Defining tradition

This is the first section from my dissertation which was presented to put the rest of the dissertation in some context

1.1 Notions of tradition

The American sociologist, Edward Shils, was the first academic to write at length about the nature of tradition in 1981 [This book is no longer in print nor was accessible to the author so Jacobs, S. 2007, "Edward Shils' Theory of Tradition", Philosophy of the Social Sciences, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 139-162 was used ]. He argued that past practice or belief is transmitted by a parent/teacher/authority which is learnt and re-enacted by agents through at least three consecutive generations (Jacobs 2007) .

Transferring patterns of belief and images/models of conduct from are transferred “the past into the present” in which these are respectively rethought and embodied into actions, to be taken into the future (Jacobs 2007).

It is questionable whether Shils was correct in his argument that transmission was required through three generations. The Oxford English Dictionary state that it just requires transmission of custom or belief between one generation to the next:

“1. a. A belief, statement, custom, etc., handed down by non-written means (esp. word of mouth, or practice) from generation to generation; such beliefs, etc., considered collectively. […] c. Any practice or custom which is generally accepted and has been established for some time within a society, social group, etc. (in later use not necessarily one passed down from generation to generation); such practices, etc., considered collectively. d. A literary, artistic, or musical method or style established by a particular person or group, and subsequently followed by others.” (Accessed from https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/204302?rskey=ofr1ak&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid on 12th June 2019)

American folklorist and ethnologist Dorothy Noyes defined tradition in an article in 2009, stating that as a word and a concept it is ambiguous (Noyes 2009). She argues that tradition is a communicative transaction, a temporal ideology- something being passed down in time from one generation to another- and communal property (Noyes 2009). She also states that focussing attention on oral traditions provides academics with insight into the study of tradition itself. (Noyes 2009). Gaelic oral tradition, specifically relating to the importance of Highland dress and the Act of Proscription, will be discussed in the second chapter.

In 1999, sociologist Anthony Giddens started a chapter of his book Runaway World on tradition by discussing national identity and (male) Highland dress:

“When Scots get together to celebrate their national identity, they do so in ways steeped in tradition. Men wear kilts, with each clan having its own tartan, and their ceremonials are accompanied by the wail of bagpipes. By means of these symbols, they show their loyalty to ancient rituals – rituals whose origins go far back into antiquity. Except for the fact that they don’t. Along with most other symbols of Scottishness, all these are quite recent creations […] Most of what we think of as traditional, and steeped in the mist of time, is actually a product at most of the last couple of centuries and is often more recent than that.” (Giddens 1999: 36-7)

Giddens goes on to state that the notion of tradition, which he explains as “Property that passed from one generation to another [which] was supposed to be given in trust – the inheritors had an obligation to protect and nurture it” (Giddens 1999: 39), is also a relatively new concept and that it was created within the last two hundred years within Europe. Whether Highland dress can be considered to have been given in trust to future generations is debatable and is somewhat of a romantic notion.

1.2 Tradition in the Scottish Gaelic context; dualchas and dùthchas

The Scottish Gaelic notion of tradition is much larger with many more nuances of meaning than the standard accepted British notion of tradition which is focused primarily on social groups. As this dissertation is discussing traditional female Highland dress, an element of Scottish Gaelic culture, and is arguably tied to both a social group and a specific place (or rather once was), I will adopt the Scottish Gaelic concept, with all its nuances of meaning, over the English definition.

In the latest Scottish Gaelic-English dictionary, the word ‘tradition’ is translated as: “1. (cultural heritage; in terms of one’s descent/ancestry) dualchas, (or of the place one belongs to) dùthchas” (Watson 2012: 464).

Dualchas is defined as “heritage (esp. cultural), tradition; one’s inheritance, what one is, what might be expected of one, or what one might be entitled to, by reason of one’s descent” (Watson 2012:97) and dùthchas is defined as “the ancestral land(s) of a clan or an individual; 2. One’s cultural inheritance or heritage, what one is by reason of the place one belongs to” (Watson 2012:99).

However, this clear distinction was not always the case. In Edward Dwelly’s The Illustrated Gaelic-English dictionary, which was first published between 1901-1911, there is not such a distinct difference; dualchas is defined as “Hereditary disposition or right, 2. Imitation of the ways of one’s ancestors, 3. Bias of character, 4. Nature, temper, 5. Native place, 6. Hire, wages, due, 6. Duty” (Dwelly 2011:387) and dùthchas is defined as “Place of one’s birth, 2. Heredity, native or hereditary temper, spirit or blood. 3. Visage or countenance 4. Hereditary right” (Dwelly 2011: 396).

In the earliest bilingual dictionary of Scottish Gaelic, Armstrong’s A Gaelic Dictionary in Two Parts, which dates from 1820, dualchas is defined as “nature, temper, hereditary disposition; a native place; hire, wages, dues; duty” (Armstrong 1825:212) and dùthchas as “Hereditary right, a prescriptive right by which a farm descended from father to son; a native country; hereditary temper or blood; a birth-place” (Armstrong 1825: 218) and Armstrong offers the translation of the word ‘traditional’ as being aithriseach, beul-aithriseach which relate to oral tradition only and relates to the telling of stories (today the word translates into English as a report or an account).

Writing in 2006, Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul offered an excellent explanation of the notion of dùthchas:

“Tha e a’ ciallachadh grunn rudan ann an diofar sheaghan, ach aig cridhe a’ ghnothaich tha e a’ ciallachadh am pòsadh iongantach sin- am pòsadh dualach sin – eadar cànan agus àite agus dualchas, ceangailte – no co-cheangailte- ri treubh is cinneadh is eachdraidh is cairdeas is creideamh is sgeulachd is eile. ” / It means that wonderful marriage, the marriage between language, place and dualchas, or heritage, to which it is tied and intertwined with tribe, race, history, relations, religion and story.” (Caimbeul 2006: xvi)

Traditions can, and do, evolve over time and can sometimes change quite abruptly (Giddens 1999: 4). Today the notion of dùthchas is complex and abstract and as shown above has moved from having a narrow range of concrete meanings relating to native land and heredity rights to having a wide range of meaning (Newton 2009: 306). It can have ‘distinct shades of meaning’ and the fluid and flexible quality of the notion today makes it useful for discussing customs, values, beliefs and duties prescribed by tradition (Newton 2009: 306). Finally, Newton argues that dùthchas is an example of a Scottish Gaelic word with a highly emotive quality (Newton 2009: 306).