Muscles, Music Keep Tradition Strong at Highland Games

Willie Drye
for National Geographic News

July 7, 2005

In the fading light of sunset today, about 120 Scottish
clan chieftains will gather in a mountain meadow, assemble in the X
shape of a saltire cross, and light torches.

The assembly is an ancient ritual from the days when Scottish clans gathered to prepare for battle. But this tradition-laden ceremony won't be taking place in the highlands of Scotland to prepare for war. The chieftains, along with thousands of other people, will be assembling at North Carolina's Grandfather Mountain to open the 50th annual Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.

The event brings thousands of visitors from around the world to nearby Linville, a picturesque little resort town tucked deep in the Appalachian Mountains of northwestern North Carolina.

"It's a 10-horse event in a one-horse town," joked Frank Vance, the games' general manager and vice president of operations.

As many as 45,000 people may attend the games and accompanying entertainment, which will run from July 7 to July 10. They can watch a continuous blend of athletic events and music and dance competitions. Or they can drift into one of three tree-shaded groves to listen to musicians playing everything from ancient Celtic harmonies to contemporary Celtic-inspired rock.

The event has evolved into one of the world's premier Scottish festivals. More than a dozen similar highland games are staged across the U.S., but the Grandfather Mountain games draw the largest crowds.

Old Sights, New Sounds

Hundreds of athletes will compete in traditional track and field events. Dozens of musicians and dancers will vie for such honors as the best bagpipe player or the best sword-dancer.

But for non-competitive musicians providing entertainment, playing at these games carries such prestige that there's a waiting list of bands willing to perform without pay.

"We've been fortunate to work all over the country," said Robert "Scooter" Muse of Florence, Alabama. Muse plays guitar and banjo in Henri's Notion, a band that specializes in Celtic music.

"A lot of that work came as a result of the exposure we received at the games," Muse said.

Donovan Murray of Grassy Creek, North Carolina, organizes the non-competitive music for the games. He said the Grandfather Mountain games were among the first of the highland games to add non-traditional music to their concert lineup.

Bringing in Celtic-influenced rockers wasn't popular with some of the games' older fans, but Murray said the move was necessary to attract younger crowds. And if the younger fans come for the rock bands, they have the opportunity to hear traditional Celtic music as well, he said.

"In order to keep things going, we have to bring the younger generation in," Murray said. "At some point, the older generation will be gone, and we'll be relying on the younger fans to keep things going."

Because this is the 50th time the games have been held at Grandfather Mountain, organizers are expecting a larger than usual turnout for the four-day event. The biggest crowd probably will attend Saturday, said Harris Prevost, one of the games' directors. Around 15,000 people usually attend the Saturday events, but as many as 25,000 could show up this year, he said.

Cabers and Racers

Besides familiar track and field competitions, the crowds will see uniquely Scottish events such as the caber toss.

For the uninitiated: The caber toss is a contest in which brawny men flip 21-foot (6.4-meter) wooden poles weighing hundreds of pounds end over end. If you imagine that the brawny man is standing in the center of a clock face looking toward the number 12, the objective of the caber toss is to make the pole land so that it's pointing exactly at high noon.

Putting the pole squarely on the imaginary 12 is extremely difficult, however. Sometimes years pass before a contestant nails a caber toss with a perfect landing. More likely, a contestant who can get his caber to point to 11 or 1 on the imaginary clock will win.

"It requires coordination and accuracy," said Ross Morrison of Harrisburg, North Carolina, president of the games' board of directors. "You've got to be a good athlete to win it."

About 400 runners are expected for the Highland Games Marathon, one of the most grueling marathons in the U.S. The race begins in the college town of Boone, North Carolina—elevation 3,266 feet (995 meters)—and continues 26 miles (42 kilometers) up a twisting mountain road to McRae Meadow at the foot of Grandfather Mountain. When the runners reach the finish, they've climbed about 1,000 feet (305 meters) into the mountains.

Tradition of Competition

Scottish athletes have been gathering for competition for hundreds of years. Donald MacDonald, a former Charlotte newspaper reporter who helped organize the first Grandfather Mountain games, wrote in an online history of the games that some researchers think the first Scottish highland games were held in the 11th century. Others think the games may date back even earlier.

The first recorded caber toss competition was in 1574, MacDonald noted.

Contests among musicians playing the bagpipes, Gaelic harp, and other instruments also date back centuries. The first bagpipe-playing contest was held in 1781, when highlanders came down to the Scottish Lowlands to play at a cattle fair, MacDonald wrote.

The tradition of staging competitions at cattle fairs continued when Scottish immigrants came to North Carolina in the 18th century. The newcomers felt at home in the North Carolina mountains, and descendants of these pioneers continued to speak Gaelic into the early 20th century.

The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games was the brainchild of Agnes McRae Morton, whose family founded Linville in 1892. Morton was thinking about organizing a Scottish festival when a cousin sent her a newspaper clipping about a highland games event in Connecticut.

Morton contacted MacDonald, and their collaboration produced the first Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in 1956.

Willie Drye is the author of Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, published by National Geographic Books.

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