The Massacre Of Glencoe: Our Music Historical Short On This Interesting And Sad Part From The History Of Scotland

I know nothing I would help a Campbell to, unless it was a leaden bullet. I would hunt all of that name like blackcocks. If I lay dying, I would crawl upon my knees to my chamber window for a shot at one.

These words spoken by Alan Breck Stewart to his young lowlander friend, David Balfour, in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped shows the bitter hatred of most highlanders toward the Campbell clan.

The Campbells are considered traitors who, although highlanders, support the lowlander kings and for "lying words, lying papers, tricks fit for a peddler, and the show of what's legal over all, to make a man more angry."

Alan's principle hatred is fixed on the "Red Fox", Collin Campbell. This man in particular has taken the lands of Alan's kinfolk and demanded rent from an already suffering people. 

The conflict between the two clans of Stewart and Campbell actually lays the basis down of the story as Collin's sudden murder throws the blame on both David and Alan and the two must take to the heather. Read the full Kidnapped review here...

Not as scholarly and more competitive in nature is the backyard Highland games party. This theme highlights physical accomplishments with the sheaf toss, hammer throw, caber toss, weight throw and shoot the English knight. 

And, of course, kids will love showing their Scotch spirit with Braveheart face painting! Also included at this fun party are fiddle-playing, drumming, piping (if you can find a piper), and dancing. This party is best celebrated as a summer or fall birthday so that all activities can be done outside. 

1. St. Patrick is said to have originally been from Scotland before he was carried off as a slave to Ireland.
2. Scooter is the name of the Scottish VeggieTale character and McLarry and the Stinky Cheese Battle takes place in a "strange land where Rome and Scotland are right next to each other".
3. Rob Roy was one of the first live action Disney films.
4. Robert Louis Stevenson is a Scottish author.
5. The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland. The unicorn is, apparently, a symbol of masculinity and strength. It is shown in Scottish crests being wrapped in a golden chain to symbolize that the Scottish kings are the only ones strong enough to harness and capture the unicorn. Hildegard's Physica goes into great detail on the uses of unicorns and how to capture them. Happy unicorn chasing!
6. The reason that the thistle is the flower of Scotland is because there is a legend about how this flower saved the Scots from a British invasion. Story goes, the British were planning a night attack on the Scots. In order to be particularly stealthy, the Brits removed their shoes and began to sneak across a field. Fortunately, they stumbled upon a field of thistle. The screams from the British army were so loud that the Scots awoke and were forewarned of the danger.
7. Rome conquered the whole known world and then built a wall to keep the Scots out.
8. There is a mystery about Loch Ness: either there is a monster lurking under the surface or excited "eye-witnesses" have only been excited by an empty illusion. Water Horse is a World War II movie that incorporates interesting facts about the loch and the pictures that have been taken of "Nessy". 
9. Susan Peek's book, Saint Magnus The Last Viking, takes place in the Orkney Isles, a collection of islands just off the coast of Scotland.