Love It: Boston Statues Get 'Scottish Cone' Treatment From Tartan Army

The late, great Paul Harvey was fond of saying, "It's not one world." He often meant that as a lament, with an observation that many things we take for granted here in the civilized world don't necessarily apply elsewhere. But it's also an apt observation when you run across one of these weird, seemingly inexplicable customs that take place even now, in the civilized, developed, modern, and shall we say, sane world. Oh, and also in Scotland, where it's a tradition to put traffic cones on the heads of statues. It all started in Glasgow, it seems, where university students started putting traffic cones on the heads of a famous statue of the Duke of Wellington and his horse.

Now, along with the World Cup, the so-called "Tartan Army" has brought this custom to Boston.

Scotland soccer fans have taken over Boston during the 2026 World Cup, and members of the fan base known as the Tartan Army have brought one of their home country's unique traditions with them.
Since the start of the World Cup, Scotland fans have been a major hit on social media, with viral videos showing them embracing Boston culture.
One piece of Scottish culture that Bostonians may have noticed is the placement of plastic orange traffic cones on famous statues around the city.
The cones have been spotted on the heads the Bill Russell statue outside Boston City Hall, the Make Way for Ducklings display in Public Garden, and more.

Well, that's.. interesting.

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Now, it would be admirable enough to note that the Tartan Army has already accomplished what I would have guessed to be impossible; they drank all the beer in Boston. Now, I've spent some time drinking beer in Boston, and let me tell you, folks in Boston take drinking beer seriously, and that's for sure and for certain. That was, in fact, one of the things I really loved about that city; there are a lot of great local beers, and Bostonians, in my opinion, love to drink all of it. Must be all the Irish blood. But in my various nocturnal explorations of that wonderful old city, I never heard any news that the city was anywhere near running out of more mugs of suds.

But the Scots, they managed it. Tartans and all, they drank Boston dry, no doubt to the chagrin of Boston's native tipplers and to the delight of the breweries, who are seeing their orders skyrocket. And now these intrepid Scots visitors are somehow finding enough traffic cones to stagger about, placing them on the city's statues.

Heck, don't take my word for it; watch (good luck trying to understand some of the Scots; I think they are speaking English, but I'm not completely sure):

What the heck, it's a harmless prank. When the Tartan Army heads back to the old sod, the city of Boston can take the traffic cones down and return them to their designated purpose, but don't be too surprised if some Bostonians have come to think it's a pretty good stunt and will try to keep up this Scottish tradition. After all, that's how traditions spread, and traditions have a way of becoming culture.

Although, yes, this is an odd one. (The traffic cones, not the drinking.) But, hey. Some people juggle geese.

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