The Traveling Ridleys: Sunday Journal

“We’re going to the Military Tattoo”, she said. Like duh. Of course.

“What the heck is a military tattoo?”, I either thought or said (or both). Fortunately, we have Google. What did we do before Google? Oh that’s right, we went and got the Encyclopedia Brittanica or got in the car and went to the library (or both). So much more convenient until the computers take over and rule us anyway.

“She” is the same she who spent a lot of time in the UK last year and tipped us off to the English Heritage pass. She did not steer us wrong with English Heritage and definitely did not with the Tattoo.

If you like marching bands, you’ll love the Tattoo. If you like military formations and processions, you’ll be enthralled by the Tattoo. If you like bagpipes, you’ll adore the Tattoo. If you feel the need to be picked up and inspired, go to the Tattoo.

Set with the magnificence and majesty of Edinburgh Castle looming as a backdrop, the military Tattoo is an international celebration with roots dating back to 1947, post-war Great Britain. In 1947, during August’s Edinburgh International Festival, Lieutenant Colonel George Malcolm unveiled a performance called Something About a Soldier intending to inspire the “human spirit to flourish” in the wake of the War and its aftermath. The performances caught the eye of the Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the castle became the annual home for what would become the Tattoo.

The Tattoo features acts of “Scottish heritage, military precision and culture” from around the world. Ours began, as I suspect most do, with nine battalions and bands of pipes and drums from across Scotland, London, Ireland and Australia. I love a bagpipe and revere Scotland the Brave. Be still my heart.

It continued, for 90 uninterrupted minutes with representation from the US Air Force, Norway, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the British Royal Air Force and local performers culminating in a finale with the whole ensemble on stage together with fireworks crashing overhead.

And as the smoke settled and the choreographed cacophony faded, the lone piper stood atop the castle to close the night and send us home. Send us home proud to live in free countries, where good defends against evil, where freedom rings and where hope reigns. Inspired by the performances, with bagpipes still echoing in our ears as we slipped away to comfortable and peaceful slumber with a reminder that good always outnumbers bad and has always risen to the moment in might, in will and in harmony.