Page 30 - What's In A Name - The Barry Pipes Canon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Barry Pipes Canon • 2005 - 2018 Saltire Society Reel 057-2013-March-Set&Link
Hmm! A Saltire! I’ll bet that many of you thought it was just a flag, and it’s not a Gaelic word either. In fact, saltire is a heraldic word that means “an ordinary in the form of a St. Andrew’s (or St. Patrick’s) cross, formed by a bend and a bend sinister crossing each other”. For those of you who might be into heraldry, there’s nothing ordinary or sinister (leftwards) about that! But those white diagonal crosses on the blue background of the flag of St. Andrew don’t seem bent to me.
When I was a lad in the Boy Scouts, I was taught all about the Union Jack of Great Britain, and how it was made up of three flags superimposed on each other, with the flag of St. George of England (red cross/white background) at the base, and the flag of
St. Andrew of Scotland (white diagonal cross/blue background), and the flag of
St. Patrick of Ireland (red diagonal cross/white background) one on top of the other. And a right colourful mixture it is too! I’m not sure I was ever conscious of the word saltire until I found myself surrounded by folks with Scottish ancestry after becoming married to a Glaswegian. What an awful admission to have to make! I mean the Saltire not the marriage!
After a few shots at the Saltire Society Reel on the dance floor, I became somewhat more alert to the word’s significance. I learned that there is indeed a Saltire Society
The Diamond Jubilee 058-2013-April-Set&Link
What a great idea, finally, to feature this excellent jig called The Diamond Jubilee at the April Monthly Dance, following all the celebrations surrounding last year’s 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II throughout the UK and Commonwealth. What with medals being awarded to dancers we know (see below), it would be hard not to be aware of the significance of the event. . . Royalist beliefs or not!
But what’s this? I look again and see that The Diamond Jubilee dance first
appeared in RSCDS Book 31, and that was published way back in 1984. Also appended to the dance name in some quarters was reference to the 60-year stretch from 1923 to 1983. So. . . to which royal personage could that time span refer? It certainly wasn’t the Queen or her father King George VI. He came to the throne long after 1923 and died in 1952. While there’s no shortage in Europe of royal families (in waiting!), we don’t keep track of them with the same adulation with which some follow the activities of the Windsors.
Does 1923 perhaps ring some other form of bell as the start of something big? Well, of course, we knew all the time, didn’t we? It was in 1923 that two forthright Scottish ladies, Jean Milligan and Ysobel Stewart of Fasnacloich, decided to found the Scottish Country Dance Society, the reasons for which have been adequately documented in these pages in the past. The Royal addition to this Society’s name came later in the fifties with the strong support of the aforementioned Queen Elizabeth II who, in her day, was quite an accomplished Scottish country dancer. Needless to say, we all continue to be the beneficiaries of that important day in 1923.
From Set&Link, newsletter of RSCDS Toronto
perhaps doing double duty with the more well-known St. Andrew’s Society... but did you know this? These two august bodies have actually been in the process of merger deliberations, seemingly having common objectives, such as restoring Scotland to its proper place as a creative force in European civilization... and how do you like that positioning?
I would suspect that Mr. Alex Salmond, currently Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, would be quite encouraged by the combined work of both the Saltire Society and the St. Andrew’s Society, especially in his efforts toward an Independence Referendum in late 2014.
Now! Now! Enough of the politics! But just think tongue-in-cheek of how the Union Jack would look minus the blue background and white diagonal saltire... nothing but red and white. And what flag does that remind one of? ◼︎
Back to the dance! The Diamond Jubilee was devised by one Robert Campbell of the Oakville Scottish Country Dancers. That’s Ontario’s Oakville, folks, just down the QEW from Toronto. Robert likely would have been quite well known to a number of RSCDS Toronto dancers, especially the veterans.
It is my opinion about The Diamond Jubilee that this jig has a lovely flow and is well recommended as a selection for the April Monthly Dance. ◼︎
Linda Ashe Argent Awarded Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal
Linda (in red) is seen here with the Honourable Dave Levac, Speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly, Special Olympics athletes Matthew and Tatum, and Garfield Dunlop MPP, Simcoe North
Linda Ashe Argent of Hawkestone recently taught the Toronto Workshop.
She’s been awarded the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her outstanding contri- butions to the Special Olympics Movement.
As Linda is fond of saying: It’s all about legacy folks!