Inside The Scottish Highland Games – A Wonderful Highland Gathering Tradition

The Highland Gathering of Clans in Scotland is a serious event and the call to attend is never to be ignored. These games combine history, honor and sheer strength as well as sportsmanship and take place every weekend during the summer months in Scotland from May to September. This year there were over 80 Highland games across the country. The Cowal Highland Gathering held in Dunoon, Scotland every August is the largest Highland games in the world (by number of competitors) attracting over 3,500 competitors and 20,000 spectators.

However, there are two Highland games that are held in the USA that surpass the Scottish Highland games by number of attendees. Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina draws closer to 30,000 attendees and the games held by the Caledonian Club of San Francisco holds their games in Pleasanton, California during Labor Day weekend and draws close to 50,000 attendees.

Today’s Highland Gatherings in our Scottish Highlands is a time-honored tradition with a century or two of history attached. Attend a gathering in this century to enjoy the music and dance of our Scottish Ancestors as well as the hill races, caber toss, anvil throw and hammer throw (amongst other events) by tartan clad “heavy” athletes from around the world.

Every region and town has a Highland Gathering or Scottish Highland Games. For me locally these include: The Braemar Gathering and Abernethy Highland Games on my doorstep in Strathspey and Badenoch and The Cowal Highland Gathering to the West. My favorite Highland Games take place on The Isle of Skye.

I married a Highlander from Skye who took me to the Highland Games in Portree many years ago - located up a lane to a tower, which is perched above the town and held in a majestic amphitheater. This venue is known as ‘The Lump’, a wooded promontory above the colorful buildings that line Portree Pier. Today its amphitheater is the site of the annual Skye Highland.

Tip for attending the games:

If you are planning your trip to our beautiful Scottish Highlands in 2017 and know your dates then find the locations and dates of our Highland Games throughout the country to see which gathering would coincide with your trip. The events calendar is set yearly so check for updates from February 2017 onwards. The Scotland tourism board has a great calendar!

Or click here for The Scottish Highland Games Association. The Scottish Highland Games Association was established in 1947 with the aim to further the cause of Highland Games and it is one of Scotland’s greatest attractions.

History and tradition of the Highland Games: Hundreds of years ago Scottish clans formed alliances with each other for their own protection. The Scots were a war-like fighting race, and liked nothing better than to fight among themselves for land, cattle or even their Clans Folk. If you love the drama depicted in the films ‘Braveheart’ and/or ‘Outlander’ then you have an understanding of how the early Scots battled.

In the early days the call by your Chieftain into battle with your clansmen was not to be taken lightly. In their downtime clansmen would “play fight” and partake in a brutal game of “shinty” – much like modern day field hockey (a full contact sport!). Check out ‘Series One’ of The Outlander as the clan warriors burn off some frustrations with sticks and stones.

Keeping these clansmen occupied while their leaders met was quite important since a simple disagreement amongst different clans could potentially lead to war. Hence, the ‘Highland Games’ had a practical and essential purpose of keeping men occupied.

The Bidding Stick or Crann Tara (Friery Cross) is a wooden object carried by a messenger sent off into the hills to inform townspeople of the location and time for a gathering and to rally clan members to arms. Crann Tara is also about rallying or uniting with those who are interested in the history, heritage and culture of Scotland and who believe it is something worth preserving. Crann Tara believes that by bringing the history alive and taking it to a wider audience they can help maintain and preserve it and the Highland Games help solidify this.

In the early days riders on horseback would have relay points so the message travelled far and wide. This cross was taken from the Catholic faith - the first Christian religion to be associated with the Scots. The cross also became very symbolic and it’s no great surprise that the clans used the sign of the Cross to spell out danger; a “Fiery Cross” was a warning for the people to gather together (viewed with awe, reverence and not to be used without good reason!). Should you fail to heed this call from your Clan Chieftain the consequences would be serious.

Clan duty was the priority and brides were even left at the altar and pallbearers had to drop everything immediately to heed the call. The importance of this call was even penned in poetry to warn those who failed to gather in that they would be labeled a traitor, and run off the Clan’s homeland never to return.

The Highland Games:

At early gatherings men would brawl and challenge each other to duels but never with pistols or swords since highland peasants had very little sophisticated weaponry. Instead clansmen would use objects they found in nature - literally sticks, stones and even whole tree trunks! Tossing the Caber is literally a competition to see who can toss a tree trunk the farthest where the “caber” is made from a Larch tree and usually measures 19 feet in length and weighs approximately 175 pounds (75 kg).

Personally I love costume dramas that stay close to our factual knowledge of history but imagination is wonderful. Hence I reckon two warriors challenged each other one day and the Clan Chieftain watched on to see which of his warriors would toss the tree first (just for fun and to keep the men occupied too of course!).

Another popular game is the hammer-throw, dating back to the early 15th century. It is even one of the oldest Olympic games and was first included during the 1900 Paris games. Because the Scots lacked traditional weapons of war they turned to alternative methods of military training.

The hammer evolved from its early informal origins to become part of the Scottish Highland Games in the late 18th century and It is believed that the origin of the hammer throw is tied to a prohibition by King Edward I of England against Scotsmen possessing weapons during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The game is played by swinging a 16 pound ball attached to a chain measuring almost four feet in length and throwing it as far as possible.

We are very grateful that our modern day warriors are fully dressed and take safety very seriously – hiccups can include a caber catching fire! Highland Gathering all around the world are colorful affairs with flags, pipe bands and traditional dancers. We look forward to meeting you and hope to share our beautiful culture with you!

More info: yourlocalcousin.com