Taiwan-UK Rediscovery: Burns Night - Scottish Whisky and Haggis tasting 🍻

🍻Last time when I visited Scotland, I actually felt cold and distance. But two things really won over my heart: one is the rare and lovely Scottish Blackface, a breed of domestic sheep, and black sheep dolls; another thing I quite enjoyed is visiting whiskey factory, surely, I got a drink there.

上次去蘇格蘭(Edinburgh and Glasgow)的時候，第一印像其實是冷冷的而且有距離感。不過, 2件事嬴得我心: 第1是那裡蘇格蘭稀見的黑臉羊還有黑羊玩偶，非常可愛的眷養羊，另一件事我非常喜歡的是,參觀威士忌工廠,當然,在那喝了一杯。

Cultural difference

Different to England, Scots have their own culture and traditions. Notably, the Scottish Enlightenment initiated in the 18^th century has significant impact on the process of European civilization. Scots should be very proud of their reading habit; and by the 17^th century, they have 5 universities more than just 2 in England. In this sense, the productivity of literature and science was relatively prosperous. Famous Scottish thinkers and scientists at that period such as Adam Smith and Robert Burns are iconic figures.

與英格蘭不同，蘇格蘭人有自己的文化和傳統。令人注意的是，18世紀啟動的蘇格蘭啟蒙運動對歐洲文明的進程產生了重大的影響。蘇格蘭人真的應該為自己的閱讀習慣感到自豪; 在17世紀前，他們就有5所大學超過英格蘭的2所。從這個意義上來看，文學和科學的生產相對是較繁榮的。當時著名的蘇格蘭思想家和科學家，如亞當·斯密和羅伯特·伯恩斯都是標誌性人物。

Glasgow

Scottish elites in the early history

The study of the history of Scottish elites is important to understand why they have different views on political and social affairs, and how the charity activities engage in British life. As the book ‘Scottish elites’ written by Tom M. Devine (Devine is originally an Irish surname) mentions, Scottish elites have close identification with local communities, civil and philanthropic roles, less to national affairs before the World War Ⅰ.

研究蘇格蘭精英的歷史，對於了解他們為何在政治和社會事務上有不同的看法，以及慈善活動如何融入英國人生活，都是很重要的。正如Tom M. Devine (Devine原本是愛爾蘭的一個姓氏）所寫的“蘇格蘭精英”這本書所提到的，蘇格蘭精英在第一次世界大戰之前，較少涉獵國家事務，但與當地社區，公民和慈善事業較有密切的關係。

Robert Burns’s birthday celebration

Today, 25 Jan is Robert Burns’s birthday. People here are celebrating the great legacy of Scotland -- a Scottish poet and lyricist and a pioneer of the Romantic movement. I then join Burn’s night party and know how Scots like to eat haggis (for me, it is kind of cozy food), drink whiskey and recite his poetry.