I apologize for asking for traditions on this list. I've always considered traditions as part of my heritage thus genealogy. Traditions can give clues for research but I'm now more aware that not everyone has the same interest that I have. I do thank all of you who have helped me with the Scotch-Irish history and traditions. Ludie

Today in the Herald, the Glasgow morning Newspaper, there is one of the periodic reports from Fiona Houston who is living in the style of the 1790s for a year. The part which concerns us is the section which begins "I have been busying about, preparing for Christmas." to "Yet they must at least have had something to offer New Year callers, for the first-footing traditions were strong." The full story can be found at http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/51220.html As the material is copyright I don't think that we can put it on a RW site Edward Andrews. Only by recovering prophetic and objective modes of preaching, in faithfulness to the gospel of Christ crucified and in contradiction to society's profane habits and priorities, can we truly challenge our dying culture and reveal to it its own possibilities for resurrection. Alan E Lewis. "Between Cross and Resurrection. A Theology of Holy Saturday" Eerdmans 2001 p 377

Tahnks for asking Ann I learned a lot.Traditions make us who we are. Carolyn > [Original Message] > From: <AGarvin224@aol.com> > To: <Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: 11/23/05 10:51:33 AM > Subject: Re: [Sc-Ir] Apology for asking for traditions > > In a message dated 11/23/05 12:48:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, > ludiekt@juno.com writes: > > > > > > I apologize for asking for traditions on this list. I've always considered > > traditions as part of my heritage thus genealogy. Traditions can give clues > > for research but I'm now more aware that not everyone has the same interest > > that I have. I do thank all of you who have helped me with the Scotch-Irish > > > > history and traditions. > > No problem - I thought it was interesting. > Some people (even on these lists - imagine that!) are old cranks. > Thanks for the topic - > Ann in MI

I've loved every posting about traditions......thank you!

Hi folks, Never fails -- there's no happy medium. If the list is quiet and/or serious, people complain that it is dull. If it gets lively before holidays, people want to leave, after insulting 700 possible relatives <grin>! Good thing we're all too old to remember who insulted us yesterday. Here's how to leave. Y ou may want to do this if you are away over the holidays. Otherwise if your mailbox fills up and starts sending 'mailbox full' error messages back to rootsweb, the Rootsweb software unsubs you. So you have to resub when you come back. You can always view all posts to the list at www.rootsweb.com. Scroll down to mailing lists and select 'threaded view' and type in Scotch-Irish. Voila... To unsub, if this email is in a bigger one with a table of contents at the top, scroll to right below the table of contents. There's the directions. You are getting 'digest mode'. For the rest of you for whom the 'incoming' arrives like a blizzard, send an email to Scotch-Irish-l-request@rootsweb.com with NO text in the subject and just the word subscribe in the body. Then the rootsweb software will try to unsub you. It sends back a message. Read it. If it couldn't it tell you what to do next. You gottat do it or no one will know you are stuck on the list! THis is the best way to unsub. If you rely on rude email messages to the list or to me or even bribes, I will be off cooking food or driving through a blizzard to my sisters house or playing solitaire and I might not process your email for a while. Meanwhile the annoying emails will keep coming and your blood pressure will go up up and up. Linda Merle (SI list admin) ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "lugenia" <lugenia@mindspring.com> Reply-To: <lugenia@mindspring.com> Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:51:42 -0600 >PLEASE TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST. THERE IS SO MUCH ON THIS SITE THAT >HAS NOTING TO DO WITH GENEALOGY IT IS A WASTE OF MY TIME. THIS SHOULD BE A >CHAT ROOM NOT A GENEALOGY SITE. > > > >Bob Law > > > ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net

PLEASE TAKE ME OFF YOUR MAILING LIST. THERE IS SO MUCH ON THIS SITE THAT HAS NOTING TO DO WITH GENEALOGY IT IS A WASTE OF MY TIME. THIS SHOULD BE A CHAT ROOM NOT A GENEALOGY SITE. Bob Law

Hi Carolyn, That's interesting - that it could be just a nickname for a "tiny bird" ! Betty ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carolyn Agenjo" <cagenjo@optonline.net> To: <Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:21 AM Subject: dicky bird definition > http://www.wordreference.com/definition/dicky-bird > > ______________________________

