Scotland Week

Millions of people across the globe can lay claim to Scots descent and now Scotland Week allows people everywhere the chance to celebrate and explore their connections with Scotland.

Perhaps nowhere are these connections as profound as in North America. From music to politics to literature, the impact of the Scots on North American life has been well documented. The very heart of the US constitution is intimately connected with Scotland – the wording of the American Declaration of Independence, the document that separated America from British domination and created a nation, is modelled in part upon the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish declaration of independence that was signed on April 6th 1320, nearly five hundred years before its American counterpart. In 1998, in recognition of this connection, the US Senate officially passed a resolution recognising April 6 as National Tartan Day – a tribute to the outstanding contribution of millions of Scots-Americans to American life. The idea had its origins, however, north of the border in Canada, where several provinces had recognised Tartan Day even earlier.

Half the signatories of the original US Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent, three quarters of all US presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush have had Scottish roots and Canada's Father of Confederation and first Prime Minister was a Scot from Glasgow, Sir John A. Macdonald.

New York has celebrated Tartan Day since 1999 in a variety of events, including the Scotland Run and the Tartan Day Parade on 4th April, highlighting the vibrancy of Scottish culture past and present. This year the honorary Grand Marshal for the parade is Scots actor Alan Cumming.

And the celebrations are not confined to New York; people all over North America will be uncorking the malt and decking the walls with all shades of Tartan! In Arkansas they've been celebrating Tartan Day since 1997, a full year before the Senate passed its resolution! And from San Diego, California to Dunedin, Florida, and from Calgary to Houston, Tartan Day will be duly commemorated.

And it's not just North Americans who'll be celebrating Scottishness. Much further south, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a huge Tartan Day Parade will take place on Sunday 29th March at 3pm. Starting from the Yacht Club Puerto Madero at the corner of Olga Cossettini and Victoria Ocampo Streets and marching around Dock 4 for 16 blocks. The Buenos Aires Scottish Guard and the Highland Thistle pipe band will lead the parade and a ceremony will take place with the participation of descendants of the Scottish settlers of 1825 who arrived on the ship Symmetry at this same port.

Tartan Day will continue to be celebrated south of the equator with major events planned across Australia and New Zealand. Tartan Day in Australia is celebrated on 1 July, the day Royal Assent was granted to repeal the Act of Proscription, prohibiting the wearing of any Scottish national dress or the playing of bagpipes!

So, this April, wherever you are in the world, there's no excuse – Celebrate Scotland.