Tag: Cultural traditions
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Peats – a Peetifu’ Tale
Mrs Barrowsgate remembers cutting peat as a young girl and, after they move to a new area, she sends Barrowsgate out with a spade to look for some. Taking instruction from Wull o’ Mormon, Barrowsgate finds out that cutting peat is harder than it looks.
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Aikey Fair an’ a Flea
Barrowsgate enjoys a free day out at Aikey Fair but thinks he might have come home with one of the tiny performance artists he saw there. Background: The annual Sunday Fair at Aikey Brae preceded the Wednesday horse market, and was known for the somewhat dubious items being sold by tramps and hawkers. The Fair…
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Win’, Jist Win’
Barrowsgate finds his new place very windy and, there being few trees for kindling, has to keep his fire going overnight with peat.
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Exhibitions an’ Education
Barrowsgate goes to a Highland Show and learns a lot – from some of the well-heeled attendees.
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A Maist Ceevil War
Barrowsgate is accosted by Robert Gordon’s College students raising money for the Aberdeen hospitals. Note: This was “Founders Day Gala Friday” at the school Barrowsgate had attended.
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Spring is Wi’ Us
The coming of Spring leads Barrowsgate to think that Spring on the croft is not how it used to be and bemoans the loss of the old customs, particularly around ploughing and ploughmen. Note: Castel o’ Auchry was a large farm near Turriff and Barrowsgate is quoting from a bothy ballad. Bothy ballads were songs…
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Kissin’ Time
Before the first tune at the local dance, there was always “Kissin’ Time”. Gentlemen and ladies started out sitting at opposite sides of the room but, when the fiddler took up his bow, both sides rushed towards each other. There then followed a whole range of approaches to kissing, from the bashful to the positively…
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On wi’ the Dance
Barrowsgate looks back with affection at dances where as many as sixteen tunes were played in each half.
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Fich an’ Feech
Barrowsgate explains the difference between the meanings of “feech”(an exclamation) and “fich” – the latter being the knob on the bottom of a certain variety of French clay pipe. Note: the end of this article is missing but an almost identical version appeared two years later in the Mearns Leader. It ends with a plea…
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The Immortal Memory
Barrowsgate has a Burns Supper to go to tonight and recalls his friend Mrs Maldyprop, who wanted to raise a toast to his Immoral Memory.