Scottish Customs: From The Cradle To The Grave [Paperback]

Margaret Bennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005

A highly readable and absorbing anthology of traditional Scottish customs and rites of passage, Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave draws upon a broad range of literary and oral sources. Scotland has been fortunate to have written accounts of intrepid early travellers such as Martin Martin, Edward Burt and John Lane Buchanan, and extracts from their writing are found alongside modern interviews made by Margaret Bennett and researchers from the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University. This expanded edition includes a large amount of new material. The result is a detailed and comprehensive picture of social behaviour in Scotland over the last 400 years. The book is divided into three sections, each covering a stage in the cycle of life: Childbirth and infancy; Love, courtship and marriage; Death The first edition was originally published by Polygon and was joint runner-up of the 1993 Katharine Briggs Folklore Award.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Yet again Margaret Bennett has produced a fascinating book...excellent value for money' - J.C. Massy, Lore and Language; 'Margaret Bennett has given us another magic book, brought together from many books of the past as will as hitherto unpublished interview material, private manuscripts, wonderful miniatures of folklore, wise and charming commentary on human personality in a dazzling profusion' - Owen Dudley Edwards" --Owen Dudley Edwards

About the Author

Margaret Bennett was born on the island of Skye. She is well known as a singer but has also published widely in the field of Scottish studies, especially on folkore. She previously taught in the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University and currently teaches at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. She lectures widely in the UK and North America.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Birlinn Ltd (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184158293X
• ISBN-13: 978-1841582931
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a relief!, May 9, 2001

By 

Andrew Casad (Chapel Hill, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave (Paperback)

As someone of Scottish descent and a student of Anthropology and History, I really appreciated this text. There are a myriad of books available that purport to tell about Scottish customs, or focus on some narrow aspect of Scottish life, such as clan associations. This book, however, addresses the whole gamet of life of the Scottish folk, from motherhood and child-rearing, through the rites of passage into adulthood, and finally the passage from life into eternal life. Bennett draws upon a wide selection of historical sources, disparite in both locale and time period. Relying not only upon the historical record, but utilizing her expertise as a folklorist, Bennett elicits ethnogrpahic data which she presents and uses to draw her conclusions. She paints a vivid picture of life in Scotland that offers new and insightful ways in which to look at Scottish cultural practices. I highly recommend this lucid, yet academic and well-researched book regarding Scottish customs to anyone wishing to get beyond the surface aspects of the fascinating and vibrant traditional Scottish cultural patterns.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scottish Customs, March 28, 2008

By 

K. Murphy "Fortune favors the Bold" (The thriving metropolis of Masury, OH) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Scottish Customs: From The Cradle To The Grave (Paperback)

I'd say the previous reviewer covered this one pretty well. This is a well-written guide to the customs and culture of Scotland literally from the cradle to the grave, looking at motherhood, childhood, courting and youthful romance, some recent and modern marital traditions, real 'Highland Weddings', the Scottish attitudes towards death, burial rites, and the associated bodies of spirituality and folklore for all of these topics. The bulk of the book's text is the writings of Scots (or foreign observers of their customs), mostly in the 19th and 20th Centuries, though some of the book's content goes back as far as the later Middle Ages. This means that most of it is the memories and first-hand experiences of people who have lived the unique customs of Scotland. I greatly enjoyed this book, and anyone interested in the culture of recent-modern Scotland will as well.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, comprehensive book about Scottish life and beliefs, July 17, 2008

By 

H. Kuratek - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scottish Customs: From The Cradle To The Grave (Paperback)

This book is the real deal - it's based on multiple conversations with real Scottish people, who shared their most intimate life stories as well as the stories of their parents, grandparents and earlier ancestors. Anyone who wants to truly "get" Scottish culture (which has changed, of course, but still reflects its history), needs to add this book to the library.