Scottish Country Dance of the Day

This is one of the years when Hallowe'en takes place on a Saturday and many Scottish Country brances and classes are planning a special Saturday Night Samhain Celebration!

You never know who may be hiding behind those disguises!

Raccoons are natives of North America, although some have made their way considerably farther afield. Introduced populations are now established in several parts of continental Europe, particularly following introductions in Germany during the 20th century.

Scotland has had the occasional escaped raccoon and wild sighting, but no established population—so any raccoon appearing at a Scottish country dance would indeed be a rather unusual visitor!

Raccoons and other masked dancers may appreciate this 32 bar 3 couple reel devised by Susie Langdon Kass who was inspired when some raccoons came into her back yard while she was preparing the lesson for her dance class! And true to the raccoon's remarkable dexterity with its paws, this dance contains plenty of "handedness" figures, rights and lefts, hands across, and circle! She writes:

"An easy dance for 3 couples in which only the 1st couple start, and the dance ends with a circle. For teaching purposes, the rights and lefts in bars 17-24 may be replaced with right hands across and left hands back, set and cross right and set and cross back for 3 couples, or promenade for 3 couples or any other appropriate, non-progressive, formation. If there is a 4th couple the last circle is 8 hands round and back."

The English word raccoon comes from the Powhatan word aroughcun, meaning “animal that scratches with its hands”—and those hands are quite remarkable. A raccoon’s front paws are extraordinarily dexterous, with roughly four times as many sensory receptors as its back paws, about the same ratio as human hands to feet.

Raccoons heighten their sense of touch through a behavior called dousing, wetting their paws while handling objects. This habit gave rise to the mistaken belief that raccoons wash their food before eating it.

They are also remarkably clever problem-solvers. In the early 1900s, ethologist H. B. Davis gave 12 raccoons a series of puzzle boxes secured with hooks, bolts, buttons, latches, and levers, some involving more than one lock. In the end, these masked safecrackers managed to get past 11 of the 13 mechanisms!

So if a few masked strangers turn up at the Halloween dance in kilts, perhaps keep an eye on the locks—and the mind the punch bowl! 🕺 💃 🧡 🖤 🧡 🦝 🦝 🦝