Page 14 - What's In A Name - The Barry Pipes Canon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Barry Pipes Canon • 2005 - 2018 The New Rigged Ship 027-2009-September-Set&Link
The September Monthly Dance includes this 48 bar jig which may be a little more of a challenge for those of us who have reached “a certain age". Thank goodness it is not a reel! It comes from RSCDS Book 9 which goes back to 1934, when I was barely out of “nappies”. That said, the whole idea of sailing ships always appealed to me as a young lad; hence this outline.
As a tune, The New Rigged Ship has been performed through time immemorial, probably going back to sometime in the 18th or 19th century when the glory of sail was in its heyday. References to new rigged ships have usually been related to the days when sailing ship owners frequently changed a ship’s rigging for any number of reasons.
A full rigged ship, new or otherwise, referred to any sailing vessel with three masts, all of them square-rigged. I believe this is self-descriptive. Want to think about Spanish galleons or pirate ships? Then you will quickly understand what square-rigged means. The swashbuckling film actor Errol Flynn certainly would have known. Lesser sailing vessels had names like schooner, barque or brig, some of which had fore-and-aft rigging. Square? Fore-and-aft? Doesn’t sound like anything to do with Scottish country dancing. Nor would it! Back then, Scotland wasn’t really thought of as a maritime country.
Wisp of Thistle 028-2009-October-Set&Link
Wha daurs meddle wi me, roughly translated, is the motto of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle. Actually, on the Order’s badge it says in Latin “Nemo me impune lacessit” (No one provokes me with impunity). Most Ancient and Most Noble notwithstanding, I think we would all agree that the rough Scots version has the most ominous tone.
It is said that the importance of the thistle to Scotland goes back to the Battle of Largs in 1263. A few longboats of Norsemen landed there in the dead of night, trying, to take advantage of sleeping clansmen in the vicinity. They crept ashore barefoot to hide their presence, but unfortunately, for them, tried to cross a field of thistles in the process. Now, the thistle is known for its vicious porcupine-
A thistle in Princes Street Gardens, like spines and as such doesn’t have any Edinburgh, frames the statue honouring natural enemies amongst the fauna and flora
the Royal Scots Greys. of Scotland.
A Norseman yelped in pain as his bare foot stepped on one of the thistles. This awakened the locals and the battle was formed. Having been “meddled with,” so to speak, the Clansmen won the day, and the thistle became a symbol of Scotland’s (dare I say?) prickliness, from that day on... or so it is said!
From Set&Link, newsletter of RSCDS Toronto
Despite its name, there is probably no Scottish version of that well-known clipper ship Cutty Sark, with which we certainly can identify, as I wrote some months back. It was indeed a full rigged ship.
Back to the dance! Personally, as an aging dancer, my preference is for 32 bar sequences – except for square (rigged) dances. But try it, you might like it! Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to get in touch if you feel the need. Many do! ◼︎
How to segue from prickly spines to wisps? Well, thistles have them both, the wisps being the feathery puffs that can float in the air like, for example, dandelion seeds.
I am told that the late Queen Mother, herself a Scot, on once seeing a Strathspey being performed, referred to the dance as being like a “wisp of thistle”. This comment may not have escaped the attention of Nova Scotian RSCDS teacher, Patricia Kent, who devised the Wisp of Thistle strathspey that appeared
in Book 37 in 1992. Attendees at the Toronto Workshop in November will be delighted to find Pat’s lovely dance on the program. ◼︎
Patricia Kent
The Insignia of a Knight of the Thistle