Language and customs of industrial areas

Dr Linda Gunn, the leader of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Scotland project is asking visitors to the Scots Language Centre to help her with her latest search for information about the customs, traditions and language that make up Scotland’s intangible culture.

This month the ICH team would like to hear about customs connected with Scot;and’s industrial heritage. Gunn says,   ‘We have a rich industrial history and material heritage. Scotland was the industrial revolution’s fastest, most intensively industrialised country and while we’re now in the ‘post’ industrial age the legacy of that lies with Scotland’s people and in the customs, traditions and many social rituals still practiced in ex-industrial areas.’

‘We want people to add examples of what might seem to them like ‘just’ ordinary everyday things’ they do, but which definitely fall under the heading of ‘living cultural heritage’. In Newtongrange, for example, dads traditionally take their sons to ‘The Dean’ for their first (official) pint, as their dads did them. This is a tradition and we want to see such things the Amazon or in Newfoundland, so we hope that the public will go online to the wiki at www.ichscotlandwiki.org and contribute. It’s very easy, so help us by getting on there and representing Scotland.’

The enthusiastic response of Scots Language Centre visitors to the team’s requests have impressed Gunn. Margaret Tong, a regular blogger on scotslanguage.com, has received particular thanks from the ICHS team for her contribution to the wiki on fishing customs.