Scottish Blog

Understanding your Scottish Clan history, knowing the traditions and language of your ancestors, gives you an unparallel insight into the lives of those before you. At its core, the Scottish Renaissance was the embodiment of this thought. It has contributed greatly to the Scottish culture and societies understanding of it in the present day.

The idea of reviving, enriching and teaching traditional Scottish values, beliefs and traditions to contemporary Scots has always been present in the mind of Scots. In the early 20th century, many of these outstanding Scots took this idea seriously and began enriching us with Scottish tradition.

At its core, the Scottish Renaissance was a literary movement which saw an artistic shift away from the English language into Scots. This effort was not held up only by writers, but also musicians, politicians, poets and visual artists.

The begging of the Scottish Renaissance could be argued endlessly, due to people’s preferences and beliefs on art. Since the Scottish Renaissance was not an established and realized movement until its later years, it is hard to pin point its exact origin. Although for general purposes it can be thought that writers like Violet Jacob, Marion Angus and George Douglas Brown were some the original instigators of the Scottish Renaissance. Furthermore, artists like John Duncan and John Duncan Ferguson created many Scottish inspired works.

The strongest push for the Scottish Renaissance came from Hugh MacDiarmid, who is now often referred to as the father of the Scottish Renaissance. Hugh MacDiarmid (whose real name was C.M. Grieve), published three works, with a number of Scottish poets. This was said to serve as a network for the various Scottish artists around the world. Furthermore, by 1925, he had abandoned the use of English for his work, replacing it with a hybrid Scots creation.

The Scottish Renaissance lasted until the 1960’s as a true movement. Although the spirit which had fueled it’s popularity strives amongst Scots to this very day.