One of the great new traditions has been the spread of celebrations built around Tartan Day, 6 April, in America, Canada and France. As many of the regular visitors to The Flag are USA residents, we are delighted this week to highlight in this feature an e-mail received from the 2004 National Tartan Day - New York Committee :

PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR READERS, MEMBERS AND FRIENDS:

From the National Tartan Day-New York Committee,

January 10, 2004

Dear Pipe Band, Brass Band, Clan Societies and Families, Fraternal Organizations, and Historical Societies,

On Saturday, April 3^rd New York City will celebrate the Sixth Annual National Tartan Day with a parade of pipers and drummers down Sixth Avenue in recognition of the Declaration of Arbroath. 

As you know the mission of National Tartan Day is to celebrate and educate about the historic and current contributions of Scots and those of Scottish descent to the world and in particular to America recognizing the longstanding ties between Scotland and the United States.  As in the past the Scottish-American parade in New York City is the anchor of the national day in the US to celebrate our heritage.

This year National Tartan Day in New York is being led by the Scottish-American community through the auspices of the three major organizations in the City, The Saint Andrews Society of the State of New York, 1756, The New York Caledonian Club, 1856, and the American Scottish Foundation, 1956.  This is a major initiative for us and we look forward to you, our brothers and sisters of the heather to join us in demonstrating to the world what Scots in America can achieve today when they work together.

In honor of National Tartan Day, we hope that you and your Pipe Band, Brass Band, Clan Society, Family, Fraternal Organization and Historical Society will join us in making this positive statement about the Scottish-American community by coming to march with your fellow pipers and drummers.

On Friday night before the parade you are also welcome to attend a ceilidh, and on Saturday following the parade please join us for a post-parade party.  Details about the parade, the ceilidh and the post-parade party are also available on the website at: http://www.tartanweek.com.

There is no fee to march and it is easy to register online at our website at: http://www.tartanweek.com.  In addition if you have any questions please feel free to email us at tartanweek@hotmail.com and/or call us at 212-980-0844, or simply reply to this email to contact me directly if I can help answer your questions.

Please mark your calendar now and make plans with your band to march in New York City for this the Sixth Annual National Tartan Day parade.

SCOTS, WA HAE - LET US HEAR FROM YOU!

For the National Tartan Day-New York Committee,

"My heart is in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart is in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer."      -Robert Burns-

"Weave the tartan of tomorrow, contemporary Scotland, learn it, love it, invest in it"

Yours Aye!
Chris

Dr. Christopher Pratt
74th Chief
New York Caledonian Club, 1856
http://www.nycaledonian.org
212-662-1083
globalscot
Friends of Scotland
Clan Grant Society USA
St. Andrews Society of the State of New York

National Tartan Day-New York Committee:

Edward Collins
President
Saint Andrews Society

Dr. Christopher Pratt
74th Chief
New York Caledonian Club

Alan Bain
President
American Scottish Foundation of the State of New York

We feel honoured to be included on the mailing list of the 2004 National Tartan Day - New York Committe and are pleased to extend to all those holding and attending Tartan Day events our best wishes and the hope that their activities do not suffer from this week's recipe - Scotch Mist!

Scotch Mist

Ingredients : 1/2 pint cream; caster sugar to taste; 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence; 2 tablespoons sieved, boiled chestnuts

Beat the cream till fluffy. Sweeten to taste with sugar and add vanilla essence. Moisten the chestnuts with a tablespoon of thick cream, then fold in half the whipped cream. Pile in a small glass dish. Coat with remainder of cream. Dip in sherry the ends of enough sponge fingers to encircle the cream. Place fingers, dipped ends downwards, round the cream. Serve with compote of orange or tangerine fingers. Serves 4.