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The Battalion
Aggielife
Page 3 • Tuesday, November 23, 1999
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SCOTT HARRIS/The Battalion
1J ASUgfie oldest castle in Scotland, overlooking the Loch Ness, is the location of the first reported siting of the Loch Ness monster, thousands of years ago.
BY AMANDA PALM
The Battalion
A lthough she was always told she
was Scotch-Irish, growing up
with red hair and knowing her
grandfather came from Ireland, Jean
North was positive she was Irish and
just “sort of dropped the Scotch part. ”
At one time; North lived in Ire
land and quickly realized she was
the only redhead in Southern Ireland
— her grandfather came from
Northern Ireland. She became inter
ested in her ancestry and in her re
search, found out that five of six
names of her ancestors were in the
Scottish Book of Names.
“The Book of Names is like a Bible
to the people who go to the festival,”
she said. “You can look up a name,
and it will tell you where in Scotland
that family registered [their name]
and in what century. ”
North said the history of Scots in
Texas date back centuries.
“The British gave the Scots in Ire
land an opportunity to colonize in
America,” she said. “Over two mil
lion Scots left Ireland. They were
fighters, a warrior people. At first they
got stuck in the New England area,
but eventually, they filtered into the
Texas area. Texas was pioneered by
the Scots.”
For many years. North and her
daughter traveled throughout Texas
attending other Scottish festivals,
which sparked interest into their past.
“It is so important to preserve our
heritage,” she said. “I want to be able
to pass it on to future generations. I
had always heard stories about my
great-grandfather, but I didn’t have a
clue who that man was. I searched for
years, and when I finally found the
names of my great-grandparents, it
made me realize how important it is
to know your kin.
“Then suddenly, I was the one
with the information and the one
who knew all the stories. If I had died
before any of that information got
down on paper, it would all be gone. ”
In 1996, North and her daughter
hosted the first Trinity Scottish Fes
tival and Highland Games. The
two-day festival is comprised of a
banquet on the first night and a day
of competitive games which ends
with a night full of Scottish music
and entertainment.
“There is a six-man tug-of-war,”
she said, “and other games like the
tossing of the cabor, where contes
tants toss a huge pole as far as they
can. And we also have the toss the
sheep event, where they throw hay in
a giant bag up in the air over a pole.”
Each year, a clan is chosen to be
honored at the festival. This year,
Clan Cameron is the honored family.
“We try to choose a clan who
comes to support us each year,” she
said. “They are usually those who are
an active clan in our festival, as well
as throughout Texas.”
Every clan has a tartan (a fabric
of specific colors) that represents
the clan.
North said the dyes for the tartans
originally came from natural plants
in the area of Scotland the clans lived
in. The resulting colors of the tartan
once helped distinguish clans in war
ring times and in gatherings with
other clans.
For the first time, the June Mac-
Roberts Memorial Award will be
given t© the top athlete of the High
land Games. MacRoberts designed
the Bluebonnet Tartan, which was
declared the Official Tartan of Texas
in 1989.
“Ms. MacRoberts wanted a tartan
that represented the Texas Scots,”
she said. “She chose the bluebon
net, the state flower, and looked at
the colors in the bluebonnet and cre
ated the tartan.”
The festival is at the Community
Center in Trinity, on Highway 19, 22
miles from Huntsville. There will be,
a parade through downtown Trinity
to begin the day’s activities and the
Highland Games will follow.
North said a person does not have
to be Scottish to enjoy or appreciate
the festival.
“We have a little saying that goes,
‘If they’re not Scottish when they get
here, they will be when they leave,”’
North said.
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