<<scddb-not-identical:8753>>

The dark blue bonnet, or cap, is a typical article of traditional male
Scottish attire, and it should not come as a big surprise that the
“blue bonnets” in this case refer to the Scots in arms against the
English (*All the blue bonnets are o'er the border* – Sir Walter
Scott).

During the past few centuries, Scottish military units sported a
variety of bonnets including the “Balmoral bonnet” (a fairly flat cap
similar to a beret, but with a cockade and badge at the front left and
a “toorie” or fluffy woolen pom-pom, usually red, at the centre of the
crown) and the “Glengarry bonnet” (a more elaborate item more like a
fore-and-aft or overseas cap, with a cockade, badge, red toorie and
often a red-and-white diced band at the bottom, cock feathers and long
streamer ribbons in the back). Nowadays only the Glengarry bonnet
remains in military use, although the Balmoral bonnet is still popular
as a part of Highland dress. In *So You're Going to Wear the Kilt*,
J. Charles Thompson claims that “some of my Scottish advisors […] have
no use for a Glengarry for anyone of any age who is not forced to wear
it by military regulations”.

The music for the dance used to be called *Lesley's March* (its
namesake, one General Lesley, lived in the 17th century and fought,
like many other Scots, on the Swedish side in the Thirty-Year War on
the Continent before returning to Scotland to lead the army of the
“covenanters” against Cromwell), but was renamed *Blue Bonnets o'er
the Border* after Sir Walter Scott had come up with appropriate words
to suit the tune.
