The Diaspora - Keeping Scots Traditions Alive

[cessna152towser]

There have been several threads lately on the attitudes of the Scottish diaspora compared with those resident in Scotland.
It seems to me that Scottish traditions are alive and well overseas while they are in danger of sinking without trace back home here because people are busy getting on with their daily lives and have no particular interest in their Scottish heritage.
I have attended Highland Games in USA and in England and the common factor has been thriving well attended events.
Although there are games to be found in Scotland every weekend from early May to mid September many of these are small scale events with few participants and few if any vendor stalls. Heavy Athletics in USA appears to have much more entries compared with Scotland where it would be exceptional to have more than ten competitors. Most of our games in Scotland are afternoon events while the two which I have attended in USA (Ventura 2009 and Loon Mountain 2010) both lasted over a full weekend.
At a time of year when I would previously have been busy planning my local games here in Hawick I am instead having to tell all the contacts that there will be no games in 2012 as we have run out of money due to falling attendances in recent years, which in turn has led to fewer traders willing to pay for vendor stalls and fewer programme advertisers.
My Scottish Country Dance class started back last night after the festive break and there were only six of us dancers turned up to dance to a six piece band (three accordions, fiddler, drummer and banjo), fortunately three ladies and three men so at least we could do some dancing. At the mid evening break the husband of one of the ladies arrived and the (female) dance teacher joined in so we now had four couples and were able to do some set dances in the second half of the evening, but the teacher has threatened to discontinue the class at the end of January if numbers of attendees don't increase.
It really would be a shame to lose Highland Games and Scottish Country Dancing in their homeland but thankfully the diaspora are keeping these traditions alive worldwide.

[ctbuchanan]

I remember well your visit with us at Loon Mountain - and a grand three days it was with all your Cunningham kith and kin. Sad to hear that back in the Auld Country the games are struggling. One can only hope it will turn around.
2011 was probably the best attendance we had for the three days in New Hampshire in 10 or more years.

Hope you can return some day and spend more time with us!

[EagleJCS]

It's not just in Scotland that some Games are stuggling. As far as I know, the Kentucky Scottish Weekend - second weekend of May - is having one last year in 2012 (to make it an even 30 years), but the last I heard, there will not be a pipe band competition, probably no Highland dance competition, and there may not be much in the way of entertainment either. The number and variety of vendors has fallen off in the last couple of years, and the 'Weekend' went to Saturday only a couple of years back as well. Attendance has also fallen as people have tightened their belts during the recession.

The Glasgow (KY) Highland Games (weekend after Memorial Day) did not have a pipe & drum competition in 2011, and may not in 2012. We're hoping the funding comes through, but it's not looking too good.

Of course, P&D competitions are a loss leader for a Games (the cost of judges and awards far outweighs the revenue generated by the entry fees, even taking into account the gate passes purchased by the family & friends of band members). Having helped to organize the contest for the past several years, I have a breakdown of what it actually costs to run the Glasgow Games P&D contest if anyone's interested.

It may be different in areas with a larger population of Scots-descended folks.

[Father Bill]

EXCELLENT and apparently thriving Highland Games in Embro, Ontario, just 15 min from me every July 1st. Heavy athletics, fabulous band and dance competitions (including a massed bands march), a long row of vendors unfortunately for the most part, selling the same or similar things (except for our own Robert at RKilts http://www.rkilts.com/default.aspx ) but with a fair bit of variation and food, food, food! Actually my lament on variation is likely because I have more than a basic kit already and am looking for the unusual.

Anyway, you're all invited! Kilt up! http://www.embrohighlandgames.ca/site/1384/default.aspx

Bill+

[PatG]

The "Maxville Games" in eastern Ontario are also thriving. Sadly they conflict with another event - I will have to check out Embro.

[Tobus]

Highland Games seem to be on the rise here in Texas. With the exception of Houston, which has apparently had some bungling on the part of inept organizers, every major city has a good-sized Games in or near it. And last year, they even started a new venue for the Games out at the Sherwood Forest grounds, with smashing success. From what I heard, they completely ran out of tickets, beer, and other supplies because the crowds were so overwhelming.

[Joshua]

The thing that is troublesome for the Highland Games in Scotland, from what I gather, is that there are no "classes" of competitor like there are in the US, for example, an Amateur goes out on the field against the likes of Gregor Edmunds, there is a good chance he's walking away from that games thinking to himself "Not for me".

Whereas in the US, where "Everyone is a winner", we have classes to separate Novice (C), Advanced ("B"), Semi-Pro (A and Super-A), and Pro.

Not saying it's right, and maybe the culture of competitiveness is different here, but that's what I see.

[tulloch]

As is often the case one's longing for or remembrance of places and people far away leads to a greater conservation of traditions including music, language and stories. Those of us at 'home' are going about our daily lives, trying to make ends meet, raise children and then die in dignity. We tend to not be sentimental or conservative about what we might see of our heritage. A Yank in Calcutta may get a rush of satisfaction from a Chicago pizza joint or a nice sizzling burger - smells, sounds, feels like 'home.'

College students in the 1950s got Scottish music out of the hills of West Virginia that could not have been gotten in Scotland.

I look around my plain little town and try to see it from a different perspective - how one could be homesick for the weather, the poor but character-full small wood framed houses. Thank goodness we have things like this site to help keep it all alive.

[piperdbh]

It's not just in Scotland that "local" traditions seem to be on the wane. There are lots of events, festivals and so forth that don't draw in the local crowd, but are appreciated by folks from "somewhere else".

[westy1970]

I feel fortunate to live so close to so many festivals in the summer. Some are great and others are so-so. It saddens me to hear of them waning in Scotland and the fact/opinion that heritage takes a back seat to life. It would be wonderful to visit Scotland and see it be like Asia where the people embrace their heritage side by side with modern dress.