Ceilidh dancing is one of my favorite parts of living in Scotland. It’s a tradition that is innocent and sweet, along with being incredibly euphoric in a way. Community-based traditions like these, that are unique to one nationality, have been left behind in most Western countries upon the emergence of the too-cool-to-have-fun digital age. As an international student, I’m grateful to get to experience this tradition. One thing I wish was different about it, however, is that it would be used more efficiently in student life.
I have loved being a student at the University of Edinburgh, and I love the friends that I have made here; but there is a lack of community outside of our individual friend groups. I think the university should consider taking this tradition of ceilidh balls, and applying it to bring students together. There are plenty of ceilidhs that occur throughout the year, but most of them are put on by students through society events. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this, but only select societies do it. If you want to participate, but are not a part of the society, you have to pay an additional charge. Then, when you arrive, there will be an obvious distinction between those who frequently attend the society events and those who are outsiders. This is to be expected, as those who join societies will inevitably make more connections with other participants than those who do not. However, I think the University of Edinburgh should consider putting on ceilidh balls for each School annually. This would be a really exciting way for students to get together and to meet people outside of our courses and cliques.
Student-wide ceilidhs would motivate students by having something to look forward to throughout the year, while implementing a sense of togetherness. This would remove the awkwardness of attending a random society’s event just to have something to dress up for, to only realize you may be unwelcome without it being said aloud. With our university being so international, along with having a significant amount of English students, I think a tradition like this could remind us that we are attending a university in Scotland, a country that has opened its arms to outsiders like us.
I think this University is full of amazing people, but we only get to meet a select few. I’d like to use the lovely tradition of ceilidh dancing to bring our student body together. For free, or a small fee so that it is accessible for everyone, the University of Edinburgh should begin this tradition. If the University does take this into consideration, but believes it to be too difficult to accomplish, I think students would be happy to help plan it and to start a fundraiser, if the university claims that it wouldn’t be feasible. While some Schools may already do this, it is advertised very poorly and only occurs for select Schools. The university should take the efforts they’ve made so far, and simply elevate them so that ceilidhs are a definite factor in our experience as students. In such a large, competitive university, we’ve all experienced imposter syndrome. If we had a tradition like this, we might feel more like a community of students, rather than just one number within the student population.
“Scottish traditional dancing: Ceilidh” by Matthieu Aubry. is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.