Sons of Ham

I first heard about Africans being the 'Sons of Ham' while reading Barbara Kingsoliver's Poisonwood Bible, which is a story about missionaries from Mississippi and Georgia who went to the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now Democratic Republic of Congo) around the time of its independence in 1960. It became one of my favorite books while in high school because I went to DRC before reading the book. The book retells some of the racist attitudes the white Christians had against their congregations and how the missionary father faltered with the church while his daughters got to know the Congolese. One of the daughters mentioned that her church called the Africans the 'sons of Ham,' and this term comes from a story about Noah after he built the ark and saw the rainbow. Here is the passage:

The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Jaspheth (Ham was the father of Canaan). These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth. Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." he also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave." (Genesis 9:18-27)

There had been several interpretations for this passage, including the insinuation that 'seeing his father's nakedness' was an allusion to Ham sleeping with Noah's wife and thus begetting Canaan. During the Middle Ages, the Church developed different theories, including one that sins had darkened the 'Sons of Ham.' Part of this idea came from the mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) who claimed to have seen a dark cloud falling onto the sons of Ham so that they lost their whiteness. Christian theologians discredited this theory in the 1800s because the curse feel on the Canaanites, whom the Romans had completely scattered by 149 BC. Nevertheless, the theory that Africans were the cursed descendants of Ham became widely accepted in European churches during the slave trade of the 1700s and 1800s in order to justify the colonization and subjugation of the continent. Today, I have never heard anyone mention this theory seriously because it is complete nonsense. In fact, I believe that almost no Christian group has accepted this theory unless they were trying to colonize Africa.

While I was looking through my Scottish cousins' family bible with all the signatures of our descendants as they filled out the marriage and birth pages in the beginning of the book, I found the map that I've posted here. This map shows the 'probable settlements of the descendants of Noah,' and the 'descendants of Ham' are in Africa. I'm not sure who the exact publisher is or when it was published, but I believe it was published in Edinburgh before 1901. I found it fascinating to see this page because the map is incredibly racist and theologically inept. It is an incredible primary source of racist colonial sentiments and of how Christians can warp the Bible for their own purposes. Yet somehow the map got put into the Bible.

Goodbye, Edinburgh: lots and lots of horsies

I was exhausted after arriving to my hotel in Edinburgh because I had to pull all my luggage from the train station and up the hill to the Royal Mile near St Giles Cathedral. As soon as I washed my face and drank some water, I walked around Edinburgh one last time. A large crowd was just outside the hotel, and I asked the hotel concierge what was about to happen. He had no idea. He said a couple days earlier there was a huge parade, but today he had no idea. I asked some of the people waiting beside the street, but no one there knew. They were all tourists who saw other people gathering here and decided to see if something was about to happen. Someone said something about horses because she saw a sign, but that's all she really knew. I went into a tourist shop full of postcards and shirts with 'Scotland' on them, and a lady behind the counter told me that last year there was a horse parade with hundreds of horses walking up the Royal Mile towards the castle. She didn't know much else, like who would be riding the horses or why. I figured I'd stay and watch. Even now I'm not really sure what happened, but there were lots and lots of horses that were trotting along but not together like a military parade. It seemed as if these riders had won some competition or were part of some association that allowed them to participate in this parade, so riding their horse through Old Town was their reward. Nevertheless, I waited about an hour to see them finally pass by me in only a few minutes, and then the crowd dispersed as a street sweeper drove up the road and tried to clean up the manure. The sweeper's bristles just smeared it into the road more. The smell was blatant. Only a good rain would really clean up the street. I'm not sure why the horses weren't wearing bags to catch the droppings.

