by Delia Forrest (in Melbourne)

NATIONAL days are a curious thing. They generally are a day to celebrate a nation’s being or togetherness…the things that make the people feel they belong to a country. Sometimes they bring out extreme nationalism which can be uncomfortable and exclusive.

When I started Catalan classes, all but two people out of about 25 people had a national day of independence. You can probably guess who the two who didn’t were! Yes, myself and the Catalan teacher. The students ranged from a range of countries including the USA, Cuba, France, various African countries, Costa Rica and so on.

We don’t have an official national day in Scotland. What’s the closest … Burns’ Night, St Andrew’s Day … Hogmanay? Hogmanay isn’t really ours is it? Is Burns’ Night ours any longer? Or is it the world’s? We don’t really have a way of officially celebrating our national identity.

Post independence, there would obviously be debate about when independence day would be. Many would advocate an historic day. Wallace? Battle of Stirling Bridge? Or how about going back three hundred and eleven years to the day Scotland was tricked into the union… May 1st.