What would it be like to meet a whole roomfull of kilt enthusiasts from
around the world?  Check out “The Gathering” – just such a group
who post on the “X Marks the Scot” forum.

This event is hosted by Bear Kilts
click for more information

Just a quick automated reminder that The Gathering has an event 
tomorrow. You didn't RSVP but if you can make it, here are the 
details:

See who's coming and RSVP (it's not too late!):
http://kilt.meetup.com/2/events/4556947/

What: The Gathering Dinner

When: Friday, August 5 at 6:00PM
Where: Moxie's Restaurant
180 West Georgia street  
Vancouver BC V5G 3R2
604-683-0434

“You've got to be joking….”
“Is this for real?”
“I don't believe it!”
“I've heard of this!”
“Well done…”
“I've always wanted to go…”
“My friend has got to see this!”
“I saw you on television!”
“Are you really Toddish McWong?”

These are some of the comments that were provoked when attendees to the BC Highland Games
walked in the front gate and discovered a booth proudly displaying the
name “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” in big red letters.  On each side of
the tent's pillars were display boards with newsclippings about the
infamous “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

With Sunnette Jones and Bruce Jarvis (of Seattle) at the BC Highland Games – photo by Margaret Ferguson

Draping across the front table of the booth were red cotton t-shirts
arranged from Women's XS to Men's XS proudly displaying the backs and
fronts of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team designs.  On
top of the table were displayed shirts for sale $30 as a fundraiser for
the dragon boat team, as well as pictures of the 2004 dinners, pictures
of dragonboats and especially the “dragon boat float” that was the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy entry in the inaugural Vancouver St. Patrick's Day
Parade in 2004.

Nobody ever said “You are a disgrace to Scottish Culture, laddie!” or
“Get thee back to where you came from you Chinese heathen!” 
No…. not at all…

“Toddish McWong,” cried out Harry McGrath when he entered the main gate
and walked up to my booth.  Harry is the coordinator for the Centre Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University.  He loves the concepts behind Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

“We are like family here,” said Jim Bain one of the festival organizers
and also a Grand Chieftain of the Sons Of Scotland.  Bain himself had just
earlier in the week attended a Chinese Mun Yet (One month old) coming
out party for his own grandchild… as his wife is Chinese Canadian,
and his children hapa (Chinese and Scottish Canadians). 

Bain was very pleased with the multicultural aspect of the BC Highland
Games.  In one pipe band there is a drummer of South Asian
descent.  There was a Chinese vendor selling hats.  There was
Mango shave ice by a Taiwanese family vendor.  And when you looked
around, observant eyes would spot the occaisional Chinese guys wearing
kilts, and families of mixed race leading children of blended ethnicity.

People were generally very happy to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy
booth, talk about the dinner, and dragon boating.  Talk about
their experiences in multicultural families, or that their (Scottish
descendent) son has been living in China, or that their (Chinese
descendent) daughter just got back from Scotland.

They pointed to the picture of the kilted Chinese lion head figure and
laughed.  They asked how to join a dragon boat team.  They
asked me to pose for pictures with them in front of the booth.

My friend “Bear”of Bear Kilts
was there.  Bear has become one of my mentors in kilt wearing
culture, and even has his own blog titled The MacBitseach.  He checked in on me throughout the day, and was glad to
see me have a booth there and telling people that I actually did wear
my “maple leaf tartan” while paddling dragon boats.  I gave his
son “Cub” a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat shirt, as Cub also checked
in on me, and helped relieve me to grab some food or drink.  And
at the end of the day… Bear came over to say good bye.

“I like your sgian dhu” he said…
“My skin-what?”
He nodded down to the cell phone tucked in my right sock where the ceremonial knife sgian dhu is traditionally kept.
We both chuckled and shook hands.

pictures and more stories to come….

Check out this story about how times are changing for the
previously dominant ethnic group of BC: The Scots. Paula Baker has
written an article titled Changing Times for British Columbia Scots for the Scotsman.com

There are interviews with my friends Harry McGrath, coordinator for the
SFU Scottish Studies program and Jim Bain, leader for the Sons of
Scotland, as well he is an organizer of the BC Scottish Games. (special
note: Jim's wife is of Chinese descent, and his two lovely
Scottish-Chinese-Canadian daughters were competing Highland dancers!)

“Scottish societies began springing up in the 1930s but the decline began a
quarter century ago. Since then the original number of societies in the greater
Vancouver area has declined from almost half of the original 28,” writes Baker.