After the parade I found a restaurant that had a good Sunday meal deal that included a roast, haggis, and bread pudding. I figured that would be a good last meal for my year in Scotland. Across the street from my window in the restaurant was a group of unkempt men who seemed to have not washed in a couple days smoking outside the pub. I find that when I eat alone in restaurants I people-watch a lot more. I probably eavesdrop too much. It's fun, though. I can enter their world for a little bit and see how other people live. Some people don't feel comfortable eating alone. The waitress looked at me odd when I came in alone and asked for a dinner menu at 4 pm but didn't wait for anyone else. Everyone else in the restaurant was there with a significant other or a friend of some type, and they were probably drinking and watching a football match. Not many tourists travel alone, but I don't really feel like a tourist anymore. I'm a vagabond of sorts. I got comfortable eating alone while living and traveling in France. It's pretty much par for the course, and it is actually enjoyable to sit there alone and just watch everything. It's relaxing to just sit and think. The weirdest thought was that in 24 or so hours I would be in Texas and five thousand miles away from everyone that was around me. I had no idea when I would be back, but I assumed it would be a while since I would be unemployed. I've gotten used to these types of goodbyes, not only to people I may or may not see sooner or later but also to the places. Soon enough I would be in a new place and would have to force my way through another maze of not only unknown streets and grocery stores and apartment complexes, but also new friends and relationships. I couldn't think about that upcoming adventure as I sat in that restaurant. I just had to put one foot in front of the other and finish all the tasks that were at hand. Next, I had to pay for the bill. Then I had to leave the restaurant. There was a scotch store between the restaurant and hotel, so my next step was to buy a small sample of whisky I had never tasted but had heard mentioned. Then I had to go back to my hotel, tell the front desk to give me a wake-up call at 3 am so that I could make my flight by 6 am, and then I packed my bags and threw away all the extra clothes that either had holes or were unnecessary. I figured it'd be better to buy cheap underwear back in the US of A than to pay for excess baggage weight. Just before bed at 9 pm, my last step for the day was to open that small sample bottle of Ardberg 10 Year and taste the smoky flavor, which is the most bizarre taste I've ever found in a whisky. That was how I said goodbye to Scotland, with a glass of smoky whisky.

Sermon so good, it makes you want to torch a cathedral

When I first arrived to St Andrews, I went to a church across the street from my flat called Hope Park Church. I liked it well enough, and the people were friendly. That's where I met a woman who warned me a few days before Thanksgiving that I had to let my frozen turkey defrost for a couple days before I tried to cook it. That was some good advice because I wouldn't have bought my turkey until the day before Thanksgiving otherwise. After Christmas I started going to Holy Trinity because Hope Park was going through renovations and started meeting somewhere out of town, and I didn't want to walk out there. Holy Trinity is the most historic church still standing in St Andrews. From here John Knox preached a sermon so rousing against the Catholic Church that the congregation left and stormed the cathedral and tore it up. I read somewhere that in the church somewhere there are 'branks,' which were used back in the 1600s to slice tongues of those found guilty of blasphemy or gossip. I never saw it, but I'd like to try next time I'm in town. One of the best parts about going to church here was the choir. I'm not sure how many members were paid, but at least some of them were. It's probably the best choir I've ever heard in a Sunday church service.

I left on a Sunday to go back to Edinburgh to then go back to the United States Monday morning, and the pastor allowed me to take these photos before the morning worship service:

When Church and Power Mingle: St Andrews Castle and Cathedral

After spending a year in St Andrews, I had yet to visit the castle. It's tradition for students to jump over the gate one night and drink in one of the towers or dungeons, but I hadn't even done this. I did walk by it regularly and read every night on a bench that overlooked the castle, but I never actually went inside. Since I had a membership to Historic Scotland, I could get in for free, though. My last day in St Andrews I made it a point to go around the castle and cathedral to take some pictures and get my money's worth for the Historic Scotland membership.

