The wearing of the plaids — the Scottish tartans — took place at Lake Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs town square Monday night as people born in Scotland and those of Scottish heritage came out to strut their colors.
Scottish Independence Day is celebrated on April 6 each year with bagpipes, drums, lilting fiddles and leaping Highland dancers. The festival commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. Members of the Sounds of Scotland band explained the holiday to the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.
Victor McGregor strolled Spanish Springs Town Square, playing his bagpipe for passersby and outdoor patio diners at Margaritaville and other restaurants. The Empty Hats Band entertained with authentic Scottish music and the popular local Villages Sounds of Scotland marching Pipes and Drum Band marched up Main Street to the Gazebo with their lively sounds.
“We never thought we’d see a Scottish festival here in The Villages, said Maureen Fielding, from Blackburn, in the north of England, who was visiting for a week with her husband, Brian, afteran Eastern Caribbean cruise. “I like this a lot.” Browsing with Maureen was her good friend, Mary Buffey and husband, Alan, who are hosting their British friends at their Hadley Village residence. The ladies were checking out the vendors stalls while listening to the bagpipe music. “This is so unusual,” Brian Fielding said. “This is a beautiful community. We’re so glad we came here.”
Brittney Wieland, 14, and her brother, Trent, 12, from La Crosse, Wisconsin, were sporting sunburns, as was their Mom, Corynn. The family came for a week to visit the kids’ grandma, Maureen Wieland, in the Village of Woodbury. “You can tell we’ve spent some time at the pool,” Corynn smiled, “but we want to soak up the sun.” “Spring is coming to La Crosse, but they won’t see outdoor pool time there any time soon,” Maureen added.
Scotland-born John Land, a musician with the Empty Hats Scottish band, explained his bright red tartan. “It’s from my father’s side of the family,” Land said. It’s the Grant and McGillivray Clan tartan — the clans merged years ago. I even got married in this kilt,” Land, who now lives in St. Petersburg, added.
Recognition of the holiday has become more widespread in America of late after an ad hoc event held in New York City in 1982, and festivals held in Canada since the mid-1980s. The concept is growing in popularity among communities of Scottish diaspora — where Scottish immigrants reside in significant numbers. In Scotland itself, the Angus Council, which includes Arbroath, established the first Tartan Day festival on April 6, 2004, and is joining other regional Councils there to develop Tartan Day as a global celebration.
In 2008, President Goerge W. Bush, issued a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Tartan Day. “Americans of Scottish descent have made enduring contributions to our nation with their hard work, faith and values,” the Proclamation read in part. “On national Tartan Day, we celebrate the spirit and character of Scottish-Americans, and recognize their many contributions to our country and our way of life.”
“Scotland and the United States have long shared ties of family and friendship, and many of our country’s most cherished customs and ideals first grew to maturity on Scotland’s soil,” the Proclamation continued.
Tartan Day celebrations have certainly grown in popularity in The Villages too!
Dyngus Day
Dyngus Day, which falls on Easter Monday, is a big holiday in much of the world — in Poland, Eastern Europe, Canada, Australia, the Caribbean Islands and even parts of Africa.
Brownwood Paddock Square in The Villages joined that impressive array of revelers Monday evening , as the merry Dyngus Day Dancers swirled around the dance floor and folks of all nationalities came out to have a good time. The Dyngus Day dancers from the Polka Lovers Club performed for their very first time at Brownwood. The stands were full of onlookers, and everyone enjoyed the Polish national dances they displayed, including the Polonaise.
Also on the dance floor were Bill and Judy Smiddy, and Ed and Carol Malovey, from Hemingway Village. “We’ve been married 47 years, ” Carol said, ” and we’ve been dancing for about fifty. Ed had his own polka band years ago in Michigan.”
The Northern Sounds Band interspersed their lively polkas with waltzes, and fox trots and slower music, to give folks a chance to get their breath.
The Polka Lovers Club meets the third Wednesday of each month, except for the summer, at 6:30 p.m. at the Allamanda Recreation Center. “We do something different and interesting every month,” Kempisky said. “It’s definitely a fun group.”
Their second annual Ocean Beach Park Polka Day trip is planned — going to New London, Connecticut, June 24-27. The very best polka bands will be there, including world renowned Jimmy Sturr, whose music has won them 18 Grammy Awards for their genre.
The Holy Day falls on the second day of the octave of Easter week on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar . It is known as Bright Monday or Renewal Monday in Eastern Orthodox churches which observe the Byzantine Rite. Origins date back as far as 1000 A.D. among pre-Christian peoples who celebrated the rites of spring.
In America, big celebrations take place in cities with large Polish populations — including Cleveland, Wyandotte and Hamtramck in Michigan; Hanover, New Hampshire, and South Bend and La Porte, Indiana — but the biggest celebration in the world takes place in the Polonia District of Buffalo, New York.
Th at area has taken Dyngus Day seriously since 1870. Feasts of Polish sausage (kielbasa), pierogies (stuffed dumplings), cabbage and boiled eggs are the custom — and in 2007, the fireboat, Edward M. Cotter, painted red and white like the Polish flag, became ‘the world’s largest Squirt Gun,’ spraying arcs of water in the harbor to mark the event.
In Australia, the public holiday hosts outdoor carnivals and races. In Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it translates to ‘Wet Monday,’ due to the custom of boys drenching girls with buckets of water. The boys also strike the girls’ legs with soft palms or decorated willow twigs — and the girls get even the following day. In some parts of Poland, bowls of ashes are sprinkled on people or houses.
In Ireland, an ‘Easter Rising’ parade past the Irish Republican Army headquarters dates back to 1916. In Germany, Easter Egg races are held, and in Egypt, the national holiday of Sham El Nessem — which literally means ‘the smelling of the breeze’ — dates back to about 2700 B.C. Coptic Christians and Muslims alike celebrate by painting eggs, and taking outdoor meals which include feseekh (fermented mullet fish).
Now that we know more about Easter Monday than we ever thought possible, let’s practice our polka dancing and mark our calendars for the day after Easter 2016, to come out and join in the Dyngus Day fun.
