THE KILTED MEN ARE a yearly fixture. Visit the Swiss city of Basel during the three days of carnival – and you will come across the Scots. They will be marching in parades, playing bagpipes, wearing tartan – and often wearing other things as well: demonic masks of papier mâché, oversized heads and noses, garish fantasy costumes. They combine the Scottish pipe and drum band tradition with the local carnival aesthetic. These are the men (and only men) of Schotte Clique; their name quite simply means Scottish krewe or band. Founded in 1947, they have performed every year since without interruption. Many consider Schotte Clique one of the finest and most prestigious carnival krewes in the city; sixty-six active and several hundred passive members wear their Scottish gear with pride and meet regularly throughout the year. Carnival in Basel lasts for only three days, but the cliques provide a social identity that delivers all year round. Schotte Clique change their masks and costumes with every season – the production of such material at home or at the clubhouse is one key aspect of Basel's carnival culture. But every year there will be some Scottish element involved. In February 2014, Schotte Clique marched as a group of kilted Santas, and the year before they were medieval knights, their skirt-like leg wear resembling a Scottish fashion.

The group was not created by Scottish migrants, but by Swiss enthusiasts. Official band history has it that the founders of 1947 took the idea from a decorated shop window in Basel, advertising ‘Schottenwoche’, a week of prices so low that they would even please a stereotypically mean Scot. The old cliché of the penny-pinching, thrifty Scot continues to resonate across Europe. It stems from the time when sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Scottish merchants and pedlars came to the continent in great numbers and made their name as hard-headed businessmen. The stereotype is still very much alive and often used by retailers when marketing to the parsimonious. In Germany you can find an entire non-food supermarket chain by the name of MäcGeiz – combining the German word for thrift (‘Geiz’) with a pseudo-Scottish ‘Mac’.