The castle was more of a fortified home and not really a military instillation for the army. Thought it may look small on the outside, there was actually a lot of room on the inside once I realized that it wasn't built to stop an invading army from taking St Andrews. Close to the cathedral and all of the other official Church buildings associated with this complex, this fortification gave the wealthy bishops and archbishops a secure place to keep their gold and other possessions while ruling over the Catholic Church's wealthy holdings in western Scotland. It's actually amazing to think of how powerful and wealthy these clergy would have been for their age. The king would probably not have the commoner's strict allegiance, and the lower barons and lords would have been more popular and powerful. However, the clergy and Catholic Church had most of the people's allegiance, and the Pope had huge sway on politics. Since Scotland had a direct link to Rome with St Andrews Cathedral, they could bypass England and have more control over their own politics. In this Scottish political power play between the commoners, the lords, the clergy, and the king, whoever controlled St Andrews Cathedral and this castle had influential sway on the course of Scottish history.

Though the castle was more of a residence than a practical fort for a large army, it did see some battles, especially during the Reformation. After murdering an archbishop, Protestant reformers took the castle and resisted attack from the English. In order to weaken the castle walls, the Catholics tried to dig a tunnel mine under the walls so that they would collapse. This form of siege warfare was very common during the medieval age. In order to counter this mine, the Protestants dug a counter mine in order to block the Catholics' advance. After multiple failed attempts at finding the enemy tunnel, the Protestants finally dug a tunnel that intersected the enemy tunnel and fought back the invaders. This tunnel, along with several failed tunnels, are some of the best preserved mines and counter mines from medieval Europe. The Protestants did not have cannons in the fort because the Crown did not allow any non-royal fort or castle to have cannons unless there was an ongoing foreign war. However, the Catholics were able to get some cannons and besiege the castle, and they placed multiple cannons on top of the steeples of the cathedral and other chapels in order to fire upon the Protestants. Also, French Catholics sent a fleet into St Andrews bay in order to block passage from the sea. Due to the fort's destruction and gradual starvation, the besieged Protestants finally surrendered. Later, with John Knox and help from the English Protestants, St Andrews and Scotland became Protestant and developed Presbyterianism.

Here are some more cool factoids about the castle: James I of Scotland grew up in the castle and studied here under Bishop Henry Wardlaw, founder of the University of St Andrews. James II also studied here under Bishop James Kennedy, who was King Robert III's grandson and founder of St Salvator's College. James III was born here. King Edward I of England held his parliament here while he was trying to conqueror Scotland in the early 1300s.

I was very impressed with the castle's small museum. I've heard that Scotland has done a lot over the past decade to improve their tourist destinations, and this museum seems to have gone through a recent renovation. The displays were very relevant and easy to understand.

As usual, I took a bunch of photographs, some of which I've posted on this blog. I also took photos of all the museum placards and transcribe what they say about the castle here:

The bishops, later archbishops, of St Andrews occupied a leading position in the Scottish church and were also among the great men of the kingdom. Bishop Roger de Beaumont, chancellor of Scotland, built the castle around 1200 to provide essential protection for himself and his property and as a reflection of his status. However, most of what still stands today dates from later periods because the earlier structure was destroyed during the Wars of Independence in the first half of the 14th century. After 1385 the new bishop Walter Trail rebuilt the castle from its foundations; the pentagonal layout he established remained the basis for all its later developments.

During the 15th and 16th centuries the castle reached its peak as the splendid residence of one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. The bishops and archbishops of St Andrews were closely associated with the Scottish royal court and often entertained noble and royal guests. For this purpose the main rooms would have been lavishly adorned with decorative trappings suitable to the occasion, exuding a magnificence virtually unmatched in Scotland at this time. The heyday of the castle was probably in the time of Archbishop James Beaton (1521 - 1539), renowned for his extravagant hospitality, and his nephew, David Beaton, who succeeded him and became a major political figure during the minority of Mary Queen of Scots.

