Sport in Scotland

The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland maintains its own national side that competes in the two major professional tournaments, the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship. Scotland is not a member of the International Olympic Committee and therefore the national team does not compete in the Olympic Games. The majority of Scotland's home matches are played at the national stadium, Hampden Park.

Golf in Scotland was first recorded in the 15th century, and the modern game of golf was first developed and established in the country. The game plays a key role in the national sporting consciousness.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, known as the R&A, is the world governing body for the game and to many golfers the Old Course, an ancient links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.

Holidays in Scotland

Christmas in Scotland then called Yule was celebrated in a similar fashion to the rest of Catholic Europe. Calderwood recorded that in 1545, a few months before his murder, Cardinal Beaton had "passed over the Christmasse dayes with games and feasting". However, the Reformation transformed attitudes to traditional Christian feasting days, including Christmas, and led in practice to the abolition of festival days and other church holidays; the Kirk and the state being closely linked in Scotland during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.

Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. However, it is normally only the start of a celebration that lasts through the night until the morning of New Year's Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish Bank Holiday. Here Scots have there very own unique Hogmanay Customs. The practice of 'First-Footing' and having a Ceilidh is still so popular today and of course the singing of Auld Lang Syne has been one that has been adopted throughout the world

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. It is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November.

It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, and later the Isle of Man and Scotland. Traditionally, Samhain was a time to take stock of the herds and food supplies. Cattle were brought down to the winter pastures after six months in the higher summer pastures. It was also the time to choose which animals would need to be slaughtered for the winter.

Up Helly Aa refers to any of a variety of fire festivals held in Scotland, annually in the middle of winter to mark the end of the yule season.

St. Andrew's Day is the feast day of Saint Andrew. It is celebrated on the 30th of November. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday. The celebration of St Andrew as a national festival is thought to originate from the reign of Malcom III (1034–1093). It was thought that ritual slaughter of animals associated with Samhain was moved to this date, so as to assure enough animals were kept alive for winter. But it is only in more recent times that the 30 November has been given national holiday status

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 929