The Edinburgh Military Tattoo
During the summer months Edinburgh is awash with festivals and special events. One of the most popular, especially with tourists, is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Almost a quarter of a million people view the event live in the castle grounds, as many as 100 million more watch on television.
What Is The Edinburgh Tattoo?
The Edinburgh Tattoo is a spectacular annual show where members of the various branches of the armed forces perform for the public. It takes place over a three week period in August and events usually include dancers, marching bands and traditional Scottish pipes & drums. Most of the performers are from the UK armed forces, particularly Scottish regiments, however special guest bands are invited from around the world. To date the Tattoo has raised over £5 million for charity.The Tattoo is extremely popular and tickets for the 90 minute show sell out well in advance. Please don't wait to the last minute and hope to buy your tickets when you arrive in Edinburgh, you'll probably be disappointed. Some travel agents offer inclusive short break packages which include hotel accomodation and tattoo tickets in the price.
You can, of course, buy programmes and other souvenirs of the show. For real Tattoo fans there's even a special Edinburgh Tattoo tartan. This was created in 1983 and is based around the colours navy blue (Navy), red (Army) and sky blue (RAF) along with black & white to represent Edinburgh. In 1998 a new Tattoo Jubilee tartan was also created.
The Edinburgh Tattoo has run every year since 1950, which means that 2009 will be the 60th show. 2009 is also the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns and the Tattoo will include a series of vignettes illustrating his most famous work Tam O'Shanter. Other planned highlights include the Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps and the Australian Highland Dance troupe.
