THE THISTLEDOWN

VOLUME 31, ISSUE NUMBER 3CHRISTMAS 2014

Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc.

Christmas Ceilidh & Silent Auction 2014

See Ceilidh continued on page 6

Stacy Apelt, left, with Cliff Gimbert. Glasgow Kiss, and special guest Colin McGlynn,provided delightful Celtic Christmas music.

We raised over $800 for the Baird Scholarship in our Silent Auction.

Donna Looney, left, with Kathleen Hoffman.

Ruth Fraser, left, with Ginny Zaun.

Dear SST members & friends,I hope this message finds you

and your family enjoying a fes-tive and safe Christmas season.

A big THANK YOU to everyonewho participated in our AnnualChristmas Ceilidh and SilentAuction earlier this month. Theturnout was wonderful, and thepot luck supper was terrific. Andwith your generosity, we raisedover $800 in the silent auction!As you know, this is the big fund-raiser for the Baird MemorialScholarship, and this will go a long way toward supportingfuture applicants as they seek to study and promote Scottishculture. A healthy scholarship fund will help us ensure thatthe celebration of Scottish-American culture is alive and wellin Hampton Roads for many years to come.

I hope you will join us at the annual Hogmanay festivities inOlde Towne Portsmouth on December 31. This is always afun and meaningful event. I can’t think of a better way to ringin the new year in grand Scottish fashion. See the followingpage for details.

It’s almost time for the annual Burns Nicht Supper, hostedby our sister association the St. Andrew’s Society of Tide-water. We are excited about the program, and look forwardto a night of Scottish food, music, history and above all Rob-ert Burns. See the following page for more information.

As you know, we have had the SST meetings at theChurch of the Ascension for many years now. They havebeen most gracious and accommodating, and we are verygrateful for their support. However, they have decided tochange their meeting policies, and will begin charging nonchurch-related groups a $50 per meeting fee, beginning inJanuary. This is a challenge to us, to be sure. We are askingfor your feedback on how best to proceed with this. Shouldwe pay the fee, and possibly raise SST annual dues to helpcover it? Should we find another place that will allow us tomeet for free? Should we adhere to our tradition of meetingon the first Wednesday of each month, or are we open to achange if the situation calls for it? I would welcome your in-put on this critical issue. We want to make this as painlessas possible. And by all means, if you know of a suitableplace for our monthly meetings (a church, a community cen-ter, a school for example), please let us know. This is YOURScottish Society, and it’s important that we all play an activerole in its future.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas and a wonderful NewYear!

Yours aye,Stacy Apelt

The Scottish Society of Tidewater exists topromote the preservation and study of Scottish cul-ture, including music, language, art, history, folk-lore, dance, literature, athletics, and all other thingsdistinctively Scottish among interested persons inthe Hampton Roads, Virginia area and to cooperatewith like-minded persons, groups and organizationshere and abroad.

A meeting is held on the first Wednesday of eachmonth at the Church of Ascension Community Cen-ter, 4853 Princess Anne Rd., Virginia Beach, VA23462-4446. Social time begins at 7:00pm, and themeeting starts at 7:30pm. Anyone interested inScottish culture and history is invited to attend.

About the Scottish Societyof Tidewater, Inc.

301 E. Randall Ave., Norfolk, VA 23503www.tidewaterscots.org

SST Executive Board

President:Stacy Apelt sapelt@cox.net

Vice President:Manny Willis mannyandrobin@cox.net

Secretary:Marcey Hunter marcey9@cox.net

Treasurer:Ruth Fraser RHFraser@vbgov.com

Board of Directors:

Tom Chenoweth cgbosn@centurylink.net

Donna Looney loontoon@msn.com

Nancy McKay nancymck1@gmail.com

Cliff Gimbert gimbert.est@verizon.net

George Phillips gpphish@aol.com

Connie Smith caus10smith@hotmail.com

SST Committees

Webmaster:Scott MacGregor mcgregr@exis.net

Membership:Marcey Hunter marcey9@cox.net

Program:The SST Board of Directors

Newsletter Editor:Marcey Hunter marcey9@cox.net

PAGE 2 THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014

A Few Words from the President

Stacy ApeltSST President

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 3

START YOUR NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT!

