Highland Games in England 2016

[Jock Scot]

Isn't is surprising, though, that a country the size of England, which must have a very large number of Scots and those of Scots ancestry, only has two Games?

Hmmm it makes me want to look up the percentage of Scots in England, and in the USA.

I think its more a case of when in England you do English things and when in Scotland you do Scottish things thats all.

[The Q]

Remember the Highland games are exactly that, mostly held on the edges of the Highlands with links to the Gaels past .
Most of the lowland Scots and Scots in England don't now nor ever have had anything to do with the Gael or the Gaels Highland games.

By the time you have gone a couple of generations in the UK few remember or have any interest in where their ancestors come from, even if all grandparents were born in Scotland most grandchildren brought up in England would not have any thought of associating themselves with Scotland.

[Jock Scot]

Yes Q, I agree. I think quite often when Scots move to England, after a couple of generations all connection to Scotland is lost for many. I wonder if that will still happen now that Scotland seems to have found rather more pride in itself recently?

[Reiver]

Remember the Highland games are exactly that, mostly held on the edges of the Highlands with links to the Gaels past .
Most of the lowland Scots and Scots in England don't now nor ever have had anything to do with the Gael or the Gaels Highland games.

By the time you have gone a couple of generations in the UK few remember or have any interest in where their ancestors come from, even if all grandparents were born in Scotland most grandchildren brought up in England would not have any thought of associating themselves with Scotland.

In the Borders you have Clan gathers at the 'Common Ridings' and, at one time Gaelic was rather universal I understand and the immigration routes being rethought rather support that.

True, Border folk had no relationship with the Highland familes/Clans as they do today thru different organizations....some Borderer started this regeneration of interest in the Clans etc....what was his name again?

Jock, I hope your intuition is correct about a renewal of youthful Scots pride.

[Jock Scot]

In the Borders you have Clan gathers at the 'Common Ridings' and, at one time Gaelic was rather universal I understand and the immigration routes being rethought rather support that.

True, Border folk had no relationship with the Highland familes/Clans as they do today thru different organizations....some Borderer started this regeneration of interest in the Clans etc....what was his name again?

Jock, I hope your intuition is correct about a renewal of youthful Scots pride.

Perhaps you are thinking of Sir Walter Scott?

[neloon]

I believe that many games organisations, even in Scotland, are running into financial difficulties due to the increasing cost of policing in and around the venue.
Alan

[OC Richard]

Some interesting things brought up about self-identification as "Scots" and the desire to do "Scottish things".

Interesting that Scots in England lose their self-identification as Scots after a couple generations. Perhaps the idea of an overall identity of British-ness has something to do with it?

Here in the USA there are people whose ancestors came from Scotland in the 18th century yet still self-identify as Scots. They give their kids Scottish first names and attend Highland Games and Burns Suppers and play bagpipes and do Highland dancing and all the rest. Some regularly visit Scotland and know the current Scotland fairly well, while others have Brigadoonish ideas.

But the vast majority don't know or care anything about their ancestry, and when asked about their ethnic ancestry will say "I'm an American" or "I'm a mutt" (many people's ancestry is so mixed that the question of ethnicity becomes pointless).

[cessna152towser]

Remember the Highland games are exactly that, mostly held on the edges of the Highlands with links to the Gaels past .
Most of the lowland Scots and Scots in England don't now nor ever have had anything to do with the Gael or the Gaels Highland games.

Indeed. There are some very successful "real" Highland Games which are actually held in the Highlands.
A few "Highland Games" held in the Scottish Lowlands manage to be sustainable thanks to consisting mainly of funfairs and markets for all types of general goods with the actual Highland Games being very much a subsidiary part of the proceedings.
Here in the Southern Uplands various attempts to establish Highland Games such as our own Hawick Highland Games or the Border Gathering in Dumfries have come and gone after a few years as there was neither the public interest in traditionally Highland activities nor the population base to support large open air markets.

In the Borders you have Clan gathers at the 'Common Ridings'

The Common Ridings are quite different events when the townsfolk ride around the boundaries on horseback to re-enact mediaeval traditions of protecting their towns and livestock against raiders from neighbouring towns or from over the border and there are no clan activities at these events. True, individual Borders Clans such as the Scotts, Elliots, Turnbulls and Armstrongs have been known to hold clan gatherings but these were not connected in any way with, nor held at the same time as, Common Ridings.
Here in the Borders we did hold a major "Muster of the Clans" for the Lowland Families, hosted by the Chief of Clan Scott on his Bowhill Estate near Selkirk in 2009 which attracted a large number of overseas visitors from the Scottish diaspora, but this was a one off event.

I might add that Highland Games held here in Scotland, apart from a few of the major games held in the Highlands, do not have clan villages. In the Lowlands, clan society participation is usually limited to a single tent hosted by the family in whose area the games are being held. For example I will be hosting a Clan Cunningham tent at the Cumnock Highland Games in Ayrshire in August this year, which will be the sole clan tent at these games and Clan Cunningham won't be holding any other events or hosting any other tents here in Scotland this year. The tri-ennial Clan Cunningham International Gathering is actually being held in conjunction with the Fergus Games in Ontario Canada this year which unfortunately I am not going to be able to attend.

[Reiver]

Alex,
The Chieftain of Clan Scott is planning another gathering for 2019. The same event that occurred in '14. The idea, I believe, is a re occurring Clan gather every 5 years.
The Duke sent out letters to all of the Scott Clan Societies world wide last time and I suspect the same.

[The Q]

The reverse can be true, for instance when Andy Murray was asked about supporting England he was very disparaging about it even though he has is 1/4 of English decent..

Common Ridings are Probably more common in England than Scotland particularly in Yorkshire and Lancashire I Believe, they are a similar event to Beating the bounds. I.E. the Local Community circumnavigated the parish or county to teach every one the limits of their area. In days gone by that would have been almost a clan as everyone would have been related to each other. We even have them as far south as Norfolk in some areas.

The South of Scotland roughly below the Forth and Clyde, was never really Gaelic majority, Prior to the Anglo Saxon invasions of course the whole of mainland Britain had been Welsh ( in todays Parlance) with Roman influences south of the wall. The south west of Scotland and Cumbria in England, while having some Gaelic Immigration from Ireland, Stayed Welsh( or the old equivalent of it) for longer than any other part of Britain other than Wales itself and Cornwall.
Whereas the South west of Scotland had been part of the Kingdom of Northumbria when the Welsh were displaced and became an Anglo Saxon Speaking / related people. The Irish / Gaelic culture from Ireland took over the Highlands and West coast Islands though for many centuries controlled By Vikings and their descendants though since they Vikings had big bases in Ireland (particularly near Dublin) that probably helped the Gaelic Cultures spread.

When the Scottish Rulers, long before the Unification with the rest of Britain Lost their connection with the Gaelic part of their Heritage, the Scots saw themselves as Different to the Gaelic Highlands. After unification and some years many saw themselves as British / Scots, where as many of the Gaels saw themselves as Gaels / Scots although many just as Gaels / Alba. This was also encouraged by the reformation as the mostly Protestant lowlands associated themselves with Protestant England whereas The many Catholic Clans (but not all) associated themselves with Ireland. This can still be seen with the flags often waved by two particular football clubs of Glasgow and to a lessor extent by two Clubs in Edinburgh.

The artificial nature of countries borders particularly when common groups of people live just across an invisible line from each other, has often more to do with the rulers priorities than the wishes of the local people.