THE SABBATH
Being a child in the late 70’s in the Outer Hebrides on a Sunday has scarred me for life. The island’s Protestant Taliban were still in full force and held the whole island in their iron grip. What they did on THE SABBATH was, in effect, turn the whole island into a church. Here’s a list of some of the things that weren’t allowed on a Sunday.

Talking loudly or in a frivolous manner.
Watching telly.
Listening to the radio.
Any other form of audio visual entertainment.
Reading a book that is not the bible.
Singing (including hymns)
Running
Whistling
Wearing scruffy (work) clothes, Wellington boots etc.
Leaving the house – apart for the purpose of travelling to and from church.
Playing board games, cards, reading comics.
Drinking alcohol.
Shaving.
Washing, ironing, or drying clothes.
Any form of housework apart from that related to preparation and consumption of food for the Sunday in question.
Laughing.

Now day’s the ferry sales (sails for AB) on a Sunday and there’s couple of shops open. We even go fishing on a Sunday, though when we were on the way to the boat and passed one of the old guard on the way to church, she did tell her grand daughter “God is going to kill them”. Nice.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 10:08, 11 replies)

People are allowed to buy ferries on Sundays?
Great times.
( Amorous Badger NAKED BEA ARTHUR PHOTOS 4U, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 10:23, closed)

Scanning websites for the misuse of heterographs wouldn’t be allowed either.

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 10:31, closed)

you missed out the bit about
them chaining up the swings in the playgrounds too.

Fucking Wee Frees. I spent time on Lewis and met a few. Sour, joyless bastards.
(jennymnemonic, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 11:03, closed)

We didn't have swings out in the villages.
Now day's there's just a sign requesting that you observer the Sabbath, rather than the padlock.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 11:09, closed)

And the bit about the cinema in Stornoway
which burned down after showing films the Taliban didn't approve of.

And they wonder why the Outer Hebrides are rapidly depopulating?
(ubergeekian, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 13:49, closed)

At the time many people still lived as crofters, and it wasn’t really possible to live that life without the support of the community around you. Publicly refusing to observe the Sabbath was one way to loose some support.

Bringing the peats home would be done with the help of half the village, and a loan of a tractor and trailer. Moving the sheep between islands was also a community affair. Gathering the sheep when it’s time to separate and mark the lambs was a big another event. If someone had a particularly good day fishing, or any other windfall, it would be shared among the village. Struggling to pull your boat up the beach, 3-4 men would magically appear to help. You didn’t need to ask for help it was just assumed that it would be received and given, and being first on hand to help was something to be proud of.

To a certain extent the help of the community is still given, but the decline in crofting means that people no longer need the day to day help of their neighbours to survive. People are free to plough their own furrow as it were.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 14:47, closed)

Are they mainly peadobiffs?
Or is that the Orkneys?
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 15:07, closed)

Nah. Very few Catholics on the island.

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:23, closed)

Some of the other islands, though...
North Uist is stauchly Wee Free, and South Uist is largely Catholic. In between the two there is a large military base. I believe this didn't happen coincidentally.
(richardm, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:45, closed)

Just on the subject of community spirit controlled by the church
It could backfire horribly; see what happened to the St. Kildans when they got a particularly hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, John MacKay. He had them so strictly churchified that they very nearly starved to death because they could never get any work done.
(richardm, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:48, closed)

Fucking hell!
I thought it was bad enough that I couldn't bu a bottle of Whiskey on a Saturday night because of some stone-age population control lies. Why is it that religionists want to live in a faschist hell? Heck, I'll clamp the fuckers in irons and make them brew beer for me if they really want to be opressed.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 20:59, closed)