Judiquers show their true colours

October 26, 2022

Judique’s new tartan was on full display this week as the community celebrated the awarding of the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Spirit Award for 2022.

Tetley, the dog, is a big fan of the Judique Spirit Tartan, and the efforts of the Judique Spirit Tartan Group,

The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc was the guest of honour at a public reception at the Judique Community Centre on Sunday, October 23 as the king’s representative in the province presented one of two such honours to local residents. The community of Weymouth Falls in Digby County was the other recipient of this year’s honour.

Accepting the award on behalf of the community were members of the Judique Tartan Group, who submitted the application for the honour on behalf of all Judiquers. Mildred Lynn MacDonald, a volunteer member of the group, says the award “hits on the strengths of the community, which is really nice.”

“It would be family connections, valuing heritage, generosity, kindness, hard work,” she explains. “Just a general appreciation for each other, and coming through COVID, that was really highlighted. The community really came together during the two years of COVID.”

“What qualities in the community that had existed before – and these would have been qualities passed on by grandmothers and grandfathers – people tapped into those qualities, and really helped each other, as everywhere on Highway 19.”

In the back row, from left, are Barbara Downie, Donna MacLellan, Jean MacDonald, Yvonne MacDonell and Florence Beaton. In the middle row, from left, are Alice Campbell, Theresa MacInnis and Deborah Graham. Seated in front is Mildred Lynn MacDonald.

The Judique Tartan Group was formed in 2020 when an enthusiastic group of Judiquers decided the community needed a tartan. The call went out to local residents to submit potential colours and their meaning, and the response was “overwhelming,” MacDonald notes.

The following year, the Judique Spirit Tartan was officially registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans and is now displayed on their website. The tartan features “striking blues for the ocean and sky, green for the forest and fields, peach for the red-orange-yellow sunsets, white for the first settler’s winter arrival, and red for the faith and strength of the people.”

An initial order of Judique Spirit Tartan scarfs and throws was so popular that the group was to recently receive a second shipment from Scotland, and MacDonald says participants at the award celebration were encouraged to bring along their tartans to show their community spirit.

Also on display during the event was the Judique Spirit Tartan Community Quilt, which was completed by volunteer quilters in recent weeks and displays various cultural aspects of the community. And to bring it all together, the group invited Mabou fiddler Andrea Beaton to perform the “Judique Spirit Tartan Reel” which she composed earlier this year at the request of the group.

“It’s made people very proud,” MacDonald says of the award, adding that it’s captured the imagination of both local residents, as well as Judiquers living in other parts of the world.