Figure 1.--There is a historic tradition of face painting in Scotland. The American film "raveheart" helped spawn the modern reappearance of face painting in Scotland. It does go back to the early Scot, but it would be more decorative and only put on for battle and so not for boys.

There is a historic tradition of face painting in Scotland. The American film "Braveheart" helped spawn the modern reappearance of face painting in Scotland. It does go back to the early Scot, but it would be more decorative and only put on for battle and so not for boys. The blue and white come from the Scottish flag. People have it done for football matches and unlike the original Scottish face painting, it is especially popular with boys. A Scottish reader writes, "The face painting (with Woad) was used by all the Celtic tribes as "warpaint". Caesar mentions the Ancient Britons wearing it when he first arrived on these shores. Woad is a distinctive blue - and so the blue facepaint is particularly appropriate for Scotland football fans - and of course Ceasar never made it to Scotland and was defeated in his attemp to concquer Britain. Facepainting by boys is not all new - sometimes I would get ink smeared on my face at school and a teacher would make a joke about us "wearing the woad again". We didn't know what he was talking about then."

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Created: December 29, 2003
Last updated: December 29, 2003