Quite frankly, I've never experienced it. What seems to be a Scandinavian model of Candles which may be connected with St Lucia is now fairly popular, though I always have a sneaking suspicion that with its five candle shape that it has a relationship with the Menorah of Chanukah. Remember that I can only write about the Lowlands. What they may do in Barra or South Uist is a different thing. I certainly have never been given a candle by a shop keeper and I've been around Christmas in Scotland since 1968 where it was still in some places a working day - it was just that the family I was with, having English connections celebrated Christmas. Most of these light festivals are much more ancient than Christianity. The ritual which someone described of fire balls has an exact parallel with the swinging of Fire Balls at Stonehaven. The Calvie of Burghead is burnt on Old New Years Day. These light festivals are links with a pre Christian past. In some communities they have been tacked on to Christmas. In others they have been retained in their original position. Now if you first foot part of what you bring is a piece of coal, which is the same line of thought as the Candle for light. However this seems to have rather strayed from S-I Christmas traditions. I think that we have established that there aren't really, however that there are a lot of Scottish fire traditions which are celebrated in the darkness of winter. Remember that the South of Scotland is 54 North and the early dark in Fort William at about 57 N on a December or January afternoon at about 15.00 especially if it is raining is awesome. Ulster is slightly to the South and the winters are not a severe. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Lee Ramsey [mailto:lee.ramsey@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 5:15 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] Scotch-Irish Christmas Traditions This article extraction is only one of many found by googling Christmas Folkways. I have added a historical reference at the close of the article from David Hackett Fischer's "Albion's Seed." Lee Ramsey December, 1993 HOLIDAY FIREBALL TRADITION REVISITED by Anne Kimzey A year ago Alabama Folkways featured a column by Doug Purcell describing the tradition of fireballing -- the practice of lighting kerosene-soaked balls of yarn or tightly-wound rags and tossing the fiery objects outdoors at night as a way of celebrating Christmas or the New Year... the practice once occurred in the Alabama counties of Henry, Houston, Dale and Russell and in Hancock County, Georgia. Our respondents indicated that fireballs have also flown through the skies of Chambers, Tallapoosa, Elmore, Bullock, Pike, Crenshaw, Geneva, Covington, Monroe, Dallas, Marengo, Perry, Bibb and Blount counties. While most respondents told of fireball memories dating back to the 1920s and '30s, Jeanette Gibson of Goodway in Monroe County, Alabama wrote that her family and friends began to gather on Christmas Eve a few years ago for "refreshments, fireworks, and fireballs," when she found it difficult to make the trip back to Blakely, Georgia, where her father's side of the family ha! s thrown fireballs at Christmas for generations. This Christmas folkways is most likely the extention of the "Old Christmas" from the boarder lands of Scotland and Northern England. "Old Christmas" was originally celebrated on January 6th. with a feast, bonfires, gunplay and fireworks. This custom continued in the Appalachia and the highlands of North Carolina as well. The January 6th date was traditional believed to be the real Christmas as the birth day of Christ. Lee Ramsey http://www.1n5free.com

I have placed a large amount of births on the Banbridge section of my website, more will follow this week.and the best of luck in your research. Raymond http://www.raymondscountydownwebsite.com

Thank you, Cynthia. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: CBGILBERT@aol.com To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 3:15 PM Subject: [Sc-Ir] Check out Appalachian Mountain Christmas Traditions _Appalachian Mountain Christmas Traditions_ (http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/msledger/december2002news/appmtnchristmastrads.php3) Here is a link to Scotch Irish Traditions in the NC Mountains Cynthia Bolick Gilbert Scot through the Abernathy sept of Clan Leslie and Irish through the Atwell's Alsacian through the Bolick' and on and on (G)

