"The Ball of Kirriemuir" (occasionally Kerrymuir and other variants), sometimes known as "The Gathering of the Clans" or "Four-and-Twenty Virgins", is a traditional song of Scottish origin.
The tale runs, that all the men were wearing kilts, and that few women in those days wore underwear and those that were worn had an open crotch.
Someone sprinkled rose hip seeds on the floor (from where they were caught up into the air as the dancing began), spiked the punch bowl with Spanish fly, and rigged the paraffin lamps to go out when the double effect of the itching powder and the aphrodisiac took hold.
The following, in Scots, is representative of the less extreme verses:[5]'Twas on the first of August, The party, it began, Noo, ne'er shall I forget, me lads, The gatherin' o' the clans.
[11] The 51st (Highland) Division sang it as they crossed the River Rhine in March 1945, near the end of World War II, as part of Operation Plunder; despite the Chaplain's attempts to get them to sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and the band's playing "Scotland the Brave".