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Panda Day
Panda Standup Comedy (for Oxford Comma Grammarians):
"A Panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots into the air. "Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife annual and tosses it over his shoulder. "I'm a Panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up." The waiter turns to the relevant entry, and, sure enough, finds an explanation: "Panda. Large black and white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
The Ides of March, falling on the 15th of the Roman calendar, was originally a day for settling debts but became infamous as the date of Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. The Celts—who ruled much of Britain 2,000 years ago—had a history deeply entwined with that of the Roman Empire. By the 1st century AD, most Celtic lands had fallen under Roman control, and by around 500 AD, due to Romanization and the migration of Germanic tribes, Celtic culture had largely retreated to Ireland, western and northern Britain, and Brittany.
This tartan was created to celebrate the arrival of a breeding pair of pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo in 2011.
Pandas have several days in the calendar year dedicated to awareness, conservation efforts, and general learning about these strikingly coloured bears.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland was formally established on the 18th of March 1909, by Edinburgh lawyer, Thomas Gillespie. In order to give the design a direct link to The Edinburgh Zoo’s heritage, the Gillespie Tartan was the starting point for this new design.
Notes from the register:
The main colours of the tartan are black and white, directly representing the Panda. Grey shades have been added to soften the tartan as well as to convey the gradation of colour from black to white, as seen on the Panda’s fur.
The red represents China as the pandas are their gift. The number 3 signifies the word luck which sounds similar to the Chinese character for birth. Where possible therefore, three red overchecks have been inserted into the heart of the design. This shows China, as well as the pandas, in the hearts and minds of Scotland and its people.
Green has also been included to represent a favourite food of the panda, bamboo.
For a look at the live Panda Cam at the Edinburgh Zoo, click the panda!