Scotland's Festive Season Celebrations | Scotland.org

A Fishy Tradition on Christmas Eve

While a lot of people in Scotland will be sitting down to a traditional turkey dinner, many family festivities draw on lots of different histories and traditions from around the world, adding fresh and exciting flavours, and an alternative take on Scotland’s Christmas calendar.

Since the 1860s, Scotland has been home to a large Italian community (they introduced us to the joys of ice cream, and fish and chips!).  On Christmas Eve, many Scozia Italian families will go meat-free, sitting down to a feast of fish, shellfish, or pasta.

On Christmas Day, the Scottish Italian community might indulge in porchetta (crispy, golden, roasted pork) in place of turkey; and rich panettone fruit bread in place of Christmas pudding.

One festive tradition that the Scottish people and Italians share is the bagpipes.

At Christmas, in various Italian cities, and especially in Rome – you are likely to meet pipers, called ‘zampognari’. Dressed as shepherds, the tradition dates to ancient Rome, and is based on the story of the shepherds who visited Jesus on the night of his birth and played the bagpipes for him.

Even though Italian bagpipes are smaller than Scottish ones, the Northern Italian town of Nonantola, boasts the real deal. Their Heart of Italy Pipe Band plays traditional and contemporary Scottish pieces, along with their own compositions on authentic Scottish pipes.

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