There we go back to the traditions. I've seen blood soup, pickled pigs feet, etc. in German households. The Polish/Slavic had other foods that are favorites. And so forth with all nationalities. There's a recipe for a pie that my grandmother made and a relish called chili sauce that others in Texas have never heard of. Where did they come from? I've found the pie is called an Osgood, but Grandma never knew that. I don't know where the chili sauce came from, there's nothing hot about it; just a tomato relish with pickling spices that's great on a variety of peas and beans. And yes, during the depression many ate whatever was available. But raccoon is pretty good if fixed right. The colonists learned that turkey was edible too. I guess the problem today is that ethnic foods have become so blended in today's society we've lost the origin of many. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Merle To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 10:40 AM Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH Thanksgiving It's me again!! I have no Scotch Irish Christmas suggestions. Alas, my maternial granddad (the Scotch Irish one) was lapsed RP and he HAD no traditions, apparently. My grandma took over, as in most homes. She was half Irish/Ulster Scot and half German. She had an intense Irish identity, Presbyterian to the DNA, Free Stater politically, but what do you call a Protestant Free stater with ancestors from Tyrone and Down? I think Unionist! She didn't know...... Alas, grandma's dad died young and the kids were put out with relatives so her mom could work. We sank to the servant class and grandma was raised by her Luthern grandparents. So my mother reports her Scotch Irish Christmases were German. This illustrates that Scotch Irish is an American ethnic group.... However my dad is half Scots and half English, a second generation American. I found out what we ate for Christmas was exactly what my Ulster friends were eating: Turkey, succatash, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and figgy pudding! Often my grannie made Chocolate pudding too with raisins, cooked the right way -- for hours boiled in a flour sack in water. But our hard sauce wasn't as grandma descended from Scots Presbyterian dissenters who had found a nice home in a typical Western PA church founded by Irish dissenters 200 years before. My Scotch Irish granddad DID bring the family a Scotch Irish Thanksgiving every year. He went out on the back porch and shot something. That's what you ate. My mother said people dreaded Thanksgiving. One year they had possum. Raccoon, goat, etc. You name it, they had to eat it. It was the Depression. Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net

In your talk about the dickie bird, I was reminded that my granddaughter and I were quite surprised to hear a real coocoo bird at a bed & breakfast in County Clare, near Lisdoonvarna. I wasn't even aware there was even a real bird that had that whistle and don't know what it's real name is or what it looked like. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Pat Wolfe To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 8:57 AM Subject: [Sc-Ir] Dickie Bird There is a bird called the dickcissel. Could your Dickie Bird be one of these cute finch-like birds. I looked in my Scottish and Irish bird books but did not find it. These are small books that have only the most common birds. If any is interested, I will scan and email it to you. Pat Wolfe in Maryland At Christmastime, we were told that a "dickie bird" would sit outside our window .. and "watch what we were doing" .. and then fly away and go "report to" Santa !

Thank you, Betty. Yes, as we get older I think we are more aware of things that we've always just taken for granted. This summer I was interviewing a 92 yr old lady and in telling about what they did as young people for entertainment she mention "sealy" dancing. I asked for the spelling. There is a town west of Houston called Sealy. Possibly 50 years ago a mattress manufacture was located there by the same name which has now becme quite well known and located elsewhere. But that was how she told me it was spelled, like the mattress. She was not aware of "ceili" dancing. There are many with Scotch-Irish ancestry in Texas, especially in the eastern part. Most have no knowledge of their Irish heritage. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Betty To: Loudene Tollar ; Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 8:40 AM Subject: Re: SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - HELP Hi Ludie, From Age 9 to ~14, my KERR grandparents lived in our home with us. I'm sorry I don't remember a whole lot about my childhood, but, for whatever reasons, a few things have always stuck with me ! At Christmastime, we were told that a "dickie bird" would sit outside our window .. and "watch what we were doing" .. and then fly away and go "report to" Santa ! I remembered the story, but didn't really follow through with my children (was too busy / stressed being a single-parent). But, several years ago, once I got my computer, I tried to find out whether there really was a bird, called a "dickie bird." I really didn't find much, but my dictionary says there was a "dickie bird" in Great Britain ! Betty (near Lowell, MA) FYI: "Grampy KERR" was descended from a family-group of KERR's and HENDERSON's who migrated from Sligo, Ireland, to Quebec, Canada, in the 1820's, and then their children (cousins married) came down to Boston in the 1890's. William KERR, who came down first in 1870's, married Elizabeth HANNAH, whose HANNAH / RITCHIE parents had left Glasgow, Scotland, in 1850's to come to MA / USA. She was an infant at the time. "Grammy KERR" was a foundling, originally given the name, Daisy WATROUS. She was adopted in 1892 by a DEXTER / CLARK "older couple." My "hypothesis" is that their married daughter, in Killingly, CT, had an "unwanted pregnancy" and Mr./Mrs. DEXTER moved to Boston, MA, so that "a small-town scandal" could be avoided. Mrs. Clara YOUNG had a 7-year-old son, and remained living in Killingly with her husband. (I do not yet know whether the above surnames are "Scotch / Irish.) Come to think of it, now that I am a grandmother, I find it interesting ... how many names there are for -- grandparents ! Grampy/Grammy, Nana/Papa, Grandmother ____/Grandfather ____, Grandma / Grandpa, etc., not to mention all the names from other countries ! (Vavo, YiaYia, etc.) I decided on "Grandma" and my young grandson decided on "Gabba," instead ! :o) P.S. Our other Christmas traditions seem to be the same as other families we knew and/or were related to ! However, I ran into one problem* when I first got married to my EX .. His "German / English" family from Brooklyn, NY, would "open Santa's gifts" - at midnight (or before bedtime) ! And, my family "always" waited until "Christmas morning" - as Santa "arrived" - while we were sleeping ! (How could Santa get the presents to children in Brooklyn, NY, .. "before 10 pm" or while they were awake?) :o( *There were "many" problems when I first got married; but I waited until after 2 children were born to "kick him out !" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Loudene Tollar" <ludiekt@juno.com> To: <Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 2:22 AM Subject: SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - HELP > It's been several years since I've had time to even look at this list. I'm > back now and looking for help. This subject has probably been addressed a > long time ago but if anyone can give me a few Christmas > traditions(briefly) that are know to have been celebrated by the > Scotch-Irish I'd sure appreciate it. I'm working up a program for our > genealogy society here in Trinity County, Texas for December and hope to > include some traditions that may have been passed down through the > generations. Thanks, Ludie > ______________________________