Don’t miss the Olde Towne Scottish Walk and Hogmanay Celebration!

The 17th Annual Olde Towne Scottish Walk and Hogmanay Celebrationwill take place on Wednesday, December 31 in downtown Portsmouth.

All events Free! Parking Free!All are welcome to participate in the Scottish Walk. Hear tales of colonialhistory. HONOR our Nautical and Military History. Thank our merchantsfor service in the Holiday Season, and wish all good luck For Auld LangSyne.

Special participants this year are: Pipers and dancers

Revolutionary War Re-enactors Lighted Boat Display (weather permitting)

Singing of “Auld Lang Syne” following the walk.

3:30 PM Gathering Corner of Queen and Washington Streets.4:30 PM Step off Behind the St. Paul’s Catholic and Monumental United Methodist Churches.

5:30 PM Scottish Music & Dancing, Barons Pub, Bier Garten

After the walk, open House at former SST president John McGlynn’s house, 364 Middle St.

For more information e-mail Susan Cooke, Christmas Walk Coordinator, at susancocke@cox.net

Don’t Miss the 31st Annual Burns Nicht Supper!

Hosted by the St. Andrews Society of TidewaterSaturday, January 26, 2014

Princess Anne Country Club, 3800 Pacific Avenue, Virginia BeachCash Bar and Social 5:30 pm - Supper 6:30 pm

$60 per person includes a full course meal and Skip Hunter’s famous Haggis!

Interested? Please contact Stacy E. Apelt, 757-583-5872 sapelt@cox.net

Reservations must be received no later than Monday, January 19

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 4

Kirking o’ the Tartan 2014Knox Presbyterian Church, Norfolk

THISTLEDOWN CHRISMTAS 2014PAGE 5

We Want to Hear From YOU!The SST Seeks Input from Membership on Monthly Meeting Location

The Church of the Ascension has been a wonderful home for our SST monthly meetings for many years.They have provided their wonderful space free of charge. However, for a number of reasons, they havechanged their policy and will now be charging a monthly fee of $50 for non church-related groups.

This presents a challenge for the SST, as this would cost us roughly $500 per year.The Board of Directors seeks your input on how best to address this challenge.

Pay the fee and possibly raise SST annual dues to help cover it? Find another location that can accommodate us for free? Do you know of such a place? Are we willing to switch our schedule and meet on a night other than the first Wednesday of the month,

if the situation requires it? Do you have any other ideas?

This is an important issue before the SST, and we want to make the solution as painless as possible.Please share your ideas/input with any member of the SST Board.

Stacy Apelt - sapelt@cox.net Manny Willis - mannyandrobin@cox.netMarcey Hunter - marcey9@cox.net Ruth Fraser - RHFraser@vbgov.com

Tom Chenoweth - cgbosn@centurylink.net Donna Looney - loontoon@msn.comNancy McKay—nancymck1@gmail.com Cliff Gimbert - gimbert.est@verizon.netGeorge Phillips - gpphish@aol.com Connie Smith - caus10smith@hotmail.com

Capt. (ret) Donna Looney McGlynn presents Chief Operations Specialist Josiah (Skip)Hunter, Expeditionary Combat Readiness Center (ECRC), with the Navy and Marine CorpsCommendation Medal during his retirement ceremony. Both Donna and Skip are long-time

members of the Scottish Society of Tidewater. Congratulations, Chief Hunter!

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 6

Ceilidh, continued...

Robin Willis, left, with Gerry McDowell. Jeanne & Bob Rider.

Lynette Crouch, forefront, with Andrea McGlynn.

Nancy McKay, left, with Elizabeth McKay Goodwin.

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 7

Henry F. Jones & Dylan Harris JonesVirginia Beach, Virginia

Henryjones64.hj@gmail.comClan McLeod

Ceud Mile Failte!"One Hundred Thousand Welcomes"

to New SST Members!

Important Notice Concerning Tartan Day Ceilidh

As you know, we have been celebrating the SST Tartan Day Ceilidh at the Church of the Ascen-sion Community Center for many years. It has been a wonderful venue and has allowed us to hostsome successful and memorable ceilidhs.