On March 1, 1546, in front of the castle walls, the Protestant preacher George Wishart was burned for heresy at the behest of Cardinal David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews. By this act, the cardinal, an extremely powerful figure in Scotland, hoped to counter the religious and political threat posed to his authority by the growing number of reformers. In the early hours of May 29, 1546, St Andrews castle was seized y a group of local gentlemen opposed to Cardinal Beaton. These men met in the cathedral burial ground before five and six o' clock in the morning before moving towards the castle. Workmen were already busy around the castle walls, and the drawbridge had been lowered to allow building materials inside. Disguised as masons, the conspirators were able to advance unnoticed. One man was able to distract the porter at the outer gate while others reached the main entrance. When the alarm was eventually raised, the porter was murdered and thrown into the ditch. The workmen and guards fled, and the castle was taken. On hearing the commotion outside, Cardinal Beaton looked anxiously out of his chamber window. After realizing that the castle had been overrun, he hurriedly hid his gold while his servant barricaded the door against the oncoming attackers. When the conspirators threatened to burn their way in, the door was opened, but despite pleading for his life, Beaton was slain. Later his body was displayed from one of the artillery blockhouses he had built. After the murder of Cardinal Beaton, the castle was besieged by the Regent, the Earl or Arran. Toward the end of 1546 he tried to break through the defenses by attempting to mine a tunnel beneath the gate tower. This ploy failed because those in the castle responded by digging a countermine to intercept the Regent's mine. The counter miners could only see the entrance point of Arran's mine and were guided solely by the noises made by his miners underground. The Earl of Arran could do very little at first to recapture the castle because his son was inside. After months of stalemate, an armistice was agreed in December 1546, and in the following April John Knox was able to join those under siege. While the peace lasted Knox was given freedom to preach in the parish church in St Andrews, but in 1547 a French fleet arrived to support the Regent, leading to a massive artillery onslaught which caused enormous damage. Those inside surrendered. Some were imprisoned in France, while others, including Knox, were condemned to work in galleys.

Hamilton's Facade, which was built after the siege damage

in 1546-47. The entrance was four stories high and extended

into the ditch surrounding the castle. This new front is important

in Scottish architectural history because it was one of the earliest

non-royal buildings to be built in the new continental Renaissance

style with heavy influences from France.

A well in the middle of the courtyard inside the castle.

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View of Castle Sands looking out over the North Sea.

Sean Connery's house is the white one on the cliffs.

West Sands and the Old Course are in the distance.

Inside the counter-mine.

This tunnel reminded me of the

video game Oblivion, for those of you

who know what I'm talking about.

These steps were part of the Catholics' mine.

The cathedral is a 3 minute walk from the castle and included a large complex or buildings that included more than just the traditional cathedral. Basically, these buildings were the equivalent of administrative offices for the Catholic Church in Scotland, and many monks lived here. Because these facilities housed a lot of precious goods, including relics that may really been from St Andrew (and not just fraudulent copies as most relics in Europe were) and some items from past Scottish kings, a large half-mile long wall surrounded the cathedral complex. Today this wall is the longest and best preserved of all medieval walling in Scotland. This cathedral was a major place of pilgrimage for medieval Catholics, who would camp just outside the front door of the cathedral and wait to walk into the long and narrow passage. However, they would only get to see the actual relics on St Andrew's Day when the bishops would parade them around the town.

Here's some more information about the cathedral complex that I took from placards in the museums:

During the 10th and 11th centuries the Church in Scotland seems to have fallen out of step with mainstream developments in the European Church. However, St Margaret, a Saxon princess who married King Malcolm II in about 1070, started a process which was to reverse this trend. In particular, she established a Benedictine Priory at Dunfermline and encouraged pilgrimages to St Andrews. Her sons were able to do even more to help the church in its process of renewal. At St Andrews the most important changes were introduced by Bishop Robert who was appointed by St Margaret's third son, Alexander I, in 1123. It is likely that Robert built much of St Rule's church as his cathedral sometime after his consecration in 1127; the tower and the chancel still stand in the grounds of the larger cathedral which eventually replaced it. Despite opposition from the existing clergy of St Andrews, Bishop Robert also introduced a chapter of Augustine canons to serve the cathedral in the 1140s.

