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Butchers, bakers and candlestick makers Ten great markets to get you in the Christmas spirit
CHINESE ARTIST AND ACTIVIST AI WEIWEI TALKS IMPRISONMENT, CULTURE AND HUMAN NATURE’S FATAL FLAW
THE Germans have always known how to do Christmas, which is why the rest of the world has delighted in copying them and rolling out our own magical versions of their Christmas market culture. But Christmas isn’t just about the mulled wine and wooden cabin shops, it’s about all kinds of markets, from the Christmas fayre to flea markets and vintage stalls.
The joy of the market is taking a wander and connecting with artisan and local producers. It’s about finding that special gift or treat. And, yes, maybe having a glug of mulled wine or hot chocolate on the way.
AYRSHIRE FARMERS’ MARKETS Kilmarnock: December 18, Paisley: December 11, Ayr: December 4, plus an extra Paisley Christmas market on December 19
Christmas is all about the good food, right? And if what you’re looking for is quality produce bought from people you know have a connection to its origins, then the farmers’ markets are the places to go. The Ayrshire markets are among the longest-running in Scotland and see up to 30 producers bring their wares to their towns. Products often include Ayrshire hill lamb, seasonal game, Dunlop cheeses, Ayrshire veg, home baking, sweet treats and even a Christmas pressie for your hound from The Ayrshire Dog Deli. You can also stock up on booze, for instance, Hebridean whisky liqueurs and award-winning beers from a nearby micro brewery.
BOWHOUSE CHRISTMAS MARKET WEEKEND
Bowhouse, St Monans, Fife, December 11-12, 10m-4pm
Bowhouse, the biggest food and drink market in Fife, is a buzzing hub all about the local artisan producers, and a selection of fine makers of food and drink, crafts and gifts will be there over the weekend of December 11-12. Pick up a Christmas tree from Blinkbonny Trading, make a wreath, choose a book from the Little Travelling Bookshop (cutely housed in a Citroen van) or browse craft traders and artists for ceramics, knitwear, jewellery and home décor. Foodies will also find plenty of Fife-produced quality treats from Balcaksie Estate meats and Woodmill Game to seasonal root vegetables craft drinks and beers. The vibe is upbeat and chilled, with a local band providing the sounds. www.bowhousefife.com
GLASGOW ST ENOCH MARKET
St Enoch Square, Glasgow, November 21 to December 23
The disappointment that George Square market had been cancelled was replaced with the joy that many of its favourite stalls would be moving to St Enoch Square. There you will find a Christmas Village in German Christmas market style, but with an international spread of flavours that extends way beyond the Gluhwein and gingerbread. Take your pick of French crepes or Dutch pancakes, try an ostrich, wild boar or crocodile burger, or just stick to a classic giant bratwurst from the famous Schwenkegrill.
GLOW SCOTTISH DESIGN FAIR Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, December 4 to 5, 10am-5pm
If you don’t go home with a very cool designer gift from here then you’re not trying. The sellers are curated by weaver James Donald, so you know everything is going to be special. A total of 26 Scottish designer-makers will be featuring their work, in the tapestry studios. Includes plantinspired resin jewellery by Carla Edwards, lambswool scarves by Emma Geddes, eco homewares by Dominique Saag and much more. dovecotstudios.com/programme/glowscottish-design-fair
HAAN CHRISTMAS DESIGN MARKET
Marischal Quad, Aberdeen, various dates throughout December
Haan, is Doric for hand, and this is a market that celebrates the handmade, from textiles and jewellery through to homeware and ceramics. Luckily enough, it also sits alongside Aberdeen’s FINE pop-up cafe. Those with a keen interest in the skills of crafting might also like to check out the programme of events in the nearby Anatomy Rooms in which industry professionals will talk about their work. And, if you want to try your own haan at something there are family friendly workshops in upcycling and card and decoration-making. lookagainaberdeen.co.uk/haan
THE NIGHT MARKET
Cottiers, 93-95 Hyndland Street, Glasgow, December 2, 6.30-11.30pm
Where market night is party night! Created in 2019 by two friends, Becc Sanderson and Jess Syke, The Night Market is all about shining a light on the breadth of Scottish creatives and small business talent, but also doing that in the form of a proper evening out. There’s street food and live music, as well as sounds provided by DJ Rebecca Vasmant (with special guest Chris Greive) . The feel is local, ethical and independent with plenty of artisans, vintage, jewellers, bakers, candlestick makers and more selling their wares. Children (12 and under) are free and welcome until 8.30pm (due to licensing). Book your tickets in
advance. Food service stops at 10pm, but the bar will stay open.
Facebook @thenightmarketuk
CAWDOR CASTLE CHRISTMAS MARKET
Cawdor Castle, Nairn, December 11-12, 10am-4pm
A stroll in the grounds of beautiful Cawdor castle, browsing artisan food from Highland producers and local crafters and designers. What more could you ask for to get you in the Christmas spirit? Well, there’s also the street food stands to keep you fuelled up, the children’s activities and the live festive entertainment, all of which make this more of a winter festival than mere market.
