Page 5 - What's In A Name - The Barry Pipes Canon

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Barry Pipes Canon • 2005 - 2018 Bratach Bàna 008-2007-June-Set&Link
From Set&Link, newsletter of RSCDS Toronto
John Drewy
Usually, we think of a white flag as a symbol of surrender, so it might be a little confusing to know that Bratach Bàna is the Gaelic for “White Banner(s)".
The sea-faring Gaelic song by that name, more fully “The Son of the Earl of the White Banners”, includes neither any apparent indications of “surrender” nor who exactly the Earl of the White Banners was. Lost in the mists of time perhaps!
Another Bratach Bàna legend makes a connection with the Isle of
on the topic, but my advisor on matters Gaelic believes that the “Fairy Flag" story has nothing to do with Bratach Bàna.
One might wonder what dance deviser John Drewry would think, for it was he who created that wonderful SCD reel. While it is an absolute joy to perform, new dancers who attempt Bratach Bàna with trepidation might feel like “surrendering” well before they reach its conclusion. ◼︎
Good authority has it that the strathspey Bedrule came to Betty in a dream. She quickly transposed her dream dance to paper and sent it to Miss Milligan; it later appeared in Book 33. Bedrule can be enjoyed as part of our Fiftieth Anniversary Gala Day Dance Programme on September 15, 2007. ◼︎
(Many thanks to David Grant for his important input to this article. ...BP)
It’s quite the popular place for cyclists on hill-climb events. In fact, the late Roddy Nicoll, RSCDS Toronto’s very own “Dundee Wheeler” and erstwhile cyclist, told me he’d made this trip many times and was well and truly thankful for a rest when he reached the top of the glen.
Carrying on from there, it’s downhill all the way, around the end of the ever-windy Loch Fyne, until you reach Inveraray. Now doesn’t all that make you think of Scottish Country Dancing? ◼︎
Skye‘s Dunvegan Castle, in which there is a tattered and torn banner referred to as the “Fairy Flag”. Although certainly not white, the “Fairy Flag” has a mystique going back centuries. For those interested in Gaelic legend, it‘s worth doing a bit of Google research
Bedrule 009-2007-September-Set&Link
Dunvegan Castle, the ancestral home of Clan MacLeod for almost 800 years, was once surrounded by salt water.
Betty Grant
In 1984, RSCDS Book 33 was issued, including a fine Strathspey named Bedrule. This dance was the work of one of our long-time members, the late Betty Grant, a prolific deviser of dances. Bedrule celebrated Betty’s place of birth in Scotland.
Bedrule is a hamlet alongside the River Rule in Roxburghshire, known also as Rule Water. Now part of the Scottish Borders Region, this area was the home of the Turnbulls, a somewhat unruly clan owing to their continued resistance to control by the Royal House of Stuart.
Betty Grant, nee Dickson, also claimed Turnbull ancestry through her grandmother and was related to William Turnbull, a founder of Glasgow University in the fifteenth century. At one time, Bedrule Castle was a Turnbull stronghold, but now it is reduced to nothing but a grassy mound behind the church.
The name TurnbuII has a wonderful legend to explain its origins. A Borders man by the name of Rule, saved King Robert the Bruce by turning an angry buII which was set to gore him. The king promptly named him TurnbuII, the man who turned the bull. He was rewarded with lands which were named Bedrule, after their fortunate new owner.
Rest And Be Thankful
010-2007-October-Set&Link
"Doubling and doubling with laborious walk, who, that has gained at length the wished-for height, this brief, this simple wayside call can slight, and rests not thankful?”
These words were written by the Cumbrian poet, William Wordsworth after reaching the head of Argyle’s Vale of Glencroe on foot in 1803. No! Not a misprint! Glencoe of massacre fame is several miles to the north.
Glencroe? Just drive northwest out of Glasgow alongside Loch Lomond to Tarbet. Then hang a left and you’re soon at the base of Glencroe, a glacial valley that climbs steadily until you arrive at its summit. You’ve reached Rest And Be Thankful!
The steep, winding road to Rest And Be Thankful