At our November Membership Meeting we will be celebrating St. Andrew's Day which is November 30. On that day Scots all over the world honor Andrew, the brother of Peter, who is the patron saint of Scotland. In these modern days, it plays a similar role as St. Patrick's Day for the Irish—it is a day for celebrating Scottish culture.

According to tradition, St. Andrew conducted missionary work around the Black Sea and was martyred in perhaps 60 or 70 AD by crucifixion in Greece on an "X" shaped cross. Like many important saints, Andrew was not left in his tomb to rest in peace. His remains were supposedly taken to Constantinople in the 4th century and a few of his bones were taken by St. Rule to Scotland before they made it to Constantinople. These relics were held in St. Andrew's Chapel.

In 1160 the chapel was replaced by St. Andrew's Cathedral which became an important medieval pilgrimage destination. Today much of the cathedral is in ruins, but "St. Rule's Tower" is one of the buildings that remains. St. Andrew's relics were probably destroyed during the Scottish Reformation, but a plaque among the ruins of the cathedral shows modern visitors where the relics were kept.

One of the earliest times St. Andrew was recognized as the patron saint of Scotland was at the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. Signed by Robert the Bruce and other Scottish noblemen, the Declaration asserted Scotland's independence from England. However, St. Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland much earlier, in 832, when his "X" shaped cross became the flag of Scotland. (See story in the August issue of the Desert Highlander.)

St. Andrew has been Scotland's patron saint and his cross has been our flag for perhaps 1,000 years. While his flag is universally used, the man and his day have been somewhat neglected.

The number of people who speak Scottish Gaelic today is numbered at less than 100,000—some say about 80,000.  The main concentration of Gaelic speakers is to be found in the Hebrides (the islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist, Skye, etc.) off the west coast of Scotland.  There, Gaelic is the everyday language of the people.  Gaelic speakers are also found on the mainland, particularly in parts of Invernesshire, Argyllshire and western Perthshire.

Gaelic is as difficult a language as Irish Gaelic, a close cousin and Welsh, a distant ancestor.   In Gaelic (pronounced gaal-ak) the predicate comes before the subject and the adjective comes after the noun.  The indefinite article (a or the) does not exist.  This is a language that was spoken long before it was written.  Many of the letters in written Gaelic are never heard (silent) and letters heard are nowhere to be found in the writing.

It should be understood that the syntax, idiom, and vocabulary of Gaelic bear little relation to English.  Unlike the Latin based romance languages such as Spanish and French where many words and sounds are quite similar to English, Gaelic tends to be quite distinct.  One of the most commonly cited differences between Gaelic and English is the English verb "to have".  There is no specific verb meaning "have" in the Gaelic.  If one desires to say in Gaelic "I have a dog", he would say "Tha cu agam" which literally means "There is a dog at me".  It should also be noted that Gaelic is a verb-centered language and the verb generally comes at the beginning of the sentence.  Thus, "tha" is the present tense of the verb "to be" (is, are) and comes at the front of a simple sentence.   

Gaelic has been spoken in parts of Scotland since about the 4th century.  It and the name of Scotland came from the "Scoti" who came across the sea from eastern Ulster in Ireland and established their kingdom and language throughout the area now known as Scotland.  For several centuries Scottish and Irish Gaelic were virtually the same.  A majority of place names bear a Gaelic origin and few Scots today are without either a surnames or forename of Gaelic origin.

Gaelic has been thought to be a dying tongue without any modern significance.  As mentioned earlier, there are only about 80,000 native Gaelic speakers in Scotland today.  The minuscule size of the present Gaelic community, when contrasted with the situation a hundred years ago when there were approximately a quarter of a million Gaelic speakers in Scotland, might cause one to think that the language is dying.  However, the last twenty-five years have witnessed a halt of this decline and now shows some encouraging growth points.  There has been a rekindled interest in Gaelic.  Government support and funding has resulted in the reintroduction of Gaelic in primary classes in the Glasgow and Inverness schools.

Despite past decades of neglect, the language has survived and there is now a revived interest and a renewed spirit.  It is hoped that future generations will remain true to the language and habits of their ancestors.  Suas leis a' Ghaidhlig  (Up with the Gaelic).     

There are members of the British Royal Air Force buried at the City of Mesa Cemetery. Approximately one-half of those buried there were from Scotland. The pilots died while training at Falcon Field in Mesa during World War II. Each year a special Memorial Ceremony is held on the Sunday preceding Veteran's Day to remember and honor them. The Caledonian Society will participate, as it has for many years, by laying a wreath. The Ceremony will be held on Sunday, November 10 at 10:30 am. It is a moving ceremony with bagpipes and a fly-over of vintage WWII planes

(Answer at the end of the Newletter)

I was born in 1791 in Pennsylvania.  My parents were Ulster Scot immigrants.  I studied law and was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives where I served for ten years.  Later I was elected to the Senate and then I became Secretary of State in President Polk's administration.  In 1856 I was elected as the 15th President of the United States.

(Answer at the end of the Newletter)

James Buchanan