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Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Montana sapphires
Sep 3
September's Birthstone
The Mystery of the Star Sapphire
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"A gem's true value lies not in its sparkle, but in the mysteries it holds within."
Happy September birthdays! And if you fancy yourself a titian-haired sleuth like Nancy Drew, a mild-mannered puzzle solver like Miss Marple, or a deerstalker-capped titan of logic like Sherlock Holmes, you may enjoy solving this mystery gem both referred to in the dance, that of the star sapphire, and the other mystery of why this dance is categorized in the literature as a reel, although the devisor Iain Boyd, definitely states that it is a 32 bar strathspey for 3 couples in a 4 couple set!
Regardless, happy September birthdays as you have one of the most beautiful of birthstones, the blue sapphire.
The word sapphire comes through Old French saphir and Latin sapphirus from the Greek sappheiros, and curiously, may originally have referred to lapis lazuli or another prized blue stone rather than the transparent blue corundum now known as the sapphire.
This dance significantly concludes with a special “star chain” figure evoking the star-shaped pattern found in certain sapphires, a phenomenon known as asterism.
The most renowned of these star sapphires, the Star of India, is a large, milky-blue gem mined in Sri Lanka more than three centuries ago. In 1964, it became the target of a notorious jewel heist. Despite the stone’s reputation for carrying a curse, three daring thieves broke into the American Museum of Natural History and made off with a fortune in jewels—including the Star of India.
Their remarkable success owed much to a series of security mishaps: the batteries in the display-case alarm had been dead for months, the upper windows of the hall had been left open for ventilation, and no security guard had been posted in the room. Fortunately, most of the stolen gems—including the Star of India—were recovered shortly afterward from a locker at a Miami Trailways bus terminal!
So if you are ever puzzled by a baffling progression, a mysterious transition, or a figure that simply refuses to make sense— call upon your favourite dancing sleuths of your acquaintanceship, those with a knack of interpreting dance descriptions or particularly difficult Pillings diagrams, and join the dance! 🕺 💃 💙 💜 💙 🔍 🔍 🔍 💎 💎 💎
The Mystery of the Star Sapphire
The sapphire is the stone associated with the month of September.
The sapphire (Greek: sappheiros, for 'blue stone', which probably referred to lapis lazuli in ancient times) is a typically blue gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide.
Trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper, or magnesium can give corundum respectively blue, yellow, purple, orange, or green coloring. Chromium impurities in corundum yield pink or red tints, the latter being called rubies. The most prized colors are a medium to medium dark blue or slightly violet-blue.
Sapphires have been popular since the Middle Ages and, according to folklore, will protect your loved ones from envy and harm. Medieval clergy wore sapphires to symbolize heaven, while commoners thought the gem attracted heavenly blessings.
A star sapphire exhibits a six-rayed star-like phenomenon known as asterism because of intersecting needle-like inclusions following the underlying crystal structure.
The Star of India sapphire (see below), mined in Sri Lanka, weighing 563.4 carats, is thought to be the second-largest blue star sapphire and is currently on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
In 1964, this gem was stolen, when a group of thieves left a bathroom window unlocked during the day and climbed in through the window at night.
At the time, the uninsured Star of India was the only gem in the museum's exhibit that was protected by an alarm, but according to media reports, the alarm's battery went dead. The men snatched the gem, along with several other precious stones that were on exhibit, and escaped back out the window.
The robbery was one of the biggest gem heists in American history, but the three thieves were captured within only two days. While some of the stolen gems were never seen again, the Star of India was miraculously recovered in a Miami bus station locker several months later.
Click the vintage book cover of another mysterious fictional sapphire, the Spider Sapphire, from everyone's favorite titian-haired sleuth with Scottish ancestry, Nancy Drew, for a recipe for a sapphire-blue cocktail, a "Sapphire Alpine", using Sapphire Gin and Blue Curacao.
Pictured above are the newest fad in sapphires, Montana blue sapphires, discovered in Montana, United States in the late 1800’s by a gold miner working on one of the gravel bars on the Missouri River near the town of Helena.
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
