In April 1746, the Battle of Culloden took place on Drummossie Moor. The last conflict ever fought on British soil, it was the precursor to the American Revolution 30 years later.
Charles Edward Stuart… the Bonnie Prince Charlie… commanded an ‘army’ made up of everyday people; farmers, tradesmen, merchants. Untrained in war, what they lacked in arms and experience, was outweighed in their determination to live free, rather than kneel under tyranny. To raise families safely in peace, without threat of violence or subjugation. This was the hope, some would say the right, they believed in and fought for.
At the end, the clansmen were out-numbered; overwhelmed with exhaustion and starving. They faced well-trained, heavily armed soldiers led by the Duke of Cumberland. It was a slaughter; the moorland a sea of blood, broken bodies and limbs.
Hunting rifles were no match for cannon-fire.
And one short hour saw the end of a centuries-old way of life. The clans were smashed, the very backbone of the Highlands crushed and forever gone.
Not content to limit the fight to the battlefield, the Duke of Cumberland gave orders for all the countryside to be put to the sword and razed. Cottages and shielings were burned down, often with families still inside. Arms for hunting food were banned. The wearing of tartans and plaids, the speaking of Gaelic were each punishable by death. Even the music of the bagpipes was outlawed… and a deadly silence prevailed across brae and loch. All traces of the culture were to be wiped out.
Historians would later say that Cumberland and his men, “turned the Highlands into a desert, and called it peace.” It was genocide in every sense of the word, but when perpetrated by the son of England’s king, it was called ‘justified’, and promptly forgotten about in the annals of time. Except… in the heart of a Scot.
The Memorial Cairn serves as both a tribute and reminder. It also stands as a testament to hope… for the battle was not in vain. In time, the Scots would rise and equal the English at their own game.
Thus, have there been many a notable Scot sitting in Parliament, or leading the UK as Prime Ministers. What war could not accomplish, words did. Hard-won diplomacy, over many long years, bore fruit. The Scots regained the right to live and express their cultural identity; to determine their own fate and future. Never again would there be another Culloden.
And here we are – Christmas 2023 – in a world more at war than last year. Once again, we celebrate the Christ Child… the Prince of Peace… come to walk among us. His was a violent world, as ours is today. That much hasn’t changed with time. There will always be ordinary, everyday people standing up in the hope of raising a family safely in peace. To express the beliefs and customs which define who they are without fear or violence. For when basic rights are denied, war is inevitable. We have yet to understand that words can better accomplish what arms cannot. Surely God must shed a tear at what we have not learned from conflicts past.
Therefore, in a lowly manger… unto us a Son is given. Like the Memorial Cairn it assumes an aura of remembrance… and of hope. The Manger, though ethereal in nature, has a place of permanence in our hearts.
It is resurrected each year at Christmastime. Thus, the bright halo of Love, encircling the Christ Child, serves as a reminder that despite everything, God’s Presence is still among us, and will remain so. That the hope and dream of peace on earth, good will to all is indeed possible; whenever we are ready to embrace it in sincerity. He puts it on us to take this message to heart… or not.
With the birth of Christ, this tiny babe clothed in innocence and purity… hope is also born anew. A hope that cannot be denied, for it is of God the Father.
And the resulting strength and resolve can fill our hearts with the Light needed to find a path towards peace, even as it guides our steps accordingly. Whether of a personal nature, or on a worldly scale it is there. Peace is within our reach, and by His design, are we reminded of this at Christmas.
“The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the kid,
The calf and the young lion and the yearling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
(Isaiah 11: 6)