Unfortunately, the Church has opted NOT to renew their catering license. This is a money-savingdecision for them, as eliminating this license will help lower insurance costs significantly. There-fore they can no longer cater any events that are NOT church related.

This means that there will be changes coming to our Tartan Day events. Another venue? Ascaled down affair, like a pot luck? All options are on the table and open for discussion.

Would you like to help with Tartan Day 2015? Your help, ideas, input, elbow grease would beGREATLY appreciated. The Ceilidh has been organized by just a handful of people for MANYyears, and it would be healthy for the future of the event to get some “new blood” in the mix.Please help!

If you are interested, or if you have some ideas for the future of Tartan Day, please contact SSTpresident Stacy Apelt at sapelt@cox.net, or SST Secretary Marcey Hunter at marcey9@cox.net

Flowers of theForrest

TrentWeberKaty, Texas

Nephew of Donna Looney McGlynn

PAGE 8 THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014

DidYou Know? Christmas Celebrations and Hogmanay in Scotlandfrom RampantScotland.com

Pagan Celts had celebrations around the time of the winter solstice, in part to brighten the darkestdays, in part to propitiate the gods to allow the sun to return.

The Scots word "Yule" comes from the Old Norse "jól,” which was a midwinter pagan celebration ofthe winter solstice that lasted for twelve days.

Historians believe that we inherited the celebration from the Vikings who, coming from even furthernorth than ourselves, paid even more attention to the passing of the shortest day.

The Christian Church took over the celebration, but some of the traditions harked back to the paganroots. The Yule log was burned in the fireplace, there was kissing under the misletoe (related to aDruidic fertility rite) and the house was decorated with holly (evergreen trees were regarded with rev-erence). Of course such activities were not confined to the Celts or to Scotland.

After the Church Reformation in the 16th century, the celebration of Christmas was frowned on by theKirk, which regarded it as a "Popish festival."

Mass was banned in Scotland at that time and "Christmas" or "Christ's Mass" was included in thatprohibition.

There are records of charges being brought against people for keeping "Yule." Amazingly, this dour, joy-crushing attitude lasted for 400 years. Until the 1960s, Christmas Day was a

normal working day for most people in Scotland. If there is a specifically "Scottish" aspect to Christ-mas, it is that it was not celebrated.

Most of our "traditional" Christmas celebrations (other than the religious festival) originated in the 19thcentury (Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, had a lot to do with it!) and so England and Scot-land developed the same traditions from around that time - Christmas trees, decorations, SantaClaus, presents, stockings at the end of the bed, Christmas Carols, Christmas cards etc. Christmas

cards are said to have been invented in Edin-burgh in the mid-nineteenth century. There are many theories about the deriva-tion of the word "Hogmanay." The Scandinavianword for the feast preceding Yule was "Hoggo-nott" while the Flemish words (many have comeinto Scots) "hoog min dag" means "great loveday." Hogmanay could also be traced back tothe Anglo-Saxon, “Haleg monath,” or “HolyMonth,” or the Gaelic, “oge maidne,” or “newmorning.” But the most likely source seems tobe the French. "Homme est né" or "Man isborn." "It is ordinary among some Plebians in theSouth of Scotland, to go about from door todoor upon New Year`s Eve, crying Hag-mane." (Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence, 1693). There are traditions before midnight such ascleaning the house on 31st December(including taking out the ashes from the fire inthe days when coal fires were common). Thereis also the superstition to clear all your debtsbefore "the bells" at midnight. Immediately after midnight it is traditional tosing Robert Burns' "For Auld Lang Syne." Burnsclaimed it was based on an earlier fragment andcertainly the tune was in print over 80 years be-

PAGE 9 THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014

fore he published his version in1788.

An integral part of the Hogma-nay partying, which continuesvery much today, is to welcomefriends and strangers, with warmhospitality to wish everyone aGuid New Year. The underlyingbelief is to clear out the vestigesof the old year, have a cleanbreak and welcome in a young,New Year on a happy note.

"First footing" (that is, the "firstfoot" in the house after midnight)is not as common as it used tobe in Scotland. To ensure goodluck for the house, the first footshould be male, dark (believedto be a throwback to the Vikingdays when blond strangers arriv-ing on your doorstep meant trou-ble) and should bring symbolic coal, shortbread, salt, black bun and whisky. These days, however,whisky and perhaps shortbread are the only items still prevalent (and available).

