St Ronan's Tattoo Picture Gallery - Click here. |
The Tattoo Committee exists to organise various musical events in the
district,
including the St. Ronan's Tattoo, usually held in June bi-annually at
Traquair House.
The Committee has decided to have a break from the Tattoo in 2010 after 14
years and hopes to
promote a new event on Saturday 5 June 2010.
The committee is very pleased to work in partnership with other local arts groups,
including
St. Ronan's Piping Society and Innerleithen Music Festival.
In 2007 and 2008, the committee promoted sell-out performances of
the popular Scottish "Folk 'n' Roll" Band SCOCHA in Innerleithen's
Memorial Hall.
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THE ST. RONAN'S TATTOO 2008 - ANOTHER GREAT SUCCESS!
WHAT IS A "TATTOO"?
You may have wondered why we call this form of entertainment a Tattoo. The word Tattoo is a corruption of an old Dutch phrase "Doe den tap toe" - or "Turn off the taps". The practice started during the campaigns of the First Duke of Marlborough in the Netherlands in the 18th Century when drummers used to march through the garrison towns signalling the innkeepers to turn off the beer taps and send the soldiers home to their quarters in private houses where the reluctant residents were forced to billet them. As barracks began to be built and the army became more professional t he practice gradually evolved into a ritual at the end of the day. Devout Russian soldiers had developed the practice of singing a hymn each evening to give thanks for having survived another day and in the last century the two elements were merged in the military entertainment which we now know as a Tattoo.