Point taken. Thank you. With all the input from everyone, this is shaping up to a most interesting topic for our December meeting. Ludie ----- Original Message ----- From: Edward Andrews To: 'Loudene Tollar' ; Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 8:10 AM Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS To clarify I will attach all the correspondence below this as I had "replied" rather than "reply all." I did not say anything about England in my first reply. England and Scotland were until 1707 separate countries, and even after the parliamentary union of 1707 some matters like the law system the Church and education were kept separate. Of course, with the exception of the time of the Commonwealth, England has always celebrated Christmas in historical times - though many of the modern traditions in fact date from the 19th Century, and owe much to Dickens and Prince Albert To expand on my reply, after the Reformation (1560) Scotland did not keep Christmas, and therefore there was no body of tradition for the Scottish settlers to draw upon to produce their own Christmas traditions in Ireland. As Christmas is a religious festival the Scots Irish settlers would have followed their own tribal ideas and would not have imported any traditions of the natives. Some emigrant communities did keep Christmas, I believe that the Huguenots (French) had some Christmas activities as did the Moravians (German). Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 1:12 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS How interesting. Thank you. I would have thought that Scotland and England would have honored Christmas as a holiday much longer ago than 1950. I hope to find some traditions that may have had roots in Scotland and Ireland and carried over to the US. A few years ago I read of an area of Tennessee that carries on a tradition of greeting visitors with "Christmas preseent". For years I had heard my older brothers and sisters use that greeting; but when asked they, didn't know where it came from or why. On seeing that article it gave me a clue; my maternal grandmother's parents were from Tennessee. [Edward Andrews] replied to the letter below From the Reformation Scotland did not keep Yule. It is only relatively recently that Irish Presbyterian Churches even noted Christmas (In Scotland it was into the late 1950s before Christmas was even a public holiday) There are lots of Irish Christmas traditions I believe, and St Stephen's Day and St John's Day are also important. The Scottish mid winter festival is Hogmanay, which is still very big in Scotland. One must also remember Burns Night which is also a kind of mid winter festival. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 7:23 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - HELP It's been several years since I've had time to even look at this list. I'm back now and looking for help. This subject has probably been addressed a long time ago but if anyone can give me a few Christmas traditions(briefly) that are know to have been celebrated by the Scotch-Irish I'd sure appreciate it. I'm working up a program for our genealogy society here in Trinity County, Texas for December and hope to include some traditions that may have been passed down through the generations. Thanks, Ludie

