ESTABLISHED IN 1863 Volume 149, No. 3 November 2011 TARTANS: SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL EMBLEM Tartan has without doubt become one of the most important sym- Inside this Issue bols of Scotland and Scottish Heritage and with the Scots National Feature Article…….….....1 identity probably greater than at any time in recent centuries, the po- Message from our tency of Tartan as a symbol cannot be understated. However, it has President….......................2 also created a great deal of romantic fabrication, controversy and Upcoming Events…….....3 speculation into its origins! name, history and usage as a Clan or Family form of identification. The Chicago Fire and The Celebration of St. An‐ drewʹs Day .……….……4 Gifts to the Society……...8 Flowers of the For‐ est……………..…..…….9 BBC Alba Scottish Tradi‐ tional Music Awards…..10 Banquet & Ball….….12‐15 Tartan is a woven material, generally of wool, having stripes of different colors and varying in breadth. The arrangement of colors is alike in warp and weft ‐ that is, in length and width ‐ and when woven, has the appearance of being a number of squares intersected by stripes which cross each other; this is called a ‘sett’. By changing the colors; varying the width; depth; number of stripes, differenc‐ (Continued on page 4) November 2011 www.saintandrewssociety‐sf.org Page 1 A Message from Our President The Saint Andrew's Dear Members and Society Society of San Francisco Friends: 1088 Green Street San Francisco, CA The nominating committee met to 94133‐3604 (415) 885‐6644 select Society Officers to serve for Editor: William Jaggers 2012. At the September Meeting Pro‐ Email: [email protected] visional Members were read out, and Membership Meetings: we encouraged members to have a Meetings are held the vote from the floor if they know of 3rd Monday of the month, at someone who would make a good 7:30 PM. Light refreshments served after the meeting. officer to serve in 2012. We had no response. This will be repeated at the Officers of the Society November meeting (same format). John G. Allison, President James S. Beatty, First VP Halloween has been and gone, I David McCrossan, Second VP Jacob Kyle, Treasurer was invited to the Caledonian Club Norma Dahnken, Secretary Halloween party, good food, good fun, and good Scottish banter. Roger Weed, Librarian Charles Syers DDS, Physician Tom McLaughlin has been in touch with the craftsman who made Elly Sturm, Chaplain Mary Gilbert, Bard the Past Presidents Insignias and our Society’s Kilt Pins. We hope to have Jack Cunningham, Piper them made by Xmas time. Gerard S. Sample, Historian Trustees— For our Service of Remembrance, PP Stewart Hume is reading the John McCorkindale, Chairman first lesson and I am doing the second. Bill Jaggers will lead the St An‐ Stewart Hume Gene McCracken drew’s Color Party. Hope to see you all there. For our November 21st Bruce McMillan meeting, we have a very interesting speaker talking on a subject you will James M. Robertson, AIA‐E all want to know about. Put this date on your Calendar. Trustees Emeritus— John B. Ritchie, You will not want to miss it. Board of Relief— Hope to see all your shining faces at Green St. Elly Sturm, Biz Obley Aye, Robert Blair, Jr. Board of Student Assistance— J. Robert Logan, Chairman William Cummings, Sr. John Grant Allison William Cummings, Jr. Fiona Allan President St. Andrew’s Society of San Francisco November 2011 www.saintandrewssociety‐sf.org Page 2 Upcoming Events SASSF Membership meeting St. Andrew’s Society of November 21st SF & Related Calendar of Program Topic: TBA Events for 2011 PBFSCO Burns Supper, Membership meeting Saturday, January 28, 2012, November 21st at the Pleasanton Marriott. TBA The Caledonian Club of Sacramento Presents Membership meeting The 49th Annual Tartan Ball December 19th The Folsom Room (Sac Hilton West) Erskine Trust‐supporting 2200 Harvard St, Sacramento, CA Scotlandʹs Heroes Saturday November 19, 2011 Erskine: Meeting Yester‐ dayʹs and Todayʹs Needs. November 2011 www.saintandrewssociety‐sf.org Page 3 TARTANS SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL EMBLEM cont. The Chicago Fire and (Continued from page 1) The Celebration of St. ing is evolved. Tartan patterns are called “setts”, the sett being the com‐ Andrew's Day plete pattern and a length of tartan is made by repeating the pattern or sett over and over again. One hundred forty years The Celts for many thousands of years are known to have woven ago the Chicago Fire occurred checkered or striped cloth and a few of these ancient samples have been and the Chicago History Mu‐ found across Europe and Scandinavia. It is believed that the introduction seum now has an iPhone app of this form of weaving came to the