Fancy a fling?

The Highland Games are where storybook Scotland and the real thing meet in a spectacular coincidence of colour, pageant and competition. Simon Walton finds out that just about every other genuine Scottish community is touched by the tradition

The diminutive figure of Queen Victoria is hardly the quintessential image of the Highland Games. The toss of the caber, the skirl of the pipes, and the dervish whirling of the highland dancers could hardly have amused. Yet, without the patronage of that universally popular monarch, the games would not be the worldwide symbol of Caledonia they are today.

Almost everything we accept as classic Highland Games owes its modern incarnation to the 19th century's adoration of the longest serving monarch in British history.

More so, with Victoria's love of meandering Royal Deeside, North East Scotland and the Grampian Highlands are now host to the most popular games circuit in the world. The 16 gatherings each summer draw record crowds to city, town and village. In many cases they are the highlight of the civic calendar, evoking memories of the true origins of the games.

For more than 1000 years, clan chiefs and kings have presided over ‘gatherings' where their subjects would compete in challenges of skill and physical prowess, based on their trades, designed to identify the most able warriors.

Throwing of hammers, cleaving of trees, heaving of stones, running, jumping, piping, dancing and marching – all have their place in today's games, but owe their origins to readiness for combat and annual displays of fealty.

“The games are a modern metaphor for the ancient clan gatherings, when loyalty was publicly demonstrated to the chief”, says Jim Brown, a council member of gov...

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• By : Simon Walton
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 15
• Page : 64
• Words : 859