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Drawing of a horse pulling a cart filled with furniture, text reads Flittin' Day: Forces that Moved our Scottish Ancestors

What is Flittin' Day?

It happened every year, or in some places, twice a year. It mostly happened on farms where you worked the land and lived in a “tied” cottage but could also happen with leases of houses in urban areas. Each year around May 15th, your lease or contract with the landlord or laird would expire, and if it wasn’t renewed, if the laird no longer needed you, or you chose to go, you would have to leave by noon on the assigned day. Leave your farm, your home, your livelihood, your kith and kin. And it led to the common question: Will ye Flit or Sit?

newspaper article
newspaper article



Christian News (Glasgow), June 3, 1854 pg. 45. British Newspaper Archive.
Montrose, Arbroath, and Brechin Review, May 29, 1857  pg. 4. British Newspaper Archive. 


Flittin’ Day

Bobby Watt (R.J Watt, Glenashdale Music)
From “Homeland” CD by Bobby Watt

Chorus: Gather up your toys, pet, and put them on the load.
Tomorrow morning early, we’ll be back out on the road
For another farm and another town
And another year of strife.

Your father’s in the field with a horse and plough
Turning in the shaws where the tatties used to grow.
The beasts are all gathered and stowed in the byre
Ready for the Flittin’ Day.

Find me your school bag, pick up all your books.
Don’t worry your wee head about the names and dirty looks,
For you know they’ll be new friends in your new school
After the Flittin’ Day.

I’ll no’ see the flowers we planted in spring.
I’ll no’ see my brother’s new wean.
This travelling life is fair getting me down.
How I long for a place of my ain.

It’s never been easy for you and I
Following the old man with his horses and his kye.
But I know there’ll be good times and they’re coming soon,
Maybe after this Flittin’ Day.

Notes:
The idea for this song came from a friend of my father’s, Mr. Archie Robertson of Brodick. Who told me this story over a couple of pints in the pub. There are many traditional songs about the Flittin’ Day from a male perspective; I thought it was about time one was written from the woman’s point of view.

A couple of other notes: “wean” means child and “kye” is cattle. “Pet,” in the first line, is an endearment familiar in the west of Scotland.

man holding a guitar while leaning against a stone wall


Born and raised on the Island of Arran, Scotland, Bobby Watt grew up immersed in traditional Scottish community culture and began playing the guitar at age 12.

He emigrated to Canada at age 21, initially joining the Toronto Police Service—where he kept his musical roots alive as a drummer in the police pipe band—before returning to his original trade as a stone mason.

Professionally, he went on to run a successful historical restoration masonry company that completed major projects, including the extensive repairs on the West Block of Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Alongside his trade, Watt has maintained a prominent cultural legacy as a solo Celtic musician, front man for the band Ecosse, and an active member of the Scottish Society of Ottawa, where he works to preserve Scottish heritage and philosophy.

Visit Bobby Watt & Ecosse on Facebook


Robb, Peter. "Hogmanay 2013: From Scotland with Love and Music." Ottawa Citizen, December 30, 2013. Last modified May 20, 2014. https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/hogmanay-2013-from-scotland-with-love-and-music.