Military tattoo festival

Every year Edinburgh comes alive during August for the Edinburgh festival. This festival is a culmination of a number of festivals – the book festival, the food festival, the comedy festival, the art festival, the jazz and blues festival, the science festival, so on so forth. For each of the festivals there are performers/participants who come from world over and it is a sight to behold.

One such festival in all of this is the Military Tattoo festival, it is held at the Edinburgh castle grounds. Everyone I met here has raved of this festival and it is supposed to be a big deal. So I went to see the military tattoo show on 5th Aug and it was a preview show which meant we got the tickets at half price.

The show started at 9:30 and we were seated at the stands in seats close to the castle which was a good place to be since the performers all came out from the castle to begin with. It was a bit like being in our republic day performance except that it was in the night, the audience far too small and the lighting was amazing.

There were bands from different parts and each of the bands came in played their music and did a routine involving dancing or acrobatics. It was sheer poetry in motion. This year was the diamond jubilee celebrations so it was special. There was band participation from Jordan, Scotland, Wales, England, Gurkha regiment, etc.

There was a bit of fun when a small piece was done by children ranging from 5 yr olds to 16 yr olds all on bikes and they did some amazing stunts on their little bikes. The best being a two five yr olds on a Sholay style scooter (with an additional compartment for a 3rd passenger), the child at the handle bars manoeuvred the bike to ride it on 2 wheels rather than its 3 wheels and the child in the passenger seat beside him kept squirting at the audience with his water gun! That was really cute.

The Jordan regiment came out looking fierce and they were doing a fine job when one of the horses in the troop started getting a bit squeamish. The poor horseman he kept trying to get the animal under control but the horse kept turning round and round. So while the troop was out performing their heart out the horse stole the show by being shy and fidgety! :)

Any show of patriotism brings in a bit of sentiment I believe and I must say that night was filled with splendour with men and women teaming and performing to show how good their places were.

Of course Scotland being the host they didn’t want to be outdone by anyone so they performed for all they were worth and it was dashing to see girls doing their traditional dance along side men in the band.

And last but not least, truly a man in uniform makes the heart beat faster. :)