"Old Christmas" as you call it is the feast of the Epiphany, twelve days after Christmas. This is the day when the Church celebrates the Coming of the Magi, the Wise Men. The 5th January is known as 12th Night, and in some cultures is a time of feasting and celebration (c.f. Shakespeare's play of that name). In some cultures it is also the day when presents are given rather than on Christmas day. The fact that it is being called old Christmas may be because of confusion with the Old New Year. Under the Calendar Act of 1751 12 days were taken from the Calendar so that the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. As well as loosing 12 days the 3rd of September became 14th, the beginning of the year was moved in England from 15th March to 1st January. Scotland had had the New Year as January 1st from I think 1600. Therefore when the days were lost "Old New Year" came into being on 12th January. The only place where I have experienced this is Loch Fyneside where they keep both New Years. The confusion would come from two sources - the non liturgical nature of Presbyterianism would mean that Epiphany probably wasn't celebrated and the confusion under the Calendar act, for of course America was a colony when the change was made. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Lee Ramsey [mailto:lee.ramsey@comcast.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 5:15 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] Scotch-Irish Christmas Traditions This Christmas folkways is most likely the extention of the "Old Christmas" from the boarder lands of Scotland and Northern England. "Old Christmas" was originally celebrated on January 6th. with a feast, bonfires, gunplay and fireworks. This custom continued in the Appalachia and the highlands of North Carolina as well. The January 6th date was traditional believed to be the real Christmas as the birth day of Christ. Lee Ramsey http://www.1n5free.com

In a message dated 11/22/05 5:06:12 PM Eastern Standard Time, lee.ramsey@comcast.net writes: > Also shopkeepers gave their customers Yule Candles as a symbol of goodwill > wishing them a "Fire" to warm by and to light to guide them. And that custom has its foundation in the Pagan celebration of Yule - long before Christianity and Christmas. Ann in MI

Brother Andrews, Thanks for the clarification for the "Old Christmas" dates. What about "Oidche Choinnle" or Night of Candles? Is this Scottish tradition still practiced in Scotland and could Scotland be the origin of this tradition where the lighting of candles were placed in every window to light the way for the Holy Family on Christmas Eve and firstfooters on New Year's Eve. Also shopkeepers gave their customers Yule Candles as a symbol of goodwill wishing them a "Fire" to warm by and to light to guide them. The tradition of the (electric) window candles is still practiced in many communities in America. Lee Ramsey

_Appalachian Mountain Christmas Traditions_ (http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/msledger/december2002news/appmtnchristmastrads.php3) Here is a link to Scotch Irish Traditions in the NC Mountains Cynthia Bolick Gilbert Scot through the Abernathy sept of Clan Leslie and Irish through the Atwell's Alsacian through the Bolick' and on and on (G)

To clarify I will attach all the correspondence below this as I had "replied" rather than "reply all." I did not say anything about England in my first reply. England and Scotland were until 1707 separate countries, and even after the parliamentary union of 1707 some matters like the law system the Church and education were kept separate. Of course, with the exception of the time of the Commonwealth, England has always celebrated Christmas in historical times - though many of the modern traditions in fact date from the 19th Century, and owe much to Dickens and Prince Albert To expand on my reply, after the Reformation (1560) Scotland did not keep Christmas, and therefore there was no body of tradition for the Scottish settlers to draw upon to produce their own Christmas traditions in Ireland. As Christmas is a religious festival the Scots Irish settlers would have followed their own tribal ideas and would not have imported any traditions of the natives. Some emigrant communities did keep Christmas, I believe that the Huguenots (French) had some Christmas activities as did the Moravians (German). Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 1:12 PM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS How interesting. Thank you. I would have thought that Scotland and England would have honored Christmas as a holiday much longer ago than 1950. I hope to find some traditions that may have had roots in Scotland and Ireland and carried over to the US. A few years ago I read of an area of Tennessee that carries on a tradition of greeting visitors with "Christmas preseent". For years I had heard my older brothers and sisters use that greeting; but when asked they, didn't know where it came from or why. On seeing that article it gave me a clue; my maternal grandmother's parents were from Tennessee. [Edward Andrews] replied to the letter below From the Reformation Scotland did not keep Yule. It is only relatively recently that Irish Presbyterian Churches even noted Christmas (In Scotland it was into the late 1950s before Christmas was even a public holiday) There are lots of Irish Christmas traditions I believe, and St Stephen's Day and St John's Day are also important. The Scottish mid winter festival is Hogmanay, which is still very big in Scotland. One must also remember Burns Night which is also a kind of mid winter festival. Hope that this helps Edward Andrews -----Original Message----- From: Loudene Tollar [mailto:ludiekt@juno.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 7:23 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS - HELP It's been several years since I've had time to even look at this list. I'm back now and looking for help. This subject has probably been addressed a long time ago but if anyone can give me a few Christmas traditions(briefly) that are know to have been celebrated by the Scotch-Irish I'd sure appreciate it. I'm working up a program for our genealogy society here in Trinity County, Texas for December and hope to include some traditions that may have been passed down through the generations. Thanks, Ludie

