Articles about 'Scotland'
April 26th, 2013
Booktrust did a survey of over 2,500 people in the UK to determine the top nursery rhymes. Here they are with links to their lyrics (most of the links have mp3’s or videos too):
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
2. Incey Wincey Spider
3. Round And Round The Garden
4. Baa Baa Black Sheep
5. The...
February 25th, 2013
There are many variations in different languages of "mother" and "father". These are formal words that people use when referring to their parents. But most words used to address our parents directly are less formal.
In the US, most people don’t say "mother’ and "father" when talking to their parents. Even when I was a kid...
February 2nd, 2013
Melissa wrote:
Hey I love your site! My grandmother, from Scotland, would always recite a poem to me about a chick hatching from an egg….”3 weeks I lived inside that egg, slowly, slowly getting bigger every day”.
I cannot find any mention of it anywhere on the internet, please help?
Thank you,
Melissa O’Leary
If anyone can help...
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June 1st, 2012
Be True is a poem by Scottish poet Horatius Bonar (1808 – 1889).
These are words to live by…
MP3 of Be True
Be True
Thou must be true thyself, If thou the truth wouldst teach; Thy soul must overflow, if thou Another’s soul would’st reach! ...
April 24th, 2012
I found this article about wedding superstitions in a very unlikely place: an American journal from 1906 called, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. It was written by Memphis Scimiter…
Wedding Superstitions
The old rhyme that had to do with the days of the week still holds considerable power in the choice of the wedding day in some...
April 1st, 2012
Rhiannon Daymond-King sent me a counting-out rhyme called “Zinty Tinty” with this note:
“I was taught a counting rhyme by my father, who said it came from his mother. Her mother was Swedish, so he thought it was in Swedish (or possibly Norwegian given that the part of the country she was from used to be...
November 9th, 2011
Wendy wrote about a cool Scottish rhyme. It’s a type of rhyme called a counting-out rhyme. Counting-out rhymes are used to choose in games… generally you count-out players who leave the game. Whoever’s left at the end is "It". Here’s what Wendy wrote:
My grandfather was from Scotland and taught my brother and I this counting...
July 3rd, 2011
Donna wrote to me asking for help with a song:
Hi Mama Lisa
….my Grandmother used to sing a song to my Mother when she was a child and we can’t find the correct words or melody to it. I was wondering if you or anyone you know might know it. My ancestors are from Scotland...
May 2nd, 2011
Jane Miller wrote to me from a library in Canada asking for help with a song. Here’s her email:
Dear Lisa
We have had an inquiry on the following folk song. Our inquirer’s mother sang it to him in the 1930’s. She emigrated to Canada from Scotland aged 10, so he thinks the song could be...
December 3rd, 2010
Who’s That Up the Chimney? is a Christmas song written by Scottish singer Ewan McVicar. Ewan sent this song to us when we asked him if he knew of any Christmas songs from Scotland. Here’s what he wrote:
I was on a tram in the Urals city of Perm (Russia), and the teacher conveying me said...
November 27th, 2010
A Visit from Saint Nicholas is a classic poem that has been read for nearly two centuries at Christmastime. You may know it as It Was the Night Before Christmas or Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. It’s believed to have been first published in 1823.
Below you can hear 3 different recordings...
November 1st, 2010
The original meaning of Jack-o’-Lantern was night watchman. "Jack" was a term for any guy or fellow. A night watchman was a guy who would walk around carrying a lantern making sure all was safe. He was a Jack with a lantern. They were also called "Jack-a-lantern" and "Jack-with-the-Lantern".
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has the...
October 13th, 2010
Old Abram Brown is an old nursery rhyme. In some versions, he’s called Old Grimes. Some people sing this rhyme as a song for Halloween. Here are the lyrics and a YouTube video…
Old Abram Brown is Dead and Gone
Old Abram Brown is dead and gone, You’ll never see him more; ...
May 18th, 2010
Alysa emailed me asking for help with some Scottish nursery rhymes and songs. The ones I could help her with I posted on the Mama Lisa’s World Scottish Song pages. The rest I will post below after Alysa’s letter. Here’s what Alysa wrote:
Hey there.
My nanna passed away a couple of years ago...
May 13th, 2010
Andy wrote looking for information about a Scottish song and whether or not anyone out there is familiar with it. Here’s what he wrote:
Hello. I was taught a song from my Scottish relatives and wonder if you know of it.
Inty, tinty, tamerary, ram, tam, toosh.
Go under your bed and find a wee fat moose.
Cut...
April 13th, 2010
I recently came across a great poem about the Wind and Moon and soon after found a tale about the same subjects. It seemed fitting to post them together.
The poem is called “The Wind and the Moon” by Scotsman, George MacDonald (1824 – 1905)…
The Wind and the Moon
by George MacDonald
Said the Wind to the...
February 11th, 2010
A while ago, we asked about gift giving traditions around the world. Nicola Holdsworth wrote to us from the UK telling us about British holiday and gift-giving traditions. Here’s what she wrote…
We give horseshoes for marriage, oranges form part of the Christingle celebration, usually with candles and ribbon. 21st birthdays are sometimes...
April 2nd, 2009
I came across a wonderful verse today by Robert Burns (1759 – 1796). He wrote the song Auld Lang Syne. The verse is from Epistle To James Smith.
Original Text in Scots
"This life, sae far’s I understand, is an enchanted fairy land, where pleasure is the magic wand, that...
February 22nd, 2009
We’d love it if you’d join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you’d like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and...
February 17th, 2009
Joan’s looking for help with a Scottish song. Here’s what she wrote to me in an email…
The only thing I can remember is the last line I think goes like this:
My own wee house, something something, so dear to me, so dear to me, something, something, so dear to me.
The something something are words...
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