The name of the dance (whose local variants include: socz, szocz, and siot) derives from the German word "Schottisch", meaning Scottish. The dance was performed by people forming two columns. The szot danced in Warmia and Mazury had its own distinctive form yet has kept a lot of steps of the original Scottish dance(s). The tempo is fast, in metre 2/4. The szot is danced to the popular song "Zagrajtaż mi szota, szota, niech otrząsne skórznie z błota. By się panny nie brzydziły, ze mną w koło tańczyły" (Play the szot, szot, let me shake the mud off. Then the girls won't be disgusted but will dance away with me). It was danced in a polka step, locally called drobny (fine). Any number of dancing pairs (in a closed position) would whirl around in a circle against the sun (counterclockwise). In every second tact the dancers would accent their step with a stamp, at first with the heel, then with the entire (free) foot, while lowering the torso slightly. In some variants, the pairs would separate in the course of the dance and the dancers would whirl around individually, finally coming together in the end forming a circle or pairs (open position). Steps accented with the stamping of the heel (and the entire foot) and small jumps with legs thrown apart woven into the dance are relics of the Scottish origins.

Drabecka Maria. Tańce i zabawy Warmii i Mazur. Warszawa: CPARA, 1960.

Drabecka, Maria; Krzyżaniak, Barbara; Lisakowski, Jarosław. Folklor Warmii i Mazur. Warszawa: Centralny Ośrodek Metodyki Upowszechniania Kultury, 1978.

Sarnowska, Anna. Tańce warmińskie i mazurskie. Jedwabno: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Jedwabna, 2010.