The 2007 West Kentucky Highland Festival

The Schedule of Events are as follows:

Ceilidh
September 14 at 7pm
Murray Country Club
2200 College Farm Road
Murray, Ky 42071
(Cost is $15 including heavy finger foods & Hors D'oeuvres)

Festival Games
Septemeber 15 from 9am-4:30pm
Murray City Park - Central Park
Murray, Ky 42071
(Cost is $5 and will include the full day's worth of events)

Kirkin’ 'O' the Tartan
September 16
First Presbyterian Church
1606 Poplar Street
Murray, Ky 42071

We hope to see you there!

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Descriptions of the Festival's Events

Ceilidh: (Pronounced: "Kay Lee")

A Ceilidh is many things. It derives from the Gaelic word meaning "a visit" and originally meant just that (and still does in Gaelic). It can also mean a house party, a concert or more usually an evening of informal Scottish traditional dancing to informal music. Ceilidhs in the Lowlands tend to be dances, in the Highlands they tend to be concerts. Dances in the Highlands and traditional ceilidhs in the Lowlands are often called "ceilidh dances". Ceilidh dancing is fundamentally different from Scottish Country Dancing in that it is much less formal and the primary purpose is the enjoyment of doing the dance. Scottish Country Dancing is much more oriented towards being a demonstration or exhibition. Ceilidhs are extremely popular indeed with young people and often attract from a few dozen people to several hundred. There are world championships for ceilidh bands now (the first winners were Fire in the Glen, now called Tannas).

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Highland Games Athletic Events:

The Clachneart or "Stone of Strength"
This ancient event is similar to the modern day shot put, using a stone approximately 16 to 28 pounds instead of a steel ball. The stone must be put from the shoulder using one hand only. Each competitor is allowed a seven-and-a-half foot run-up to the toe-board or trig. The contestants are judged on the longest of three tosses. If the athletic touches the top of the trig or the ground in front of it during his attempt, the toss is not counted.

The 28 and 56 Pound Throw
Using metal weights with a chain or handle attached, the athletes are throwing for distance. The weight is thrown one-handed from behind the trig with a nine-foot run-up allowed. Any style may be used but the most popular and efficient is to spin like a discuss thrower. The contestants are judged on the longest of three tosses. The athlete must remain standing after throwing the weight. If the athlete touches the top of the trig or the ground in front of it during his attempt, the throw is not counted.

The Hammer Toss
The Scottish hammer, a round metal hammerhead weighing 22 pounds with a cane shaft, is thrown for distance. The athlete throws the hammer with his back to the trig and the throwing area. The competitor’s feet may not move until after he releases the hammer. Some athletes gets three throws with the hammer and is judged by his best distance. Touching the top of the trig or the ground in front of it renders the throw foul.

The Sheaf Toss
Using the tree-tined pitchfork, the athletes hurl a 20 pound burlap bag stuffed with straw over a horizontal bar raised between two standards. Each competitor is given three opportunities to clear the bar. After all attempts, the bar is raised in one to two foot increments. The continually rising bar reduces the field of athletes as competition continues until all but one competitor are eliminated.

The 56 Pound Weight Toss
The objective of this strength even is to toss the 56-pound weight with attached handle over a horizontal bar raised between two standards. The starting height of competition is the lowest agreed upon by the competitors. Once an athlete allowed three attempts to clear the bar at each height. If the weight touches the bar on its way over but doesn’t dislodge it, it remains a successful toss. All measurements are made from the ground to the top of the bar midway between the uprights. As the bar is raised, the field of competitors is reduced. This event continues until all but one competitor are eliminated.

The Caber Toss
The centerpiece of the modern Highland Games, the caber requires strength, balance, and timing. The caber is a tapered log approximately 19 feet long and weighing 100 to 130 pounds. (These weights and measures vary at different Games depending on the field of athletes and the composition of the caber.) The athlete hoists the caber and folds his hands under the end while cradling it against his shoulder. Gaining the balance of the upright caber, he will run briefly with it to gather momentum for the toss. Followed by field judges, the competitor heaves the caber up and over to ground its heavy end and let it fall forward. If the caber is "turned," the field judge will ascribe a "score" to the toss based on the caber’s final position relative to the face of a giant clock. For example, if the grounded caber falls straightforward away from the moving athlete, it will land in the twelve-o’clock position and the judge will award a perfect score of 12:00. Of it falls slightly to the right or left, it may receive a score of 2:00 or 11:30, etc. A caber which is not "turned" but grounded and falls back is ascribed a score for the degree angle it rose from the ground.