St Rule's church proved too small a cathedral, and about 1160 Bishop Arnold started work on an ambitious project to build a much grander and more appropriate building. However, this magnificent new cathedral was not to be completed for over a century. By the late 1270s, in the time of William Wishart, who became bishop in 1271, much of the main building was nearing completion. Before it was finished, however, the west gable was blown down during a great storm. Whishart began rebuilding immediately but died soon after. Eventually, the cathedral was completed and consecrated by Bishop de Lamberton in 1318, but the building was to suffer once more when it was damaged by fire in 1378.

About 1144 Bishop Robert had founded a community of Augustinian canons to serve as his cathedral chapter. These canons provided services, maintained the building, and performed administrative duties as well as living according to their monastic rule around the cloister to the south of the cathedral. The Augustinians traditionally also had intellectual interests, and after the formal establishment of the University of St Andrews in 1413 several of the canons came to play an active role there. In 1512 St Leonard's College was founded by the head of the community, Prior John Hepburn. The Dominicans, or Blackfriars, probably came to St Andrews about 1464 and came to be closely associated with the University. Their buildings were largely destroyed during the Reformation; only a side-chapel whose remains dates from a rebuilding operation of about 1576 stands near Madras College on South Street.

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The tower on the right is St Rule's Tower, which

was part of the original church that ended up being

too small for the Catholic Church. Tourists can pay a

pound to climb to the top. I couldn't do it on this day

because some repairs were going on.

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Entrance into the main part of the cathedral

through the west gable, which collapsed just

before construction was finished.

Pilgrims would have camped outside these

doors while waiting to get inside.

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These are the old bases of the pillars that held

up the roof. The pilgrims were allowed to use

the outside aisles when walking towards or

away from their main destination, the

relics of St Andrew near the eastern steeples,

seen in the distance. This was a very long yet

narrow cathedral, and there would not have been

any pews for the people to use. Instead, they were

just here to walk towards and then away from the

relics, which they would probably not have seen.

Almost every cathedral is full of graves under

the floors, but few people realize they are actually

walking on top of the dead. This photo shows

the original height of the floor (the huge piece of slate)

and where bishops would have been buried.

Creepy, huh?

The 'Holy of Holies' would have been near here,

and this area would have housed the relics of

St Andrew and some Scottish kings.

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This photo is taken from outside the main

cathedral but from inside one of the old

administrative buildings for the Scottish

Church. Again, important clergymen

would have been buried here, so their

graves are visible. During the Reformation

the Protestants destroyed everything and

removed the corpses.

[Image Deleted: see http://peregrinatorphoto.blogspot.com/]

This photo shows the lowest level of the old cloister that the

Augustinian monks would have used. Cathedrals usually

formed a 't' shape for the cross, and this building would

have been snugly built and connected to the southwestern

edge of the cathedral's 't'. The door on the far left led into

the main cathedral, where the monks would have performed

several services for themselves and for the pilgrims.

Other than the ruined cathedral, the St Andrews Sarcophagus is one of the most famous and historically significant items in St Andrews, even if it doesn't look like much at first. Any good history book on medieval Scotland should have a photograph of this old coffin. Instead of explaining in my own words, I'll just rewrite what the placard said: The carved monument before you is one of the finest examples of early medieval sculpture in Europe. Detailed art-historical research has concluded that this was a royal burial shrine dating to the late 8th century AD. Although there are other possibilities, it is likely to be a memorial to Oengus, son of Fergus (died in 761) of the powerful Pictish dynasty which had founded an important monastery in St Andrews. The sculpture that you can see in the museum represents almost all we know about the early monastery here. The Pictish mason who carved this monument for the king was a highly skilled artist. Its deeply symbolic design provides an insight into the religious beliefs, political aspirations, and extensive international contacts of Pictish kings in a period that is still referred to by some as the 'Dark Ages.' The St Andrews Sarcophagus is s supreme example of Insular art, a style made up of the native art of the Celts and Anglo-Saxons combined with aspects of Mediterranean art. The freshness of the surviving sculpture tells us that the Sarcophagus stood in a building, presumably a church or a royal mausoleum. It then appears to have been deliberately buried not long after this initial period of display. no complete plans of Pictish churches have yet been discovered although we know that some included decorative carvings. We presume the shrine was prominently placed to the left of the altar, the cross on this end facing the worshipper whilst the large figure fighting the lion looked directly at the altar.

