President’s Message

Volume XXXIII
President’s Message
Number 9
June 2010
www.saintandrewtallahassee.org
This has been a truly
wonderful and rewarding year for me. I
extend my most sincere gratitude to many
of you who have
given selflessly in service and substance to
our Saint Andrew Society over this past
year.
The great ScottishAmerican naturalist
John Muir once said:
“Whenever we try to
pick out anything by
itself, we find that it is
hitched to everything
else in the universe.” We are all indeed “hitched” in the
St. Andrew Society
because of our love
for the Scottish/Celtic
culture.
2010-2011 SAS
Board Elected
The Annual Business
Meeting and fish fry held
Sunday, May 2 marked the
election of the 2010-2011
Board of Directors of the
Tallahassee St. Andrew
Remembering the fun
and fellowship, good
food, fine entertainment, the colorful
dress and the cultural
fulfillment certainly
inspires our sense of
loyalty to Scottish ideals.
Being “hitched” to a
great cause leads me
to the conviction that
we have not yet
reached our full potential. As I pass the
gavel to President
Society. Elected by acclamation were:
Doris Henderson - Pres.
Evan Hume - V.P.
Kim Baldwin - Sec.
Jacquie Hume - Treas.
Mary Rixey - “Piper”
Babs Stewart - Membership
Jen Holzapfel - Educator
Doris, my assignment
to each member is to
ponder the possibilities
for even greater service and involvement
in any and every way
you can. Think about
ways in which we can
grow our presence in
the community as a
means of serving
youth and education,
burnishing our image,
and yes, having a fun
time doing it.
Again, I thank the
Board for their hard
work and our membership for their support and continuing
commitment to this
old and wonderful org a ni z a t io n… pl e a se
stay “hitched”!
Scots Aye!
Daniel MacDonald,
President
Dan MacDonald - Trustee
Don Wilson - Trustee
Laurie Long - Trustee
Jack Madden - Trustee
Jim Urquhart - Chaplain
Nick Baldwin - Historian
Eric King - Newsletter Ed.
Darwin Gilmore - Webmaster
Some of the Stories Inside this Issue:
Sep. 14, Tues. 6:30 - Covered Dish Supper - Fellowship Presby. Church
President’ Message
1
Editor’s Notes
2
Board News
2
Oct. 24, Sun. 3:00 - New Members’ Reception
Educator’s Page
3
Dec. 5, Sun. - St. Andrew’s Dinner
4
Jan. 23, Sun. - Burns Night
Mar. 1, Tues. 6:30—Covered Dish Supper - Fellowship Presby. Church
was confronted by a well dressed
You may remember in last month’s but seriously inebriated Weegie
Cross I described member Laurie (Glaswegian) guest who stumbled
Long a Monogrammer at “Your Logo down from the second floor and
Here”, a local business specializing standing in front of her said:
in embroidery (specifically the abil- "Haw hen, gonnae geez anurra
ity to embroider your clan logo on rrom?"
clothing). This month we feature "Well sir," she replied, "we're a
Mary Gagola and her cost- bit crowded as its the festival,
competitive internet Scottish cloth- so I don't know whether I could
ing business Kiltmart.com located shift you immediately. It's
pretty late you know".
right here in Tallahassee.
"Mmm'shory", said the guest
courteously but slightly louder, "I
Member Enterprises
Notes from the Editor
Tartan Banners Ordered Soon
Most of you are aware of the tartan
banners we display at our functions
and use for Kirkin’s, Springtime Tallahassee parade, and at the Highland
Games. We presently have quite a
collection of which we are very
proud. These have been donated by
members.
Many new members however have
often remarked: “You don’t have my
clan’s tartan!” While we indeed have
well over 60, there are many clans
for whom we have no banner. If
you don’t see yours in our collection
we invite you to order yours.
We are therefore, about to place an
order for several from Dunedin Scottish. The banner generally costs $7585. If you would like to add your
tartan to the collection and receive a
tax deduction, order yours today by
calling Eric at 894.8055. We would
like to place the order by the end of
the month.
Kiltmart can be found at 2141 N.
Monroe St. or simply
www.kiltmart.com. You are also
welcomed to call Mary at 566.5166.
Many of you may have already met
Mary at her booth at the Highland
Games. I know a few have even
purchased a kilt from her. If you
need a kilt, and don’t wish to pay
the Queen’s Ransom for it check in
with Mary.
Scottish Humor
repeat -gonnae geez anurra
room?"
"Why? What's the matter? Isn't
the room I gave you comfortable?" she asked.
"Sheems awright" admitted the
Weegie guest, "Nev'less naidtaebe moved."
"Well, what's the matter with
your room?" she asked exasper-
ated by now.
Leaning forward conspiratorially
the Weegie bent forward clutching
the reception counter he said to
her in a conspiratorial whisper:
In the early wee small hours at an "Shh'oan fire!"
hotel in Edinburgh during the festival the young lady at reception
2009-2010 SAS Board News - May/June
Your Board is busy in transition to
its many new members. Out-going
President Dan MacDonald enthusiastically invited in-coming President Doris Henderson to preside
over the June meeting.
The year-end Audit committee
chair was assigned to incoming
V.P Evan Hume. A Budget Committee chair was assigned to Jacquie Hume. Anyone interested in
serving on the Budget Committee,
please contact Jacquie at 668.7300.
Page 2
Be advised that the Humes will be in
Scotland for a couple weeks.
As a reminder: your Board will be
recessed until September 13 when it
will resume its normal 1st Monday of
the month meetings. When it returns in September is will be reviewing and updating the by-laws.
