{"id":3545,"date":"2013-12-01T21:40:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T01:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vancouverceilidh.org\/?page_id=3545"},"modified":"2013-12-09T14:18:19","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T18:18:19","slug":"ceilidh-newsletter-201314-16","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vancouverceilidh.org\/?page_id=3545","title":{"rendered":"Ceilidh newsletter – 2013\/14 #16"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"St<\/a>St. Andrew’s Day<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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St Andrew’s Day<\/span><\/b>, the 30th of November, is marked by celebrations around the globe. Many cities hold celebrations of St. Andrew’s feast day, and his status as patron saint of fishermen is observed with a feast of St. Andrew in fishing villages as well.
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Germany and Austria have their own traditions and folklore surrounding St Andrews Day, or Andreasnacht as it is known to locals. St. Andrews feast day is near to, and some years coincides with, the start of Advent (the first Sunday following the 26th of November) Among his many responsibilities, St Andrew is patron saint of unmarried women, so Andreasnacht is regarded as a particularly auspicious occasion for girls and young women to perform the various folkloric rituals designed to reveal the identity of future husbands. Austrian Girls would traditionally perform the ritual, which might be anything from divining by pouring molten lead into water, to kicking a straw bed in the nude, while reciting the Andreasgebet or\u00a0<\/span>St. Andrew’s Prayer<\/span><\/a>. All the while looking for a lucky sign of love at their feast of St. Andrew.<\/span><\/p>\n

St Andrew’s Day, however, is best known as a celebration of Scottish culture. Since 2006, it has been officially recognized as a national holiday in Scotland, with events such as celebratory St. Andrew Feast dinners happening around the nation, and is marked around the world by the many St Andrew’s Societies from the Americas to the Far East composed of Scottish expatriates, descendents of the Scots diaspora, and others who simply have an interest in all things Scottish. The town of St. Andrews celebrates its patron in style with the weeklong St. Andrews Festival, incorporating music, arts, dance and drama.<\/p>\n

You and your family can celebrate your own Saint Andrew feast. Let the main course be fish and perhaps include some Scottish traditions. Giving your guests St. Andrew’s medals or jewelry is a special way to honor St. Andrew and your guests
\non this day. Recite the prayers of St. Andrew, reflecting on how he lived his life, the first-called apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Here are link another\u00a0two\u00a0Canadian regiments which were part of the decorations at the Lady Aberdeen Tea Dance on November 11, 2013.<\/p>\n

Lady Aberdeen 4<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Lady Aberdeen 5<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alison commented “The information was gathered off websites etc. It is only the basics of the wealth of historical and current information available. I included only the older ‘regiments’ – there are many other corps and units, plus naval ships and Air Force squadrons – and Engagement or Battle Honour information up to World War II. There is much more about each regiment’s more recent activities in Korea, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and many Peace-keeping duties.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that the proceeds from the Lady Aberdeen Tea Dance were $2,608.00 and this was donated equally to the BC Poppy Fund and the BC Cancer Agency (for brain cancer research.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Stag<\/a><\/p>\n

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The St. Andrew’s Ball 2013 <\/strong>was\u00a0held last night in\u00a0 the Hellenic Community Centre,\u00a0 Vancouver\u00a0 with the Vancouver Fiddle Orchestra, Joe MacDonald, Rob Stuart, the Vancouver Branch Demonstration Team\u00a0and 136 happy people.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a great success and kudos are to be given to Phil Beaty, Jeanette Langmann and all the other committee members who worked hard to resurrect this Ball.\u00a0\u00a0 After a year where there was no Ball it was nice to see many familiar faces returning but better still to see many more new and younger folk enjoying a tasty meal, some fun, though at times challenging, dancing, good scotch and other liquid refreshment, song, music\u00a0and much laughter.\u00a0\u00a0 The VFO were bigger than ever which gave Jim Buckshon a few headaches but he got them all to sound just super.<\/p>\n

It is great that the St. Andrew’s Ball is back on the calendar just unfortunate that it conflicted with Delta’s Dance.\u00a0\u00a0 Hopefully that can be avoided in future years as quite a few would have liked to attend both functions.<\/i><\/p>\n

An<\/strong> article in a recent edition of the National Post is applicable to the Ball and to Scottish Country Dancing in general. Check out<\/strong> https:\/\/life.nationalpost.com\/2013\/11\/02\/jane-macdougall-it-battle-of-fun-vs-the-gym-scottish-dancing-wins-every-time\/<\/a> Thanks Gill for the tip.<\/p>\n

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Local news — New Dance Competition for Book 49.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/b>Have you written a dance? Do you fancy trying your hand at writing a dance? The Vancouver Branch has been invited to submit one (1) dance into the world-wide competition for dances to be published by the RSCDS in Book 49.<\/em> If you wish to submit a dance into the competition it must be emailed to book49@rscdsvancouver.org <\/a>not later than December 10, 2013.<\/b> To enter the competition you must be a member of the Vancouver Branch. A Vancouver Branch jury will review the submissions and submit the winning dance to headquarters in Scotland. <\/b>Submissions must never previously have been published in electronic or paper form or submitted for Books 47\/48. They should follow RSCDS terminology as closely as possible. Divisors may make only one submission.<\/em> Full instructions and guidelines can be found at www.rscdsvancouver.org<\/a>\u00a0We hope to have a lovely lot of dances from which to choose THE Vancouver Branch Submission. If you have any concerns or questions do not hesitate to contact Fran Caruth at dancing@rscdsvancouver.org<\/a><\/em> Good luck — We could get some great dances out of this!<\/em> Fran Caruth, On behalf of the Branch<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Branch Demonstration Team will be dancing at the Christmas Market on the QE Theatre Plaza on December 7. Normally admission to the market is $6 but we have been able to get free vouchers for that day only. Download the vouchers at:
\nGB Invitation – Nation Day at VCM 2013<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Voucher – GB Nation Day at VCM 2013<\/a>
\nThe Team will be dancing at noon and again at 2 p.m. Come along and give them your support and enjoy the Market as well.<\/p>\n

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At our recent meeting of the Highland Games Committee we identified some areas that we need volunteers for next year. Overall, the Games went very smoothly last year with a large number of new recruits to help us run the show. So going forward, we have identified a few areas that we really need help with – can you please ask your contacts and organizing committees and members as we need to fill these positions: Children’s Events Co-ordinator – organizing the line-up of events which is pretty easy to do, and day of just making sure everything runs smoothly Programs – this job takes more work in the last couple of months prior to the games, making sure all copy is submitted, having it put into a program and submitted to a printer. Sponsorship\/Advertising and promotion – Cher is going to do the social media aspect, Mary Jane may be around to help out again for sponsorship and advertising, but we need extra help. Someone to develop an advertising plan, to find new advertisers and sponsorships, and to be responsible for writing requests for grants and sponsorships from a list that the City of Coquitlam has provided. So could you please circulate and any volunteers can contact Jim – james.e.bain@gmail.com<\/a> Joan – jdrabyk@shaw.ca<\/a>\u00a0or myself. Glenna\u00a0Urbshadt – gurbshadt@shaw.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Vancouver Branch RSCDS are looking for a webmaster.<\/p>\n

We are looking for an administrator for our new website.\u00a0 The site has been developed using WordPress and is designed to be easily maintained.\u00a0\u00a0 Our web designer will set you up and get you started.<\/p>\n