St Andrews Sarcophagus

Close up of the sarcophagus, which shows a hunt.

During my last day in St Andrews, there was a Royal Air Force

air show at Leuchars Air Force Base nearby. I constantly

heard various screaming jets overhead all day, and

I was able to snap this photo of jets in formation

as they passed over St Andrews before going back to the base.

Goodbye, Hope Street

After spending a year at 10 Hope Street in the center of St Andrews, I was supposed to move out so that the landlord could clean up for the next group of graduate students who would live in this well-located yet prone-to-filth flat. I decided that after leaving Mom in Edinburgh so that she could fly to Ireland, I would come back to St Andrews for the weekend before I flew out of Edinburgh for Texas the next Monday. However, I wasn't supposed to be in the flat this week. No one technically reminded me that I was supposed to leave or where I could drop off my key, so I kept the key to the flat for an extra week. I emailed to school to see if I could pay for an extra week there, but no one wrote me back. Some friends allowed me to keep my stuff in their apartment just in case the landlord came back and threw away everything in the room. I only left the trash, which would actually be a good thing if someone threw it away. Well, when I got back from Edinburgh, I had no idea what to expect. I opened the front door with no problem, and it was obvious that someone had been going through everything that my old flatmates had left in their rooms. There were several piles of junk in the dark foyer, including a pile of stuff that had been in my room. I said 'hello' to see if there was anyone else in the building, but there was only my echo. I walked into my room, and someone had picked through my stuff. It appeared that someone was picking through the leftovers to see if he wanted to keep anything. I went back through the stuff and pulled out a couple things I wanted to keep, like a couple photos friends had given me. I promised a friend I'd give her a football, so I took that back out of the trash with the intention give it to her later. The sheets had been taken off of my bed and put into a trash bag with other clothes, so I took it all back and made my bed. It was creepy laying there on my bed wondering if anyone would walk into the room unexpectedly to start cleaning up the stuff again. Nevertheless, I was completely alone. Whereas there had been 18 or so people in the flat during the school year, no one else was around so that I could go to the kitchen and socialize if I got bored or lonely. Before I would see my friends and their stuff in their rooms through the windows from the street, but now I could only see beds without sheets, desks without computers, and walls without posters. I didn't like it. I looked forward to going out that night for drinks at the pub with some friends who were left in St Andrews.

Before going out for those drinks, I took a walk around the neighborhood one last time to take some photographs as the sunset reflected off of the clouds.

10 Hope Street,

my home for a year.

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St Salvator's Chapel

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St Andrews Castle

View of North Street near the cathedral.

Northpoint café is on the left.

Every morning I would come to this café for

their incredibly cheap and delicious lattes.

It was only £1 per latte from 8:30 am to 9 am.

This 'happy hour' forced me to get out of bed every morning

so that I could start working on my dissertation this summer.

It got to a point when the owners and workers recognized me

and wouldn't even ask what I wanted to drink.

It'd be on my table a couple minutes after I walked in.

View of Market Street near the cathedral.

National Museum of Scotland: Learning about Jesus with Stones

When I visited Scotland back in 2000, I read a lot about Scottish history from a bunch of magazines that the Scottish government had sponsored for the turn of the millennium. My family and I then travelled to Edinburgh to see several of the sites there, including the National Museum of Scotland. This was a very cool experience for me because several of the items in this museum were mentioned and pictured in the history magazines I had been reading. I was able to come face-to-face with the items I had just studied. This museum was one of my memories from that trip 10 years ago.