Each competitor is assigned points according to his placement in each event. After the completion of all the athletic, the athlete with the best overall combined performance is named "Athlete of the Day."

(The guidelines for the Scottish heptathlon are provided by Southeast Scottish Amateur Athletics, Inc. 1999)

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Kirkin' 'O' the Tartan:

A brief History of the Kirkin'
On the 25th day of July, 1745, the young Prince Charles Edward Stewart (Bonnie Prince Charles) returned from France and landing at Lochnanaugh began the enlistment of the Highland Clans for his abortive attempt to dethrone George II of England and to restore the Scottish throne to the Royal House of Stewart.

After a succession of victorious battles with the English at Prestonpans, Falkirk, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Carlisle, vastly outnumbered, exhausted and hungry, the reduced Highland ranks were utterly routed to Culloden on April 16, 1746.

To subdue the spirit of the vanquished Highlanders, the English Parliament at Westminster invoked the Act of Proscription that banned the wearing of any sign of the Tartan, forbad any speaking in Gaelic, outlawed Scottish music, dancing, or the playing of the pipes, which the Act said "emitted an aggressive and warlike sound."

It was 36 years before the Act of Proscription was revoked and, during all those years, Highland churches had a special day when the Highlanders gathered, each with a small piece of Tartan concealed under their outer clothing and, with the right hand held over the precious piece, they all joined in the prayer that it might please God speedily to cause the repeal fo the devastating Act of Proscription.

When finally the Act was repealed, the highlanders, as Cunningham in his History of Scotland has written: "returned with joy to their beloved kilt, no longer bound to the unmanly trews of the lowlanders." It is in spiritual continuity with this era of Scottish History that we celebrate the liturgy of the Kirkin'O' the Tartan.

Kirkin’s are held year-round, but St. Andrew’s Day (November 30th) and Tartan Day (April 6th ) tend to be very popular dates – Kirkin’s are also sometimes held at Scottish Games and Gatherings in an outdoor setting, ironically reminiscent of the secret outdoor services (conventicles) of the Covenanters in Lowland Scotland.

During the 1660’s and 1670’s, Scottish Presbyterians held secret outdoor meetings, known as conventicles, due to persecution by the government. The Covenanters posted armed look-outs at these conventicles to worn of approaching government forces coming to break-up the meeting and arrest the participants. Persons who attended the illegal gatherings, instead of services held by the State Church, in this case, Episcopalian, could be fine, jailed, tortured and in some cases, executed. In June, 1679, John Graham of Claverhouse, i.e. “Bonnie Dundee” or “Bluidy Clavers”, surprised a group of Covenanters at a conventicle near Drumclog. The Covenanters outnumbered Claverhouse’s dragoons, who were routed. Reportedly, The Rev. Thomas Douglas ended his sermon at the conventicler with these words, “Ye have got the theory, now for the practice!”

The Story of the Kilt Pin
Do you know the real story of Scotland's kilt pin? Before the reign of Queen Victoria, the Scottish kilt was worn without the pin now used to secure the fold over on the right hand side. As a result there were many embarrassing moments especially if you wore the kilt in a high wind. The truth was that nothing in the nature of undergarments was worn with the kilt.

One day Queen Victoria arrived on a visit to Balmoral Castle and reviewed the Gordon Highlanders. A stiff wind was blowing and one young soldier at rigid attention was unable to control the flapping of his kilt and to avoid exposure on this important occasion. The Queen notice his embarrassment and walked over to him. She removed a pin from her own dress and leaning over, pinned the overlap of his kilt.

And that - believe it or not - is the origin of the kilt pin, without which no kilted Scot would be properly dressed today.