Solanco townlively.com
JANUARY 8, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LXI • NO 38
Local area does Groundhog Day a little bit differently BY ADRIAN ESCHENWALD
Donald Henderson leads the haggis ceremony during a previous Burns Night Celebration at Beale Manor.
In Burns’ poem, he describes the ingredients of haggis and marvels at its image and flavor. Shor tly after “Address to a Haggis” was published, the dish became officially designated as the national dish of Scotland, and the poem is typically recited during a haggis ceremony. A supper buffet will be served after the haggis ceremony. Food options will include hag gis, Angus beef, red lentil soup, salad and trifle, as well as neeps and tatties, a dish made from mashed turnips and potatoes. After supper, attendees will be invited to commemorate Burns’ life with toasts, speeches
Of the many holidays and centuries-old traditions o b s e r v e d b y m o d e r n - d ay Americans, few are as peculiar and whimsical as Groundhog Day. The annual celebration became enshrined in popular culture in 1993, following the release of the comedy film “Groundhog Day,” but the holiday and its many eccentric festivities originated several hundred years ago. Although many people associate Groundhog Day exclusively w i t h P u n x s u t aw ne y P h i l , many communities across the United States have their own preferred prognosticator, including Quarryville. For the past 116 years, the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge of Quarryville has hosted a community event on Feb. 2 to celebrate Groundhog Day and to determine the prediction of its hibernating governor, Charles N. Hart. During the annual celebration, Hart will make his forecast for the remaining length of winter after consulting Octoraro Orphie, the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge’s mascot. Octoraro Orphie is a taxidermied groundhog, but the stuffed rodent’s less-thanlively nature doesn’t keep members of the lodge from honoring Or phie ’s annual prognostication. The prognostication serves as the centerpiece of the annual
See Burns Night pg 5
See Groundhog Day pg 2
Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Foundation board members and entertainers (from left) Thompson McConnell, Donald Henderson, Tishena Moss, Charlie Zahm, Tom Knapp, Donna McCool, Barry Girvin and John Girvin
Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Foundation slates Burns Night Celebration
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continue to perform until all guests and a medley of spices and broth, have arrived, and the celebration and ingredients are customarily will kick off with a social time and cooked inside the sheep’s stomach. a second musical performance by In addition to offering a tasting of fiddler Tom Knapp. haggis, Zahm will After Destremps discuss the cultural and Knapp set the significance of the “Anyone who tone for the evening Scottish delicacy. wants to learn with traditional The ceremony will Scottish composiconclude with a more about tions, Charlie Zahm tasting of Scottish others’ culture is will lead a haggis whiskey. welcome.” c e r e m o n y. T h e Although haggis time-honored ritual has been enjoyed will include a tasting in the United of haggis, a savory dish that is Kingdom since the 15th century, made using the heart, lungs and the meal was made popular by liver of a sheep. The meat is minced “Address to a Haggis,” a poem with chopped onion, oatmeal, suet that Burns published in 1786.
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he Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Foundation will host its annual Burns Night Celebration on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Beale Manor, 200 S. Church St., Parkesburg. The event will take place from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., and the price of admission will include live entertainment, food and drinks that are unique to Scottish culture. When guests arrive at Beale Manor, they will hear the distinct sound of a bagpipe ringing through the halls of the historic home. Bagpiper Tyler Destremps will
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BY ADRIAN ESCHENWALD