Just before leaving Edinburgh for St Andrews, I went back to the museum. Just like a childhood home can feel smaller when going back as an adult, the museum felt smaller and less grand than it had 10 years ago. Several things disappointed me, especially since I have been to several other museums and can compare this museum to others. First, the architecture was incredibly inconvenient. I had to run around from floor to floor looking for a toilet since they were tiny and well hidden in staircases in between the main floors. Getting from one exhibit to another was also awkward since the modern architecture caused the passageways to meander around the building instead of leading guests straight through in a logical manner in order to tell the guests a certain story. Second, the audio-guides were pathetic at best and worthless at worse. Even though they were free, they did not give a lot of information to the guests. I would rather pay a little money for a good audio guide that would give me a lot of information. Moreover, there were only a couple displays with audio narration per room, and the information was incredibly dull. There was no good story for the guest to follow as he or she went from room to room. Reading the placards on the displays was a much better way of learning. Third, the museum sent a bland, broad message about Scotland. Every history museum has a message or a story, usually to glorify or mourn the past. This museum is most definitely trying to give the Scots a national identity separate from the English or British identity. Instead of focusing on one section of history, the museum goes from the very beginning of Scotland's geographic formation to the incredibly dull and depressing story of Scots moving to North America in the past century. Yes, Scotland has sports heros, but couldn't that room to Scottish sports heros be used to tell another part of Scotland's history? Do people really care about how people now live in apartments so that an entire room is dedicated to models of apartment buildings and what they look like inside? We know what apartments look like. Don't waste my time with these displays. Basically, I was most disappointed with the last bit of the museum that focused on the past hundred years. What did they want to say about Scotland today? Then again, the more interesting messages a museum could send about the past hundred years could also be rather controversial, so I suppose a museum dependent upon government spending would have difficulty funding these displays.

Still, there were a lot of cool items in the museum even if they are not well presented. I tried to focus on the more ancient items from when Scotland was still full of Picts. There were a lot of stones with Christian carvings, but the signs said that there was a huge number of stones with both Christian and pagan symbols until the Catholic Church took control of the religion here and reformed the teachings. I found looking at these stones fascinating because a historian could study what the Scots and Picts believed and when based upon what was carved on these stones, and they could also study how and why certain beliefs spread across Scotland depending upon where they found these stones. Cool, right? Well, maybe y'all don't care so much, but I spent most of my time looking at these carvings and reading about them.

Recently, I was looking at some books about the Picts at my uncle's house. There were a lot of photographs of the stones I had photographed and put up on this blog post. That was cool to see.

Entrance to the National Museum of Scotland.

The round cylinder adds a modernist feel

to the architecture, but I'm not a big fan of

this architecture, mostly because it is impractical.

The Louvre does a good job in mixing the modern

with the classical architecture because the pyramid

is actually a practical use of floor space.

The interior of the museum with all of its

modernist glory, or lack thereof.

From here one can see the walls slanting

onto themselves, which seems like a waste of

floor space that could be better used

for staircases better connecting the

different parts of the museum.

Before the Romans invaded Scotland, images

of human beings are very rare. From then onwards,

there are more of them, almost always seen on

monumental sculpture. Here, a female aristocrat,

riding side-saddle, is the central figure in a

hunting scene. Hunting was a favorite aristocratic

pursuit, and this scene is more concerned with

honoring the aristocracy than with picturing a

real hunt. The sculptor's placement of the woman in

the scene is a tribute to the person who commissioned

the cross- a woman of some importance.

Date: circa 800 AD.

In parts of northern and eastern Scotland, a very distinctive

style of art appeared during the later part of the 1st millennium

AD. It used complex symbolism and was part of a complex belief

system that is far from understood. Some of the symbols depict

animals, often seen as magical or powerful. Some are recognizable

as boars, bulls, geese, or fish (such as above). Others are hard

to identify which beast they are. Interpreting these symbols

is difficult. They probably had many meanings. Some may

have been personal memorials. As beliefs changed and Christianity

was gradually adopted, the importance of these symbols declined.

They continue to be carved alongside Christian symbols, perhaps as

marks associated with powerful rulers. But the cross replaced

them as the most important part of the stone.

Date: circa 750 AD.

Religious activities were not limited to special ceremonial

sites. Ceremonies also marked key events in everyday

life- such as building a house or abandoning one.