After reading your note, my first reaction was mmmmmm . . . stuffing. My second, though, was to recall a story that has been handed down through our S-I Harbison ancestors. Your last paragraph reminded me of it. Apocryphal or not, here it is: Thomas Harbison (son of Massey and John, and my g-g-g-grandfather) was one of the first constables in Buffalo Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, in the very early 1800s. Prior to 1895, there were no real game laws in PA, but the one regulation on hunting was that you weren't allowed to do it on Sunday (a reflection of our Quaker foundations, PA is still one of just 14 states in the US that don't allow Sunday hunting today). One fine Sunday morning a local ne'er-do-well named Jack was violating that lone game law by hunting deer. He shot one and, not wanting anyone to suspect his misdeed, quickly reloaded his rifle. Then he dragged the dead deer to a nearby haystack and hid it underneath so that he could come back and collect it later under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately for Jack, Constable Harbison walked along at that moment and saw him finishing the deed of burying the evidence under the haystack. "I'll take that gun," said Tom, "And that's a five dollar fine for hunting on Sunday." Knowing he was caught, Jack handed over the rifle and the cash. Then he asked, "Well, since you've already got my gun and my money, can you at least help me drag this deer home?" Tom consented and the two started toward Jack's cabin. They were talking about hunting tales of times past when suddenly a flock of turkeys appeared from the forest. In an instant, Tom whipped the gun to his shoulder and dropped one of them where it stood. Jack turned to Tom and said, "That's one of the finest shots I've ever seen! I think you hit him right in the head." Then with a grin on his face he added, "I think I'll take my gun back now . . . and my five dollars." Red-faced, Great-great-great Granddad complied. But presumably there was turkey on the menu at the Harbison cabin that night. Happy Thanksgiving, Rob -----Original Message----- From: Linda Merle [mailto:merle@mail.fea.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2005 11:40 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] SCOTCH-IRISH Thanksgiving It's me again!! I have no Scotch Irish Christmas suggestions. Alas, my maternial granddad (the Scotch Irish one) was lapsed RP and he HAD no traditions, apparently. My grandma took over, as in most homes. She was half Irish/Ulster Scot and half German. She had an intense Irish identity, Presbyterian to the DNA, Free Stater politically, but what do you call a Protestant Free stater with ancestors from Tyrone and Down? I think Unionist! She didn't know...... Alas, grandma's dad died young and the kids were put out with relatives so her mom could work. We sank to the servant class and grandma was raised by her Luthern grandparents. So my mother reports her Scotch Irish Christmases were German. This illustrates that Scotch Irish is an American ethnic group.... However my dad is half Scots and half English, a second generation American. I found out what we ate for Christmas was exactly what my Ulster friends were eating: Turkey, succatash, potatoes, gravy, stuffing and figgy pudding! Often my grannie made Chocolate pudding too with raisins, cooked the right way -- for hours boiled in a flour sack in water. But our hard sauce wasn't as grandma descended from Scots Presbyterian dissenters who had found a nice home in a typical Western PA church founded by Irish dissenters 200 years before. My Scotch Irish granddad DID bring the family a Scotch Irish Thanksgiving every year. He went out on the back porch and shot something. That's what you ate. My mother said people dreaded Thanksgiving. One year they had possum. Raccoon, goat, etc. You name it, they had to eat it. It was the Depression. Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net