21. The Religion of the Yellow Stick

by Prof. Callum Beck

Synopsis

The ‘Religion of the Yellow Stick’ is a facetious label used in the Hebrides and in Prince Edward Island, Canada, to describe a persecution of “Catholicks” by a Presbyterian laird in the outer Hebrides. The two lairds, Islands and times most often associated with this title are MacLean of Coll on Rum in 1725 and Boisdale on South Uist in 1770, but there are about 15 historical contexts with which it has been associated. This talk will demonstrate the originating event underlying this label and trace the rise of the variant versions.

Image caption: Hector McLean  Chief of Coll  c1720.

Source: James Logan, The Clans of the Scottish Highlands from Original Sketches by R.R. McIan (London: Ackermann and Co, 1845), p 93.  Can be found at Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/stream/mcianscostumesc00mciagoog/mcianscostumesc00mciagoog_djvu.txt

About the speaker

Callum Beck is a Pastor and part-time University professor in Prince Edward Island. He did his PhD thesis on the Protestant-Catholic Divide on PEI through the Open University. It was during that time he first came across the oral tradition about the ‘Religion of the Yellow Stick,’ which story was passed on in PEI to partly explain the arrival of the first group of Catholic highlanders in Canada in 1772. Since then he has done a very deep dive into this topic and is currently working on getting all of his research published before ‘he slips this mortal coil.’

How to participate

This talk will begin at 7.30 pm (GMT) and last up to one hour, followed by questions. As the audience for each talk will be limited to 100, please register in plenty of time by e-mailing us (click either on the ‘Register for Events’ button above, or click here click here ). You will then be sent a code to allow you to join the talk.

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