DUNEDIN BURNS CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 3015, 27 December 1911, Page 3

DUNEDIN BURNS CLUB.

The monthly meeting of the Dunedin j Burns Club was held in .the Art GalleryHall on the 20th. when the 254th concert ; was pifesented. The President (Mr W. B. J M'Ewan), in bis opening remarks,- said j that he and Mr W. Brown (vice-president) had gone down to the wharf on the pre- j vious day to meet an old member of the I club in Mr R. Gilkison, who ha dre- I turned, looking all the better for his trip , to the Old Country Mr M'Ewan remarked that since the last meeting he had , received two boxes of heather from Auld ; Scotia, and these would be distributed at their, next monthly meeting. He said he was also pleased to see a number of young Scots in the audience, whom h© knew had just arrived in Dunedin., and he knew he was expressing the wishes of all of those present when he said he hoped they would secure congenial employment here. The following programme was then gone through, encores being numerous:—Bagpipe seleotion; Pipemajor M'Oallura; songs—" Angus McDonald" and " Blue bells of Scotland," Miss Violet Ford; "Ye banks and braes," Mrs «T. Scurr; "Mary of Argyle," Miss -K. E. C. Carr; piano solo, Miss Maud Graham ; piano duet, Misses Galloway and Kerr; "Highlanders slhoulder. to shoulder" and " Mary Morrison," Mr J. D. Cameron; recitation, "The Limitation of Youth," Master James ' Duncan; and items by the choir and the orchestra. The accompaniments were played by Miss Wright and Mr J. Paterson conducted the choir. The president during the evening gave a very interesting address on " The Festive Season." He said Christmas was a time of mirth and happiness, abounding in entertainments of all kinds, but it wa3 very much changed from, what it used to be in the days of their ancestors, when it was an almost uninterrupted round of feasting and jollity. The speaker then spoke of the custom of hanging up the mistletoe and the burning of the yule log. He said the latter custom was an 'ancient ceremony transmitted to them by their Scandinavian ancestors, who at this time of the year used to kindle bonfires in honour of their god Thor. Reference was then made to the singing of carols, the Christmas waits, the pantomimos, the Christmas tree, and to the modern practice of sending Christmas card®. The first Christmas card was designed by a Mr J. C. Horsley. It represented a familv party of three generations, and all were supposed to be joining in the sentiment "A merry Christmas and a happy New Year." It was worthv of notice that this card was sent to Queen Victoria in the year 1846. The lecturer then spoke of the great national holiday in Scotland, New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay, described the doings of the guisers or mummers, and also the New Year play interpreted by them called " Galatien," and concluded by describing other ancient merrymakings peculiar to the festive season. The address was punctuated with verses most appropriate to the custmn being discussed, and on the j lecturer sitting down he was rewarded with \ a very hearty round of applause for his i most able discourse.