"Handselling" was the custom of gift giving on the first Monday of the New Year but this has diedout.

The magical Firework display and torchlight procession in Edinburgh - and throughout many citiesin Scotland - is reminiscent of the ancient custom at Scottish Hogmanay pagan parties hundreds ofyears ago.

The traditional New Year ceremony of yesteryear would involve people dressing up in the hides ofcattle and running around the village being hit by sticks. The festivities would also include the light-ing of bonfires, rolling blazing tar barrels down the hill and tossing torches. Animal hide was alsowrapped around sticks and ignited which produced a smoke that was believed to be very effectiveto ward off evil spirits. The smoking stick was also known as a Hogmanay.

Some of these customs do continue, especially in the small, older communities in the Highlandsand Islands of Scotland where tradition, along with language and dialect are kept alive and well.On the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, the young boys form themselves into opposing bands,the leader of each wears a sheep skin, while a member carries a sack. The bands move throughthe village from house to house reciting a Gaelic rhyme. On being invited inside, the leader walksclockwise around the fire, while everyone hits the skin with sticks. The boys would be given somebannocks - fruit buns - for their sack before moving on to the next house.

One of the most spectacular Fire ceremonies takes place in Stonehaven, just south of Aberdeenon the North East coast. Giant fireballs, weighing up to 20 pounds are lit and swung around on fivefeet long metal poles, requiring 60 men to carry them as they march up and down the High Street.The origin of the pre-Christian custom is believed to be linked to the Winter Solstice of late Decem-ber with the fireballs signifying the power of the sun, to purify the world by consuming evil spirits.

And it is worth remembering that January 2nd is a holiday in Scotland as well as the first day of theyear - to give us all time to recover from a week of merry-making and celebration, all part of Scot-land's fascinating cultural legacy of ancient customs and traditions surrounding the pagan festivalof Hogmanay.

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 10

Longtime SST member Carol Amorosi travelled from her home inGreece to Scotland recently for her son Ian's graduation from the Uni-versity of Edinburgh. Ian earned a Master of Science Degree in Medie-

val History. Congratulations to you both!

Connie Smith with her Dad (aka Legendary Dad or “LD”) as he re-covers from recent ailments. You may have met LD at the TartanDay Ceilidh. He is Connie’s biggest fan and loves to listen to her

beautiful Gaelic singing.

SST Out and About

Colin McGlynn fiddles for the carolers in Olde Towne Portsmouth.

Angler extraordinaire Bart Tuthill on a recent expedition in the Outer Banks.

“Look how good we are, Santa!”

THISTLEDOWN CHRISTMAS 2014PAGE 11

Calendar of Upcoming Events

December 31Old Town Portsmouth Scottish Hogmanay Walk3:30 PM Gathering Corner of Queen and Washington

Streets.4:30 PM Step off Behind the St. Paul’s Catholic and Mon-

umental United Methodist Churches.

December 31Hogmanay Get Together

At the home of John McGlynnImmediately following the Walk

364 Middle St.., Portsmouth

January 7SST Monthly Meeting

Church of the AscensionCommunity Center

4853 Princess Anne Rd., VBProgram: TBD

January 2631st Annual Burns Nicht Supper

Hosted by the St. Andrews Society of TidewaterPrincess Anne Country Club, 3800 Pacific Avenue,

Virginia BeachFor tickets and other information, contact

Stacy E. Apelt, 757-583-5872 sapelt@cox.net

February 4SST Monthly Meeting

Church of the Ascension Community Center4853 Princess Anne Rd., VB

Program: TBD

February 13—15Philly Midwinter Celtic Music Festival

http://www.eohebrides.com

Christmas Pudding

Ingredients:2 oz Southern Comfort

2 oz DrambuieGuinness stout

Add Southern Comfortand then Drambuie in a

large goblet. Top up withchilled Guinness.

Scottish Society of Tidewater, Inc.c/o Marcey Hunter301 E. Randall Ave.Norfolk, VA 23503

www.tidewaterscots.org