Scotch drinking night

Tonight I found a penny, heads up, on the street. A little while later, I found a dollar bill on the sidewalk. Then by the Metro station, I found another heads-up penny. I'd say it was the luck o' the Irish, but tonight was Scottish night. There was a tartan kirking and dinner in honor of St. Andrew's Day tonight way down in Alexandria, Virginia, at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Margaret of Scotland, so I thought I'd pop in.

The church is one of those "Anglican" splinter groups from the Episcopal Church that uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the 1940 Hymnal, the KJV Bible, and doesn't allow female clergy. Their facility is fairly new; it's a small church in the meetinghouse style with the choir and electronic organ rather awkwardly in the left rear of the nave.


Exterior view


The Sanctuary
(see the purple Scottish heather on the altar?)

St. Andrew's Day services have been a tradition in Alexandria for centuries. When the first Lord Mayor of the town was elected in 1761, the mayor and council toured the town in blue sashes and crosses in honor of St. Andrew's Day; later that evening, the Scotsmen of the town hosted a St. Andrew's Day ball, followed by bonfires.

Tonight's service was spoken Evening Prayer with a sermon and a special "kirking" or blessing of the clan tartans. Because of the parish's traditions and their use of the 1928 BCP and the 1940 Hymnal (they sang the "Amen"s!), it was like stepping into a time warp. My first clue was seeing two women wearing chapel caps—those little round, lace, doiley-like things women used to wear on their heads in church—and I immediately thought back to my early childhood and remembered when some of the girls forgot their chapel caps and had to bobby pin Kleenexes to their heads.

As much as these Anglican parishes try to be "conservative" and traditional, I'm always amused at some of their technical faux pas. The rector, who officiated tonight, was wearing a cassock, surplice, and hood, but with a red stole (eucharistic vestment) instead of the more-correct tippet or scarf. He also officiated from the center of the altar, rather than the old-style north end. When the readers finished reading the lessons and announced "Here endeth the lesson," most of the congregation responded with "Thanks be to God," which didn't enter the Episcopal service until 1979. And, in their calendar, they referred to their Sunday morning service as "Holy Eucharist," which under 1928 rules should have been called "Holy Communion."

While there was an organist and a small choir tonight, the hymns, psalms, and canticles were all done congregationally. They opted to do Anglican chant for the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis as well as for the psalms. The congregation tonight wasn't familiar with the chants; I don't know how many people there tonight were Episcopalian and how many were visiting Presbyterians/"others," though, cause I also noticed a goodly number of people who sat rather than knelt for the prayers. The all-unison hymns were Lancashire for opening, Galilee for sermon, "Scotland the Brave" during the kirking, and Webb for the closing, and the three familiar hymn tunes all used non-standard words. A sole bagpiper played the opening and closing processions and the processions in and out of the tartan clan representatives. The choir did the Slumber Snot Song ("He watching over Israel" from Elijah) for an offertory, and I can say that they made a joyful noise unto the Lord.....

After the service, I lingered a bit trying to look "lost" and "visitorlike," as well as to listen to the piper play a postlude, before going downstairs to their undercroft parish hall for the dinner/reception. The priest shook my hand and said "good evening" back in the narthex, but otherwise, none of the people sitting around me or anyone else talked to me. Most everyone was dressed up tonight, and I saw a lot of tartan ties and maybe a dozen men in highland dress. Even the young boys were in their suits and blazers, but that's very Virginia Episcopalian/Anglican.

The food was potluck style with a big U-shaped table arrangement in the center of the room full of food, including a big pile of shrimp and cocktail sauce, ham, turkey, egg salad sandwich triangles, cheeses and crudités, and three or four different whole fish presentations. A side table had a big punch bowl surrounded with desserts, including shortbreads, scones, and American holiday candies. Another large side table held the booze, with at least ten different Scotch whiskeys, a couple of bottles of gin, some Spanish cava, and some cheap California wine (none of which I drank). I heard that some judge who's a member of the parish had brought cigars and cognac for the gentlemen, but I never did see where they were. I stood around for about ten to fifteen minutes nibbling on fish, cheese, and scones (I couldn't find the Scotch eggs or the advertised haggis), but there was no one there I knew and nobody was talking to me except for one women who'd backed into me and said "excuse me" without looking at me.

So, I left.