TARTAN DAY

Justin spent the weekend with me. He came over later Friday afternoon. We were both pretty excited because Saturday we were going to see the Scottish Highland Light Pipe Band! I absolutely LOVE the bagpipes! I think that the feeling I get when I hear them is in my DNA somewhere. The sound brings tears to my eyes. My Mom and son went too.
 I learned a lot about Scottish history ( part of my heritage besides English and Irish) and the bagpipes. 2 yrs ago on an archeology expedition in Egypt they found a tomb of an Egyptian princess over 3000 yrs old. Inside they found that she was entombed with a set of bagpipes. Bagpipes are such an ancient instrument that they really don't know how old or how far back they go. Ohhh, that sound, that sound resonates through my whole being! There was some dancing and fiddling, which was really beautiful. And the food, yes, real Scottish food. Bridies ( which are flaky pastry filled with a meat mixture. The BEST!), meat pies, sausage rolls, and real homemade shortbread that melted in your mouth. All of it was homemade.

 I also learned that you never call plaid, plaid. Its called tartan. It is the outcome of what is available in dyes and weaving material. Each clan has its own tartan. The plaid ( which is pronounced plaaad, long A) is a long, wide piece of tartan material that they wrapped around themselves and threw over the shoulder.
  Tartan day is now a national holiday celebrated on April 6th.
We all had a great time. We stayed quite awhile, about 4 hours. After I got home I felt like watching " Braveheart"again.lol. I loved the end of the movie when William Wallace yelled out FREEEDOOOMMM!!!!