St Columba's Strathspey

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 2s+4s dance RH across, 2s dance up while 4s dance down, 2s and 4s casting round ends on own sides to face 1st corners
9-16 2s+4s pass and turn with 1st corners, pass partner LSh and pass and turn with 2nd corners and into centre facing partner (L facing down M up)
17-24 2s+4s dance reel of 4 ending in original places on sides
25-32 2s and 4s set and cast down 1 place while 3s and 5s set and dance up 1 place, 1s and 2s turn RH and cast down 1 place. 31524

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

(MAXICRIB. Scottish country dancing instructions compiled by Reuben Freemantle)

Dance Notes

Keith Rose's Crib Diagram

St Columba's Strathspey - Full Size And Key To Symbols

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Dance Information

He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Columba studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 AD he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll, in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Ulster kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Celtic Christianity among the pagan Northern Pictish kingdoms. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him.

In 563, he travelled to Scotland with twelve companions (said to include Odran of Iona) in a wicker currach covered with leather. According to legend he first landed on the Kintyre Peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land, he moved farther north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of Iona was made over to him by his kinsman Conall mac Comgaill King of Dál Riata, who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place. However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Ulster Gaels had been colonising the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries. Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes.

There are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with an unidentified animal that some have equated with the Loch Ness Monster in 565. It is said that he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the River Ness after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple, Lugne (see Vita Columbae Book 2 below). He visited the pagan King Bridei, King of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country.

Saint Columba, Apostle To The Picts

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