A few of my ancestors came from Scotland, though I know almost nothing about my Scotts heritage. As far as I know our family does not have a tartan and I’ve never seen any of my relatives dressed in kilts. My mother used to tell us on St. Patrick’s Day that we probably didn’t have any Irish ancestors and if we did, they most likely would not have been Roman Catholic and would not have recognized St. Patrick but rather celebrated Orangemen’s Day on July 12, commemorating Protestant King William of Orange’s victory over Catholic king James II at the Battle of Boyne. Nonetheless I generally wore green on St. Patrick’s Day to avoid getting pinched. Our father was a John Deere dealer. Finding green clothing wasn’t a problem.

There is a bit of dispute about wearing kilts and playing pipes as to which country was the first to do either. I’ve heard it said that the Irish were the first to play bagpipes and the Scots were the first to wear kilts. I don’t think it matters as kilts and pipes are part of both country’s heritage. And, frankly, bagpipes didn’t originate in either country.

Like many instruments that existed in antiquity, it may be impossible to document the very first use of some form of reed pipe to make music. However, pipes, including those with bladders that could be used to regulate the passage of air through a drone pipe, existed in Roman times and possibly in Greece before Rome. It is said that Nero plaid the pipes. The tradition, however, is that he was playing his violin when fire destroyed Rome.

When we think of bagpipes, however, we generally think of Scottish Highland bagpipes, with a blowpipe, a bag, at least one chanter that is played by placing fingers on the holes, and a drone pipe. Historians write that the pipes were used at the Battle of Pinkle in 1547. The Scotts replace the trumpet on the battlefield with pipes to give signals to the combatants. Pipe music contains battle tunes, marches, gatherings, salutes and laments.

I have a friend who has significant Irish heritage and who also is a firefighter. He took up the pipes as part of his commitment to both his heritage and his profession. He is part of a team of professional firefighters who respond to the deaths of firefighters offering support to survivors and assistance at funerals. The playing of pipes for the funeral of a firefighter is a tradition in many places. When he was first learning to pay the pipes, he often would practice at our church because his wife was not a fan of practicing the pipes in their home. He actually has gotten quite good and frequently is asked to play Amazing Grace at funerals. In our church he would pipe from the balcony, though in some churches, his music was relegated to out doors following the church service as the casket was carried to the cemetery.

I think I know almost as many semi-insulting jokes about bagpipes as I know about banjos and there are a lot of banjo jokes circulating.

Bagpipes are often played in combination with drums, instruments that also have a martial heritage. However, the use of pipes in combination with other instruments is relatively rare. You seldom hear pipes being played in a symphony orchestra. This may have to do with the limited range of bagpipes. It also may have to do with what is often perceived as imprecise tuning. The pitch of the sound coming from the pipes can vary with the pressure in the bag. Maintaining a constant pressure requires a good set of lungs to keep the bag filled and a lot of precision in how the bag is squeezed to make air flow through the pipes. The change in the pitch of the drone as the piper starts playing is so common that it is generally associated with any music featuring the pipes.

As a result, I am not sure if I have ever heard eleven pipers piping all at once, at least in live performance. It isn’t hard to find YouTube videos of large groups of pipers performing, but somehow I’ve never been in a place where there were many. My friend who plays the pipes has a couple of other friends and I think I heard three of them playing together once at a large firefighter’s funeral, but mostly I’ve heard him playing solo.

The song counting the 12 days of Christmas starts out with gifts of birds. If you think of 5 golden rings referring to pheasants, birds are the gifts for the first seven days. After that, the gifts are people performing specific activities, milking, dancing, leaping, piping and drumming. I suppose that after all of the calories of the various cooked birds (though the song doesn’t mention cooking them), a bit of exercise might be in order. Milking, dancing, leaping, piping and drumming might burn off some of the excessive calories that came from days of celebrating by feasting.

At our house we don’t wait until the eighth day of Christmas to begin our exercise program. We’ve taken an outdoors walk every day this year and that has been our custom for some time. We almost always walk outdoors every day. And when it comes to feasting, we generally have a special dinner on December 25 followed by a few days of leftovers. Having a freezer allows us to spread out the leftovers and there are a few fresh menus during the twelve days. This year the turkey carcass was cooked into stock and the stock made into soup for our dinner last night. It is hard to beat homemade turkey soup on a winter evening, even though we live in a place where winters aren’t very severe. We do have short days and long nights, however, so dinner is generally consumed after dark in the winter.

We didn’t have any lords a-leaping last night and I’m not expecting any piper’s piping today.