CHRISTMAS VINTAGE MARKET ROSEANGLE CAFE
Roseangle Kitchen Cafe, Perth Road, Dundee, December 4
Something old rather than something new? A vintage present is for the most part a unique and special one, as well as being sustainable. You can rake through the rails at this regular vintage Christmas Market, selling clothing, jewellery, furniture and mid-century items, and find that pre-loved treasure. The event is part of the West End Christmas fortnight in Dundee, which also includes the popular Christmas Fayre at Verdant Works on November 27 and 28 and the Community Wardrobe on December 11, offering free clothes and accessories - a gift to whoever pitches up.
EDINBURGH CHRISTMAS MARKET East Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, November 20 to January 4
The grandmother of all Christmas markets and the one people come from across the world to visit. For, of course, Edinburgh delivers not just a market but a German-style market wrapped up in a winter festival, complete with fairground rides and a Christmas tree maze, and tied up in the bow of Edinburgh romance. You don’t go here just for the Gluhwein, you go for one of the things we have been missing over the past year, a mass event fix. A ride on the Forth Big 1 wheel or the waltzers, followed by Bratwurst and a beer. Preferably in that order. www.edinburghschristmas.com/
CHRISTMAS MARKET ON THE CROFT
Leith Links, Edinburgh, December 13-24, 10am-4pm
Last year’s Christmas Market on this wonderful community garden at the corner of Leith Links was a hive, buzzing with activity – and this year sees it return for a 10-day stretch of stalls, music and carol singing. But the Croft isn’t just host to this week of Christmas market, there’s also its regular Sunday market, and its new Saturday events, called Coorie In with flea market, mulled wine, and other entertainments, including on November 27, a St Andrews Day ceilidh. Pick up a snack or drink at the
Hingabootery outdoor cafe while you’re there.
WHEN he was nine years old, Ai Weiwei lived in a hole in the ground. The roof was made out of tamarisk branches and rice stalks, “sealed with several layers of grassy mud”. He and his father slept on a raised platform carved out of the earth. At night they could hear rats scrabbling in the walls. Before long they were covered in lice.
More than 50 years later Ai Weiwei uses a photograph of that hole in the ground as the screensaver on his mobile phone. It is the first thing he shows me when I meet him in the foyer of the Kimpton Hotel in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square.
It is a Friday morning in November. The night before, Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland, had introduced Ai to a crowded St Mary’s Cathedral in the city’s west end as “the most famous artist in the world”.
Ai is probably best known in the UK for filling Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall with millions of tiny ceramic sunflower seeds individually made by Chinese craftsmen, or perhaps for his part in designing the Beijing National Stadium (aka the Bird’s Nest), working with the Swiss architectural practice Herzog & de Meuron for the 2008 Olympics in China. But today he is in Scotland to talk about his memoir 1000 Days of Joys and Sorrows. Written for his son, it’s his powerful, inevitably painful, account of both his life and of his father’s life and the cost they both paid as a result.
Like his father, Ai has been punished for speaking out against the Chinese state, most notably when he was arrested – “kidnapped” is the word he uses – at Beijing airport in 2011 and held for 81 days without any contact with the outside world.
“I don’t have the ability to compromise,” Weiwei told Simon Groom at St Mary’s. That makes him sound flinty and unyielding, but that’s not how he is in person. Even speaking in a second language which at times he finds frustrating, he’s curious, quietly spoken and eloquent.
He’s funny too. At one point in the book, when he leaves China for New York in 1981, he writes that he told his mother that he will return as “the second Picasso”.
When I mention this, he jokes, “At that time my ambition is so low I just want to become a Picasso.”
Later, when talking about his time in detention he recalls being questioned about having a son with his girlfriend. “In China that can be unacceptable,” he explains. He didn’t deny it. “I mean, I cannot say I’ve never had sex.”
This morning I’ve arrived to talk about the boy he was and the man he has become. I begin by talking about that hole in the ground. Are those years tough to talk about?
“No, no, I even put it on my phone,” he says. That’s when he displays his screensaver.
“People imagine it’s hard [to talk about]. Life is much simpler when extreme.
“That time at least I had some peace of mind. We are being punished. We know we are different. That gives you identity.”
His father Ai Qing was one of China’s most famous 20th-century poets, someone who knew Chairman Mao personally.
But in 1957 Mao launched a purge on intellectuals whose work was deemed critical of the state. Ai Qing was sent to a labour camp in a remote border area of China.
That was the year of Ai Weiwei’s birth.
Ten years later, during the Cultural Revolution, father and son were both dispatched to “Little Siberia”, on the edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert, where his father had to do the most humiliating menial tasks, including cleaning the primitive latrines,