The Board is also seeking suggestions for entertainers for the St. Andrew’s Dinner on Sunday, December
5, and for Burns’ Night, Sunday,
June 2010
January 23. Please contact Mary
Rixey at 385.7219.
In case you missed it on page 1,
the next event is our:
Covered-Dish Supper on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 at the Fellowship Presbyterian Church.
Evan & Jacquie Hume will share
their trip to Scotland adventures.
New Members’ Reception on
Sunday, October 24, at 3:00.
THE ST. ANDREWS CROSS
Educator’s Page
Tartans & Kilts
The word "tartan" describes the
distinctive chequered pattern generally worked out in a woven material
such as woolen cloth. Formerly,
the colors came from vegetable
dyes concocted by infusing various
local roots, mosses and flowers. Now, of course, chemical dyes
are used, but these can be skillfully
modified to impart a soft, mellow
hue which gives the new length of
tartan an "ancient" appearance.
Everyone is familiar with the kilt
but the ancient dress of the Scottish Highlander, however, was not a
kilt of this type, but a belted plaid
(pron.: played). This plaid (the
feileadh-mor or "great wrap") was a
generous length of tartan cloth
about 16-18 feet long and 6 feet
wide. The upper portion covered
the wearer's shoulders. It was
belted at the waist and the lower
portion hung down to the knees.
By the early part of the 18th century, the lower half of the belted
plaid (the feileadh-beag or little
wrap") was in general use as a
kilt. Since then, the kilt has been
the traditional garb of Highlanders
as regimental uniform, at Highland
Games and outdoor activities, on
social occasions such as weddings
and dances, and today, of course,
many Highlanders use it as everyday wear.
Volume XXXIII
Number 9
by Jean Holzapfel
(Ed. note: When we were in Scotland many
times, we rarely saw anyone wearing a kilt
that was not entertaining or connected with the
tourist industry, even at the Scottish Games,
no plaid of any sort was seen by attendees. If
you saw a regular person in a kilt, they were
usually a visiting American tourist).
member that he came to Tallahassee to entertain us several years ago
and we really enjoyed his program. For more information, look
on the internet or ask Jean Holzapfel about it.
Scots Ancestry - Pass It On!
The Scottish Clan & Tartans
How do you get your families interested in their Scottish Ancestry and
the St. Andrew Society?
Well, it is good to start out young as
we did.
Our grandsons have
marched in the Springtime parade
since they were about 3 years old and
they think nothing of wearing
kilts, Scott even wears one to high
school occasionally and requested a
"utility kilt" for his birthday.
Another good way to stir up interest
is to invite them to SAS get-togethers
like the upcoming Fish Fry. Of
course you offer to pay for their meal
too and maybe you offer to pay half
of their kilt outfit if they want
one. You will just leave them less in
their inheritance!
If they are old enough, you could
watch movies like Braveheart or the
Scottish TV show DVD "Monarch
of the Glen" with them. Let's try to
get our young people interested so
they can take over when we go to our
great reward.
“Scotland Goes to Sea”
Early news of the 2011 Scotland Goes
to Sea Cruise is that they will cruise
the Mexican Riviera January 5 instead
of the usual Caribbean tour. One
wonderful addition to all the usual
good entertainers will be Singer
Charlie Zamm. Members will rewww.saintandrewtallahassee.org
The Clan, in Scotland, came to
mean a group of families occupying
a definite locality - a particular glen,
for example, or an island. These
families shared, or claimed to share,
their descent from a common ancestor.
The head of the group was the living "representer" of this ancestor
and as such he was chief of the
clan. To him the clansmen owed
loyalty and respect. They accepted
his jurisdiction over their daily affairs and responded to his summons in time of battle.
The chief, in turn, was the patriarch, the head and leader of the
clan. In return for their personal
devotion to him, he had an obligation to protect his followers and to
give help to any of them who were
in distress.
In each of these clan districts, local
weavers produced a distinctive local
tartan pattern or "sett". Thus
members of the same clan probably
wore the particular tartan woven
and dyed in their own neighborhood. This became the traditional
"Clan Tartan" and when the statutory ban on Highland dress was
removed in 1782, the wearing of
the clan tartan was a matter of
pride just as it is today.
Page 3
The St. Andrew Society
of Tallahassee
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
P.O. Box 12034
Tallahassee, FL
32317
PAID
Permit No. 272
Eric G. King, editor
850.894.8055
[email protected]
Tallahassee, FL
Return Service Requested
Nick Baldwin, photographer
[email protected]
850.877.0249
Our Website:
www.saintandrewtallahassee.org
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[email protected]
To:
Help us stay in touch!
Send us your address change, or for others,
at the above address.
2010 Annual Meeting
& Fish Fry
The Annual Meeting is always a time
of fun and celebration. This year’s
event was one of particular humor and
silliness...of course after the serious
business of elections and Society financial reporting was completed.
“Jim, it goes like this: „Some hae meat an canna
eet…‟”
“...I like your feathers. You‟re the clan
chief of „Mac Who‟, George?”
Always one to maintain decorum, outgoing-President Dan MacDonald introduced a new swearing-in ceremony
for incoming President Doris Henderson - see picture below.
“OK Doris. It‟s
all yours. I‟m
leaving!! I
have my medallion and
certificate...
and I‟m…
outa here!
^ Haven‟t had this
much fun since...
the sock hop!?!
“I thought you said there would be Highland
Salmon!”
< “Scots on the
Car Park”