“Our club consists of 50 Scottish males that are ageing and their children
(first- and second-generation Canadians) don't really seem to be interested in
being part of the society,” says Ian Mason, who is president of Vancouver Burns
Club (VBC) and at 67 joins McGrath in being one of the youngest members.

“I understand what we offer – an intellectual social club that thinks about
Scottish poetry, history and heritage – isn't what a 22-year-old male would be
interested in. But even so, I don't know what I'm going to do about our sliding
numbers.”

Hmmm… maybe the answer is to have a 5th generation Vancouverite of
Chinese heritage going around the country promoting Robbie Burns, kilts
nights, haggis won-ton and dragon boat racing…. Especially since I've recently been
invited to do all of the above at Loch Lomand. 

“I think you've identified Vancouver's Two Solitidudes: Chinese and
Scottish,” Joan Siedl, Vancouver Museum history curator told me back in
January, after I told her how my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu
Tan had successfully appealed the wrongful arrest of Wong Foo-Sing for
the murder of Scottish nanny Janet Smith – one of Vancouver's longest
unsolved murders shrouded with intrigue in the toney Shaughnessey
neighborhood with touches of Scotland Yard.

Speaking of which – come out to the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival and
cheer on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team.  We will be
wearing the Fraser “Sport” tartan.  2-day passes available for $12
instead of $10 per day – just e-mail me or call 604-987-7124.

Bear (centre in the picture) of Bear Kilts has taught me some of the finer things about wearing a kilt everyday.  Bear made the maple leaf tartan I wore with Peter Mansbridge on CBC TV's The National.  Bear gave away a ready to make kilt for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner which much to my mom's dismay – my father won!

Bear has started up a new blog and has this to say about wearing kilts.

Kilts = more

More fun, more self respect, more life….

Kilts Make You Stronger
“Aren't you cold in that thing”…

Physics and Kilts
What makes kilts so comfortable to wear?

Did bagpipes, the Hudson's Bay Company and Cree Indians ever meet? 

Here's a story sent to me by Heather Pawsey – that gorgeous blonde opera soprano who sings in French, Italian, German, Gaelic and Mandarin.  Also featured in the Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

"In Peter C. Newman's latest boook, Here be Dragons, the following 
descriptive passage might interest Scottish types.  Newman describes a 
Hudson's Bay Company executive (from Scotland, of course) who toured 
the North with his personal piper.  A Cree Indian, on hearing the 
bagpipes for the first time, described the occasion to his Chief:
 
"One white man was dressed like a woman, in a skirt of many colours.  
He had whiskers growing from his belt and fancy leggings.  He carried a 
black swan which had many legs with ribbons tied to them.  The swan's 
body he put under his arm upside down then put its head in his mouth 
and bit it.  At the same time, he pinched its neck with his fingers and 
squeezed the body under his arm until it made a terrible noise."

Join the St. Patrick's Day Parade and be part of Gung Haggis Fat Choy's dragon boat float.

Last year, Gung Haggis Fat Choy was asked to take part in the inaugural St. Patrick's Day Parade for 
Celtic Fest Vancouver –
celebrating all things celtic in Vancouver BC.  The parade
organizers wanted something multicultural, and they loved the way Gung
Haggis Fat Choy fused together Chinese and Scottish cultures in a fun
inclusive way.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy, up to this point, had been a dinner, a dragon
boat team, and a CBC television performance special.  How could it
be a parade entry?  Cultural fusion musicians? 

“How about a dragon boat float,” I suggested.  And they LOVED
it!  We created one of the better float entries according to Grand
Parade Marshall Steve McVittie and Festival Organizer Warren
Purchase.  And thus was born, the concept of dragon boats for
parade entries in Vancouver.

For 2005, we will have special guests Vancouver City Counsellor Ellen Woodsworth who will be wearing “something outrageously Irish” she promises. 

Also joining us will be our favourite Chi-rish person, Margaret Gallager from CBC Radio's Early Edition, referring to her Chinese Malaysian and Irish American parentage.

This parade entry is a partnership with Dragon Boat Association. organizers of the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race.

We will also try to create the world's first dragon boat paddle marching drill team.

We are parade entry #83, and will meet from 10:00am on Richards St.
between Davie St. and Drake St.  The parade starts at 11am and
goes on until 1pm. 

Join us by calling Todd Wong at 604-987-7124

See pictures of the 2004 St. Patrick's Day Parade pictures for Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat float.