Loving Life in Scotland – the 2017 Royal Edinburgh Tattoo
October 19, 2017
Welcome to the 2017 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the second of a series of posts on our tour of Scotland.
Since the City of Edinburgh is Festival City in August we were busy all 10 days that we were there. And if you go to Edinburgh in August do not miss the Royal Military Tattoo.
About the Royal Military Tattoo
The word ‘tattoo’, in this context, means ‘an evening drum or bugle signal to recall soldiers to their quarters.’ A tattoo precedes ‘taps’, which is the signal for ‘lights out’ at the end of the day. A Military Tattoo is a military show of music, marching and exercises. The annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo grew out of a small performance called ‘Something About a Soldier’ in 1949. Today, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo (Charities) Ltd holds the event in a large outdoor stadium in the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. The Tattoo has never been cancelled. (Update: The Tattoo was cancelled for the first time in 2020 due to the coronavirus epidemic.)
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is held throughout most of August every year. Buy your tickets in advance at Tattoo.
The 2017 Edinburgh Tattoo Photo Gallery
Click on the photos below to see the magic of the 2017 Tattoo in full screen. And check out our videos at the end of this post.
Then click on Travel Scotland for more stories about our adventures in Scotland, including our campervan tour of the Highlands, the Hebrides, and the mysterious and abandoned St. Kilda Islands.
The Edinburgh Tattoo varies its theme, bands and tributes each year. This year’s Tattoo, the 68th, celebrated “Splash of Tartan”, promoting Scotland’s year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. Each performance included representatives of at least two of Scotland’s ancient clans. The photo above shows the two clans honoured at the performance we attended.
The 2017 Edinburgh Tattoo included a tribute to the Shetland Islands and their Viking heritage. These Scottish-held islands are off the northeast coast of mainland Scotland and due west from Norway. A Viking longship, The Mirrie Dancer, was accompanied by a Viking Jarl Squad for protection.
I was particularly interested in this tribute because my surname, Anderson, has its Scottish roots on the Shetland Islands.
Hjaltibonhoga, a group comprised of the best fiddlers from the Shetland Islands, was invited to participate in the tribute to the Shetland Islands. The group has performed at the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo annually since 2014.
Perhaps surprising to many, including me, the accordion has long been a part of rural Scottish music. Recently the instrument has gained popularity country-wide.
The Japanese Ground Self Defence Force Central Band marched and played at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo for their first time in 2017. Their performance included Taiko drums, an interesting twist for a marching band.
Private Michiko Matsunaga, a singer accompanying the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force Central Band, silenced the audience with a Japanese song. She later captured the audience again when she led all the performers of the night in a breath-taking rendition of Leonard Cohen’s evocative Hallelujah.
The Massed Bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines perform regularly at the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo. 2017 was no exception.
One trumpeter of the Massed Bands of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines seems to be distracted. It is easy to see why with so much going on at the Tattoo.
All the bands and groups that performed assembled on the stadium floor for the singing of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ and the finale of the evening’s performance.
The Tattoo always ends with The Lone Piper performing high atop the Edinburgh Castle ramparts, where he/she performs a Scottish lament. It is a great honour to be The Lone Piper at the Tattoo. For us, Corporal Charles Johnstone MacLean played ‘Lochaber No More’, a song about a Highlander in the military being nostalgic for his home country..
The Lone Piper dates back to the 14th century and the days of William Wallace. In Scottish military units, a lone piper signals the end of the day’s battle and bids farewell to the day’s fallen.
After the Lone Piper has played the lament, the assembled performers exit the stadium in the traditional March Out. Each band or group marches out to the Massed Pipes and Drums playing ‘Scotland the Brave’. See the March Out in the videos below.
Dressed for Venice Carnevale.