Old and new

Blossoms from the cherry trees in the Canongate churchyard are swirled across the road by the wind. Drifts lie along the gutters like late, pink snow. The church has glittering gold stag antlers at the apex of the roof, symbol of a miracle in 1128. Visitors from Europe, America and the Far East sit in the sunshine under the trees, schoolchildren shout and shriek in the playground nearby; students pass on their way to the university.

In the Old Town of Edinburgh history and everyday life are side by side and visitors from all over the world mingle with local people going about their business on the "Royal Mile." This street is called royal because it runs between Edinburgh Castle, brooding on its high rock above the city, and Holyrood Palace, created by the Stuart kings of Scotland and court of the tragic Mary Queen of Scots. Now the street holds the law Courts and Cathedral, but also pubs and cafes and many small shops - tartans and designer knitwear and cashmere are specialties.

Across the gardens below is the Castle in the New Town - it was new in 1750 when building began. It is considered the finest example of Georgian architecture and town planning in Britain. It is spacious and formal, the elegant streets form a grid plan north from Princess Street, Edinburgh's main shopping street, and west from St. Andrew's Square, the home of banking and the town's financial community, though the financial centre under construction at the other end of Princes Street and the nearby new International conference Centre are important new developments.

Edinburgh is the historic capital of Scotland, and although the country has been part of Great Britain for almost 300 years it has a distinctive cultural and political life and a vigorous independence movement. The Scots have always looked outwards to Europe, and the world. Edinburgh is a small city with strong international links and the wish to strengthen them. It was rated the top city in Britain for business, and homes, shops, offices, schools and nurseries are all part of this community, which merges the historic, the modern, and an eagerness to look to the future.

The Highlands

Edinburgh is also gateway to the north - via the magnificent one-hundred-year-Old Forth Bridge. The visitor who seeks to really know Scotland must travel to the Highlands. Misty, mountainous, fissured by glens, salmon rivers and high passes, this is the last of Europe's wilderness areas, home to herds of wild deer, sea otters, the wildcat, eagles and osprey. It is remote but not out of touch a crofter practising small-scale agriculture may also work internationally in an on-line computer "cottage."

A revival in Gaelic, Scotland's second language, and in Celtic culture encompasses art, music and poetry and the tradition of the ceilidh - a gathering for music, dance and good talk. At village Feisan (traditional music festivals) children learn to play the pipes, the fiddle and the clarsaich (the Celtic harp). The renaissance takes many popular forms, reinventing tradition for a new century. Bands like Capercaillie and the Proclaimers and Celtic rockers Runrig and Wolfstone have taken it around the world. Among students and young people in the cities ceilidhs are as popular as clubbing, and the kilt, once worn only by Highland lairds and soldiers, is worn by fashionable young men with punk vest or a biker jacket.

Highland traditions are most visible in the Highland games held in many towns and villages in the summer.Small or large, they mix carnival entertainment, piping, athletics and ancient feats of strengths such as tossing the caber and putting the stone, while young girls measure the intricate steps of Highland dancing above the crossed swords. Piping competitions, with dozens of bagpipes tuning up at once, have to be heard to be believed.

Join Napier University staff and WACRA members from around the world for an exciting and stimulating interdisciplinary, intercultural conference on Case Method Teaching and Learning in 1997 (June 29 - July 2) or for WACRA 98 at ESC - Groupe Ecole Sup‚rieure de Commerce Marseille, Provence, France from July 8 - 13, 1998.

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