The Role of National Days and Festivals
in Cultural Advocacy and in Reconceptualising National Identity
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Professor Gayle McPherson
University of the West of Scotland
12th Session of the European Cultural Parliament, September, 2013
Challenge: why is there not a
UK “national day”?
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In Europe.
National days and festivals – concepts,
expressions and cultures
Cultural advocacy – contexts, expressions and
cultures
National identity – re-conceptualising; recontextualising;
Some questions for policy makers, cultural
leaders, civic leaders, festival ‘owners’,
democratically elected representatives; citizens
of Europe
A few challenges and contexts throughout
Overview
Scotland – “official” national
day is 30 November
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One single day to celebrate and promote a national
identity?
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More than one day to celebrate and promote
national identities?
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A single identifiable nation?
An obvious identity to which all of a nation can
subscribe in a single context or on a single day?
Multiple identities within a nation
Opportunities for free expression of identity on
several contexts / days
A single, universal (paid?) holiday observed, shared
and celebrated by the entirety of a nation?
A National Day or National
Days
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Some possible days FOR the nation of Scotland:
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St Andrew’s Day (30 November)
Robert Burns’ Birth Day (25 January)
Declaration of Arbroath (6 April)
Tartan Day ( 6th April)
Hogmanay (1 January)
Vote for / against independence from UK (18
September, 2014)
Identities, expressions
exclusions and diaspora
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Politics?
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Culture?
{Economics?
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Momentous events – political; cultural;
technological
Judao-Christian Calendar – largely “patron
saints” days
Birth of a “significant” figure in a nation’s
formation or expression
An opportunity to showcase a nation’s
economic outputs and activities – particularly
in export markets
Formal involvement of the state vs informal,
carnivalesque of the “people”
National Days and
Festivals
Context: Bastille Day - state,
power and identity
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Present celebrations (looking to the future) or
past victories
Some might argue they are markers of conflict
and contestation
Are these events reflecting who we are to
ourselves or who we are to others – what is the
image that is protrayed and is that what we
want
Issues and Challenges
Context: Hogmanay,
spectacle and whose
identity?
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Recognitions of when and how we became who we
are – all of us or some of us?
Expressions of who we are (and who we are not?)
What do we stand for – as a “people”; as a “nation”?
How do we express that?
Who decides what the “official version’ is and how it
is to be expressed?
How can individual citizens express their identities
in a challenging environment and / or a globalising
tendency?
Is the national day a message to us, to others within
our boundaries whom we may not regard as “us”; to
the outside world?
Cultural Identity via
Festivity
Context: national days –
unity, separation, re-birth
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One national day or many days for the nation’s
many populations?
A single cultural identity or pluralistic
identities among, and within, citizens
Reconciling difference; addressing
demonisation of the ‘other’
Taking ownership through forms of cultural
advocacy via citizens, communities, civic
leadership, education and art.
Issues and Challenges
Context: Cultural
democracy/democra
tisation of culture
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Empowering citizens to be advocates for the
identities of a nation
To be part of the policy making process
Promoting cultural diversity through cultural
democracy
Encourage local change makers across Europe
The role of the European Cultural Foundation
The ECP Youth Programme
Do we want a cultural policy for Europe or
policies for culture?
Cultural Advocacy
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How can every citizen be given the capacity
and the potential to be a cultural advocate?
Advocacy empowers people to engage in
debate and influence policy but not without
problems of trans border differences
Are competing agendi given equal weight?
Are there always winners and losers?
What is the role of the ECP in National
Identity?
Issues and Challenges
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Auld Lang Syne is a marker for friendship
throughout the Globe – could Scotland lead the
way!
Context: Scotland
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We need to celebrate diversity and difference as part
of our shared open borders, whilst retaining our
cultural heritage.
Can we have a European National Festival rather
than a day– could this be Hogmanay – a shared
festival, on one day, across many European
countries already, could the UK start with this?
Or is it better to have multiple festivals as exemplars
of our diverse cultural offerings
This meeting of the ECP could harness a network of
ideas to create a European National Day that
embraces culture, tolerance, friendship and
celebration
National Identity needs to celebrate what we are
rather than what we’re not!
Concluding Thoughts
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Single national days or multiple national festivals?
Internally facing or externally transmitting?
Free expression of identities or staged events
asserting national conformity?
Reproducing differences or acknowledging
difference?
Cultural advocacy or cultural suspicion?
Can a nation’s cultural expressions through
festivities be “owned” or are they organic?
Who bears the cost and who receives the benefits?
In a globalising world, what role can any expression
of national identity have if it is confined to single
moments of celebration?
Where shall we find our cultural advocates?
Issues and Challenges