Highland Games - History, Events

Athletic meetings held in Scotland; the first Games were organized by the St Fillans (Perthshire) Highland Society in 1819. A range of athletic events takes place, in addition to specifically Scottish events, such as tossing the caber. There may also be highland dancing and bagpipe-playing competitions. The most famous meeting is the Braemar Gathering.

Highland games are festivals held throughout the year in Scotland and many other countries of the world as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture and heritage, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic of Scotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. While centered around competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, the games also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelic culture.

History

The origin of games and sports pre-dates recorded history and are the stuff of legend and stories.

Games in the Highlands of Scotland

It is reported in numerous books and Highland games programs, that King Malcolm III of Scotland, in the 11th century, summoned contestants to a foot race to the summit of Craig Choinnich (overlooking Braemar) . They were to arrive wearing Highland coats and "also with gun, sword, pistill and dirk". or invention

Following the repeal of the Act of Proscription, various Highland Societies, beginning in the 1780s, began to organize around attempts to retain or revive Highland traditions. It was these early efforts that eventually led to the Highland Games as we know them today.

This modern revival of the Highland Games received an enormous boost with the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822, although events were held in the years just prior to that. In 1819, for example, the St. Fillans Society organized a full scale Highland games with piping, dancing, and athletics. The Northern Meeting Society's Highland Games the forerunner of The City of Inverness Highland Games was first held in 1822.

In the 1840s, in Braemar, Games began as a fund raising effort by local artisans to support a "Friendly Society" and their charitable activities. Later, in 1868, the first in a series of "Highland Memoirs" excerpted from Victoria's Journals, would be published.

Together with the earlier 1822 event, Queen Victoria's patronage of the Games constituted one of the most significant factors in the popularization of the Games and what some have called the Highlandification of Scotland.

Among better-known games in Scotland are the ones held at Braemar, Inverness, Cowal, Lonach, Ballater and Aboyne.

In the latter part of the 19th century, the Highland games played a role in the development of the Olympic movement. As part of his efforts to organize the first games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin visited a number of athletic competitions in order to determine which sports should be included in the forthcoming Olympic Games, to standardize rules, and to examine the technical aspects of running such a competition. Among the events he visited for this purpose were a Highland Games event organized in conjunction with the Paris Exhibition of 1889. That event, in addition to what we today would call track and field events, also contained wrestling, tug-of-war, cycling, as well as competition in piping and dancing.

Events

Heavy Events

In their original form many centuries ago, Highland games centered around athletic and sports competitions. Though other activities were always a part of the festivities, many today still consider Highand athletics are what the games are all about - in short, that the athletics are the Games, and all the other activities are just entertainment. Regardless, it remains true today that the athletic competitions are at least an integral part of the events and one - the caber toss - has come to almost symbolize the Highland games.

Although quite a range of events can be a part of the Highland athletics competition, a few have become standard. Stone put: this event is similar to the modern-day shot put as seen in the Olympic Games. In the Scottish event, a round metal ball (weighing 16 or 22 lb for the men or 12 or 16 lb for women) is attached to the end of a shaft about 4 feet in length and made out of wood, bamboo, rattan, or plastic. There are actually two separate events, one using a light (28 lb for men, or 14 lb for women) and the other a heavy (56 lb for men, 42 lb for masters men, and 28 lb for women) weight. There is significant debate among athletes as to whether the sheaf toss is in fact an authentic Highland event.

Many of the competitors in Scottish highland atheltics are former high school and college track and field athletes who find the Scottish games are a good way to continue their competitive careers.

Increasingly in the USA, the Heavy Events are attracting women and Master class athletes which has led to a proliferation of additional classes in Heavy Events competitions.

Music

For many Highland games festival attendees, the most memorable of all the events at the games is the massing of the pipe bands.

It is, in fact, the music of the bagpipe which has come to symbolize music at the Games and, indeed, in Scotland itself. In addition to the massed bands, nearly all Highland games gatherings feature a wide range of piping and drumming competition, including solo piping and drumming, small group ensembles and, of course, the pipe bands themselves.

But the pipes and drums are not the only music which can be heard at Highland games. Music at Highland games gatherings takes on a variety of forms.

Dance

There are two basic forms of dancing at modern Highland Games gatherings. Scottish country dancing is a social dance like ballroom dancing or square dancing, the latter of which evolved from country dancing.

The other type of dancing which one can see at Highland Games events is the highly competitive and technical form known as Highland dancing. First there are the traditional Highland dances - the Sword Dance (or Gillie Calum), the Highland Fling, the Highland Reel, and the Seann Triubhas (pronounced shawn trews). The other competition dances are known as national dances, the most well known of which are the Scottish Lilt, the Flora MacDonald, the Earl of Erroll, Highland Laddie, Blue Bonnets and Village Maid. Also common at the games are the Irish Jig and the Sailor's Hornpipe dances.

Highland dancing, in all its competitive forms, is a very technical dance form, requiring many hours of practice and training over a period of several years in order to perfect. It has more in common with ballet than with the social dancing of the Scottish Country Dance. In addition, the Highland dances are performed solo, unlike country dancing.

Many Highland gatherings worldwide, and almost all in the United States, recognize the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (SOBHD), formed in 1950, as the world governing body of Highland dancing. In addition, a World Highland Dance Championship, sanctioned by the SOBHD, has been held annually at the Cowal Highland Gathering since 1948.

Historically, the Highland dances were danced only by men. This came about as the result of the nature and origin of the dances themselves as well as the fact that during the years of Proscription, only military regiments were permitted to adopt Highland attire and practice the traditions such as dancing.

But late in the 19th Century, a young woman named Jenny Douglas decided to enter a Highland dance competition. There have been several female World Highland Dance Champions crowned at the Cowal Gathering since they began organizing the competition in 1948.

Secondary events and attractions

At modern-day Highland Games events, a wide variety of other activities and events are generally available. The various clan societies make the Highland games one of the main foci of their seasonal activities, usually making an appearance at as many such events as possible.

At modern games, armouries will display their collections of swords and armour, and often perform mock battles. In addition, there may be other types of Highland animals present, such as the Highland cattle. In addition, most events usually feature a pre-event ceilidh (a type of social event with traditional music, song, and other forms of entertainment).