![]() ![]() While the Scottish Highland Games Association says there are dozens of such events in Scotland, there were at least 260 annual Highland games events worldwide as of 2000, more than 100 of them in the US alone, and dozens more in Canada. The games are the primary source of business for a cottage industry of professional kiltmakers outside of Scotland, and are the main recruiting grounds of the numerous clan societies. (The earliest such events in North America go back quite a way, to 1836 in New York and at least 1863 in Nova Scotia.) The modern, rather commercialised gatherings have done much to promote tartan, kilts, and other elements of Highland culture abroad, having up to tens of thousands of attendees, a large proportion of them in Highland dress. īy the mid-20th century, annual Highland games events, modelled on the traditional events in Scotland along with some elements borrowed from the mòd festivals, had been established not just in Scotland but throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, among other places with a notable Scottish diaspora, which totals about 50 million people worldwide. The modern Highland games are largely a 19th-century development, from the period following the Jacobite rebellions and subsequent ban on Highland dress. Modern events Massed bands at the Glengarry Highland Games, Maxville, Ontario, Canada, 2006 Weight over the bar event at the Carmunnock Highland Games, Scotland Highland Dancing Competition at the Dornoch Highland Gathering, Scotland ![]() The primary sources are from the bardic traditions of both contests between clans and of tests to select retainers for clan chiefs.Īn example of a possible early games venue is at Fetteresso, although that location is technically a few miles south of the Scotland Highlands. Īttempts have been made to discover earlier traditions of games, although evidence is thin. ![]() Some modern sources suggest more these games would originate from the deer hunts that the inhabitants of the Highlands engaged in. Musicians and dancers were encouraged to reveal their skill and talents and so be a great credit to the clan that they represented. There are also thought to have been events where the strongest and bravest soldiers in Scotland would be tested. From this letter, it is surmised that the competitions would have included feats of arms. They were to arrive wearing Highland coats and "also with gun, sword, pistol and dirk". There is a document from 1703 summoning the clan of the Laird of Grant, Clan Grant. The first historical reference to the type of events held at Highland games in Scotland was made during the time of King Malcolm III ( Scottish Gaelic: Máel Coluim, c. 1031 – 13 November 1093) when he summoned men to race up Craig Choinnich overlooking Braemar with the aim of finding the fastest runner in Scotland to be his royal messenger. De Coubertin saw a display of Highland games at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. The games are claimed to have influenced Baron Pierre de Coubertin when he was planning the revival of the Olympic Games. This event, the Scottish Highland Gathering and Games, is currently held on Labor Day weekend in Pleasanton, California the sesquicentennial event held on 5–6 September 2015 attracted record crowds close to 50,000. Worldwide, however, it is exceeded in terms of spectators by three gatherings in the United States: the estimated 30,000 that attend Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina the New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival, which attracts over 35,000 annually and the even larger Northern California gathering-the largest in the Northern Hemisphere -that has taken place every year since 1866. It is the largest Highland games in the world, attracting around 3,500 competitors and somewhere in the region of 23,000 spectators from around the globe. The Cowal Highland Gathering, better known as the Cowal Games, is held in Dunoon, Scotland, every August. While centred on 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 cultures. 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 and weight over bar. Highland games ( Scottish Gaelic: geamannan Gàidhealach) are events held in spring and summer in Scotland and other countries with a large Scottish diaspora, as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic culture, especially that of the Scottish Highlands. ![]()
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