West of Northern Britain with the Iron that “combines a chronology age Celtic Scoti (Scots) from Ireland in the 5 ‐ 6th c. BC. of the fire and an analysis of One of the most ancient of all tar‐ the several ways in which it tans was discovered, quite by acci‐ has entered historical mem‐ dent, in an Irish peat bog in the ory.” You can get more infor‐ 1960s. This tartan goes by a number mation on their web site. of different names and is recognized The City was destroyed on officially as the ʹUlster District Tar‐ October 8, 1871 and the Soci‐ tanʹ. Experts have estimated that the ety’s banquet honoring St. An‐ pattern was constructed in the early drew was scheduled for No‐ to mid 1500s, and that it may have vember 30. It was a very diffi‐ been worn by the OʹCahans of An‐ cult time for the inhabitants of trim. A reconstruction of the tartan is now on display in the Ulster Mu‐ Chicago and some may have seum in Belfast. There is evidence that the Irish Gaels, during the late Mid‐ thought the annual dinner dle Ages, created a number of ʹtartansʹ or ʹproto‐tartansʹ which have pre‐ should have been cancelled. dated the early Scottish tartans. The Irish forerunner to the Scottish belted The President at the time was plaid (a very early form of kilt} is generally described as being a solid saf‐ General John McArthur, a fron‐yellow in color, and Irish pipe bands wear kilts of this solid color to‐ Civil War hero. The two vice‐ day. presidents were William Stew‐ Early Romans talked of the Celtic tribes wearing bright striped clothing art and A. M. Thomson. Wm. ‐there was no word at that time for checkered. One of the earliest examples M. Dale was the Treasurer of tartan found in Scotland dates back to the 3rd century AD, where a with John Stewart serving as small sample of woolen check known as the Falkirk tartan (now in the Na‐ Secretary. These men could tional Museum of Scotland} was found used as a stopper in an earthen‐ have cancelled the dinner, but ware pot to protect a treasure trove of silver coins buried close to the An‐ they did not. tonine Wall near Falkirk. It is a simple two colored check or tartan which, The evening of the dinner, was identified as the undyed brown and white of the native Soay Sheep. men who once were wealthy Colors were determined by local plants that could be used for dyes. now found themselves with The word Tartan we use today has also caused speculation and confu‐ nothing. Everything they sion as one camp says it comes from the Irish word tarsna ‐crosswise and/ owned was destroyed, only or the Scottish Gaelic tarsuinn.‐across. The Gaelic word for Tartan has al‐ their spirit and integrity re‐ ways been breachdan the most accepted probability for the name comes mained. Eight thousand Scot‐ from the French tiretaine which was a wool/linen mixture. In the 1600s it tish families felt the terrible referred to a kind of cloth rather than the pattern in which the cloth was effects of their city being de‐ woven. (Continued on page 5) One of the first recorded mentions of Tartan was in 1538 when King (Continued on page 5) November 2011 www.saintandrewssociety‐sf.org Page 4 TARTANS SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL EMBLEM cont. (Continued from page 4) (The Chicago Fire and The Celebration of St. Andrew's Day James V purchased ʺthree ells of Heland Tartans” for his wife to wear. Continued from page 4) And in 1587, Hector Maclean (heir oʹ Duart} paid feudal duty with sixty ells of cloth ʺwhite, black and greenʺ the tradition colors of the Maclean stroyed. The smell of smoke hunting tartan. An eyewitness account of the Battle of Killecrankie in 1689 permeated the environment describes ʺMcDonell’s men in their triple stripeʺ but the first positive proof even to the clothes they wore. of the existence of what we now calt ʹTartanʹ, was in a German woodcut of “Still, 120 guests managed to about 1631 which is thought to show Highland soldiers ‐no doubt merce‐ show their support...” naries ‐in the army of Gustavus Adolphus and wearing a clearly identified The Chicago Tribune, as it tartan philamhor ‐the great kilt. always had, carried the story. The next important milestone in the history of tartan was the 1745 re‐ (Dec. 2, 1871, page 4). It be‐ bellion ending with the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and the following geno‐ gins: “We do not remember cide in the highlands. The romantic Young Pretender, Charles Edward who it was who said that the Stuart ‐Bonnie Prince Charlie ‐ranged his inferior Jacobite forces of High‐ Scotch were always leaving landers against the Duke of Cumberlandʹs Government forces. The Jaco‐ their native land, and always bite army was organized into Clan regiments and as historian Jamie Scar‐ singing in her praise.