rather, that it is unclear at what point on the nicht afore the morn it begins—and the fact that the standard bearer must be unmarried. The sight of the casting of the colours is impressive, as the town eerily remembers its fallen at the battle of Flodden. The fact that any town—without prompting from historians or politicians—genuinely seems collectively to recall something that happened in 1513 is profoundly impressive.

The most impressive festivals in Scotland take place, as in Selkirk, not because someone has decided that there is a benefit to the local tourist economy, however welcome that benefit may be—I do not detract from the important point that the motion makes about that—but because people in a community feel that the festival is important to the community. In many cases, the reasons for the festival go back so far that no one can remember them and that is what makes them interesting. People in Selkirk ride around the marches of the burgh because they have to—some neighbouring landlord might pinch a bit of the town if they did not. Likewise, in my constituency, there are a variety of local festivals, the best known of which are connected to the Gaelic musical tradition. Each year, boat-loads of singers take off for the Mod, a test of social as well as musical stamina. I declare an interest as a member of Back district choir. In 2011, the Mod will come home to the Western Isles.

The Mod is a national rather than local festival, which has done as much as any other event or organisation to maintain the Gaelic language and promote a truly unique musical tradition. However, there are many other local musical festivals, from Ceolas, in South Uist and Eriskay, to the local mods in Lewis and Harris as well as all the informal ceilidhs—in the original sense of that word—that still take place around the islands.

At the risk of missing out many community festivals, I also mention the Grimsay boat festival, the fishermen's mass in Barra, the Vatersay Boys on tour somewhere, Tattoo Hebrides, the MacNeil clan gathering, several Highland games, Stornoway carnival and the massively popular Hebridean Celtic festival, which now draws almost 20,000 people in a single week to the Isle of Lewis—a festival that truly has social, economic and cultural impacts on its community. I might even include the annual guga hunt on Sula Sgeir among the islands' annual festivals, albeit a very private one. It is an astonishing, ancient and impressive feat, and one that is deeply ingrained in the life of the community of Ness. I will say no more about it than that, though. Previously, my high praise for the guga hunt has earned me a permanent place in the demonology of certain militant, London-based supporters of gannet rights.

I could go on, but my point is this: the things that tourists want to see when they come to Scotland are, to a large extent, things that have some basis and support within the community. That is not a case against innovation—far from it. The more communities with festivals, the better. However, the strongest and most enduring festivals always focus on something in the community—be it urban or rural—that is specific to that place and celebrates it. Tourists like our festivals and, despite what we may imagine, the more mysterious and incomprehensible they are—the more inscrutably local they are—the better they like them.

Search Hansard contributions

Plenary, 18 Jun 2009

In the same item of business