When my 89 year old mother was visiting in July, I noticed a sign at the post office (the best place to discover interesting upcoming events) for a Scottish Tattoo at Fort Knox in Bucksport.
What is a Scottish Tattoo? It's not body art, though there does seem to be some tie in or confusion with skin decoration -- just Google "Scottish Tattoo" and see. Here's what Wikipedia has to say, under "Military Tattoo":
Mom's recently deceased 94 year old husband was very proud of his Scot ancestry, and I knew she would enjoy it. So we packed up a picnic and headed over to Fort Knox, across the Penobscot opposite Bucksport. It was a beautiful evening, crisp and clear, and bagpipers in colorful kilts were scattered all over the place. We got a great place to sit inside the fort: when the marchers came in, they headed right for us, in the front row. First were a small fife and drum group of Civil War re-enactors just returned from the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg.
But next came the really colorful stuff: the bagpipers, with drums:
There were five groups in all, from Maine and New Brunswick. The outfits were so dramatic, fitting with the stirring music (but ya have to love bagpipes!):
Even some of the audience dressed up in their Scots finery:
We left before the end because it was getting pretty chilly (note to self: dress warmer next time), but we were in for a treat when we got outside the walls of the fort. The groups who were already done or waiting to perform were milling about, and the setting sun cast a gorgeous light on the swirling kilts:
Even Bucksport looked pretty in the light:
Watch for the next Scottish Tattoo, at Fort Know, probably next summer. Best place to find out: the Fort Knox events page.
What is a Scottish Tattoo? It's not body art, though there does seem to be some tie in or confusion with skin decoration -- just Google "Scottish Tattoo" and see. Here's what Wikipedia has to say, under "Military Tattoo":
The original meaning of military tattoo was a military drum performance, but subsequently it came to mean army displays more generally.
The term dates from around 1600 during the Thirty Years' War in the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). The Dutch fortresses were garrisoned with mercenary troops that were under federal command since 1594. The Dutch States Army
had become a federal army, consisting mostly of Scottish, English,
German and Swiss mercenaries, but commanded by a Dutch officer corps. Drummers
from the garrison were sent out into the towns at 21:30 hrs (9:30PM)
each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to barracks. The process was known as doe den tap toe (Dutch for "turn off the tap"), an instruction to innkeepers to stop serving beer and send the soldiers home for the night. The drummers continued to play until the curfew at 22:00 hrs (10:00PM). Tattoo, earlier tap-too and taptoo, are alterations of the Dutch words tap toe which have the same meaning.
Mom's recently deceased 94 year old husband was very proud of his Scot ancestry, and I knew she would enjoy it. So we packed up a picnic and headed over to Fort Knox, across the Penobscot opposite Bucksport. It was a beautiful evening, crisp and clear, and bagpipers in colorful kilts were scattered all over the place. We got a great place to sit inside the fort: when the marchers came in, they headed right for us, in the front row. First were a small fife and drum group of Civil War re-enactors just returned from the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg.
There were five groups in all, from Maine and New Brunswick. The outfits were so dramatic, fitting with the stirring music (but ya have to love bagpipes!):
Even some of the audience dressed up in their Scots finery:
We left before the end because it was getting pretty chilly (note to self: dress warmer next time), but we were in for a treat when we got outside the walls of the fort. The groups who were already done or waiting to perform were milling about, and the setting sun cast a gorgeous light on the swirling kilts:
Even Bucksport looked pretty in the light:
Watch for the next Scottish Tattoo, at Fort Know, probably next summer. Best place to find out: the Fort Knox events page.
We will definitely put it on our calendar for next summer, thank you for the tip!
ReplyDeleteSo cool! It was very fun.
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