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The Sconestone has been circulating in language-classes around Cologne and when the English Language Teachers' Association of the Rhineland, ELTA Rhine had its annual Members' Day last weekend, the Stone was receoved with great interest - and will doubtless be finding its way into a good few more classrooms in the near future. The ELTA Newsletter Editor was present and has included an article about the Sconestone in the coming edition.
An article about the Sconestone in the ELTA Newsletter:
The Sconestone
The beautiful hand-carved Sconestone, in its equally beautiful hand-carved wooden box, was a highlight of Members' day. The current Keeper of the Stone brought it along for all to see and hear about it.
The Sconestone was carved by a Canadian of Scottish ancestry, Warren MacLeod, based in Nova Scotia, in honour of the 'Year of Homecoming' in Scotland in 2009, when people from all over the world were encouraged to come back to their ancestral home, and learn about their Scottish roots.
Warren was coming to Scotland not just to go to his family's area but also to attend a music festival led by Runrig (one of many cultural events which took place throughout 2009) in the town of Scone, which used to be the Royal town of Scotland, where the kings were crowned. Now, the kings were crowned on a square slab of stone known as the Stone of Scone, or the Stone of Destiny. According to legend, Jacob in the Old Testamant laid his head on that very stone when he was in the desert, dreaming of the ladder between heaven and earth, and over the years it had made its way to Scotland. It was then stolen by the English and placed in Westminster Abbey, whence it was stolen back by a group of Scottish students in the 1950s, but it was taken back to Westminster before being returned to Edinburgh Castle in 1996. There remains to this day controversy as to whether the stone in the Castle is the original or a copy, with the orginal safely hidden in the care of a 'keeper' elsewhere in Scotland; we Scots know what we believe!
And so, inspired by the story of the Stone of Scone, and wanting to bring something from New Scotland to Old Scotland, Warren MacLeod carved the Sconestone. He used as his basis the decorated stone orbs which have been found in several neolithic sites and graves around Scotland. As nobody knows the symbolism or function of these orbs, Warren invested the Sconestone with his own meaning - it carries around the world the message of Scottish hospitality and kindness and brotherly love between nations, and is passed on periodically to a new 'Keeper', whose job it is to tell people about it, let people hold it, ask questions, and encourage acts of kindness.
At the concert given by Runrig in Scone it was presented by no less than Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, to its very first Keeper, the Rev. Neil Galbraith, a tireless charity worker from Glasgow, whose work in Africa is supported by Runrig. Now it's come to Germany, and it's time to pass it around here and let it work its magic. If you're interested in borrowing it to show to classes or other groups, or just seeing it yourself, get in touch.
But remember, if you touch it, it comes with consequences: you are pledging to do an act of kindness to your fellow humans, for animals or for the planet; something extra, however large or small, that you wouldn't be doing anyway.