Offerings were made to bring good fortune to new buildings.

The coin herd (bottom left) was placed in the foundations

of the headquarters of a Roman fort. Its contents

clearly show it is special. This is a collection of carefully

selected coins- many were more than a hundred years old when

they were buried. In a house in the Western Isles, offerings

were made time and time again while the house was occupied.

These offerings (other items) consisted mainly of parts of

animals- perhaps joints of meat offered to the gods

who protected the house. They were placed in pits dug

into the floor. When houses were abandoned, they weren't

just left empty. Offerings were made, perhaps as thanks from

the occupants, perhaps to mark the end of a phase of life.

Date: between 1 AD to 300 AD.

Roman grave monument.

This imposing stone monument signaled the status

of a high ranking Roman. The sculpture expresses the

widespread Roman symbolism of death. The lioness

devouring the naked bearded man represents the destructive

power of death. The two snakes at the base symbolize

the survival of the soul.

Date: circa 150 AD.

The conversion to Christianity was not

always straightforward. The Papil stone (above)

does have classic Christian symbols- the cross,

the monks, and the lion which represents

Saint Mark. But it also shows two bird-headed

men pecking a human head, which reflects

pre-Christian beliefs.

Date: circa 800 AD.

Pre-Christian beliefs also survived on this stone,

which probably comes from a shrine or tomb.

Although carved at a time when people were

Christians, its animal-headed humans owe

nothing to Christian teachings.

Date: circa 900 AD.

Christianity in the Pictish areas, mainly in eastern

Scotland north of the estuary was influenced

by both the west coast Church and the Northumbrian

Church. This can be seen in some of the stones which

are based on Northumbrian styles of cross shaft.

Crosses in these areas also show the survival of

local pre-Christian traditions- the enigmatic symbols

associated with Picts appear along with the

figure of the cross (including the cross above).

Crosses often carry depictions of influential people,

such as local aristocrats and their retainers (above).

Missionaries found the general population more

eager to listen to the Christian message when their

leaders had already been converted.

Above: slab with crass; woman, animals, and Pictish

symbols on the back. Date: circa 850 AD.

Crosses had many purposes. Some were personal

memorials, or marked burials. Others defined the

boundaries of the sacred area around a church

(such as above). Some illustrated the Bible to a largely

illiterate population by depicting biblical scenes.

Date: circa 850 AD.

Christianity was first introduced into Scotland

by St Ninian. He came to Whithorn in southwest

Scotland in the 5th century AD and carried out

missionary work in southern Scotland. Whithorn

grew into an important religious center as pilgrims

came to the shrine of St Ninian. A distinctive style

of cross developed in the area (such as above).

Date: circa 1000 AD.

St Columba came from Ireland to western

Scotland in 563 AD, over 100 years after

St Ninian had come to Whithorn. He founded a

monastery on the island of Iona. St Columba

and his followers began their missionary work in the

west of Scotland and eventually were responsible for

converting much of Scotland and northern England

to Christianity. Iona became a major religious site,

a centre of art, craft, and learning whose reputation

was international. The Irish style of Christianity

associated taught that religion should be kept simple.

Believers often went to remote islands to live as

hermits and erected very simple crosses.

Date: circa 750 AD.

The elderly man, a warrior and aristocrat,

seems to be drunk as he rides his worn nag,

presumably homewards. The comic tone

of this apparently unflattering depiction

is exceptionally unusual.

This is almost a true caricature.

Date: 1100 AD.

Cast of Mary Queen of Scots' tomb.

Wheels of steam locomotive 'Ellesmere,' built in 1861

by Hawthorn & Co, Leith Engine Works.

Leith Engine Works was established in 1846 to supply

locomotives to Scttish railways before the completion

of a railway link between Scotland and England in 1848.

Locomotives were built until the 1880s, and some were

exported to portugal and South Africa. The Ellesmere was

a small industrial locomotive.

It doesn't have a cab for the engine driver so that

he has to stand on the outside to drive the train,

which wouldn't be good during a rain.