ORIGIN OF HIGHLAND GAMES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3142, 6 November 1922, Page 8

ORIGIN OF HIGHLAND GAMES.

(By the Hon. R. Erskino of Mar.) It would 1)0 hard to say which of the existing annual games meetings of Sootland is the most venerable in point of view; but there can bo no question that those of the Bract of Mar are exceedingly ancient. The remains of the oldest dwelling place in the Castletown of Braemar are still pointed out, and these are said to represent all that is left/ of a hunting seat which Maleoni' Cannier, who reigned from 1058 to 1093, built for himself. There is nothing inherently improbable in this tale. The Scottish kings were, with lew exceptions, much addicted to sport; and the Forest of Mar still provides, a» it did of old, some ol" the best "hunting" to be found in all broad Scotland'. The probability is, however, that it was a casual visit to the Braes of Mar by Malcolm 111. that gave rise to the legend in question-, rather than any more intimate connection on the part ol early Scottish royalty with that locality.' This king, like most of his' predecessors and successors, was passionately •fond of the chase. What more natural, therefore, than that he should have been invited to the castle of Kindjroohit (the "principal dwelling house in the Brace of Mar," as it is desx.-ribed m many of the old charters) by the contemporary ruler of the district, the Earl, or, to speak more properly, the Mormaer of Mar? There is no record that the castle of Kindrochiit—the forerunner- of the later Mar Castle—was ever '/in the Crown." On the other band, there is abundant charter evidence that that castle was for centuries regarded as the principal «eat of the Earls of Mar in that wild and remote part of their vast possessions. In the old days it was customary for the greater of the Scottish magnates, especially those; of them Whose landed estates embraced highland territory, to organise vast bunting expeditions, and it was in' connection with these that the games were held. These "hunts," as they we* popularly called, generally took place during the months' of August and September. Hundreds of men were employed in them, some to drive down the deer and other game from the mountains, and others to slaughter the quarry at a given spot as hood as' sufficient ' bad been collected to provide sport on that scale of regal magnificence to which the Scottish kings and their great nobles were accustomed. A "hunt" extending over several weeks would naturally give rise to a demand for some other kind of entertainment with which to break the monotony of the principal proceedings. Games, embracing manly exercises of diverse sorts, and feats of arms-, trials of strength, together with feasting, music, and even oratory such were the diversions wherewith the labors and dangers of the chase were enlivened and made agreeable to those who were privileged to take part in them as principals. I Many casual references to these "buntings,'' and some particular accounts of tliem, have come down to us from the past; but the games themselves (which were invariably held in connection with these occasions of sport; have not been detailed, so far as I am aware, by any of our early Scottish historians. If we wish to understand how they were managed, and what they consisted of, we must pass over times feudal, and fiet back to those ages iji which the Celt was politically and socially supreme in Western Europe. With such guides to assist us, we shall readily m*ke out that a military spirit and design were uppermost in the Celtic ga<mos, and that they were practised, more to accustom the' youth and manhood of the tribes, to the use of arms, and to train them in feats of endurance, than to provide a lively spectacle, and an agreeable pastime for the countryside. Some of the old tests employed in the games were undoubtedly very severe. The famous gladiatorial combat on the Inch of Perth is a. case in point: but as time went on. and men's hearts and manners softened somewhat, killing and slaying for mere diversion s sake were laid aside; and the Scottish games came to denote a species of entertainment more in accordance with the spirit of the merry F.nglish word which now they bear. Hut their sterner aspects survived even down to modern times. It will be within the recollection of most readers that it was Hie humanity of the late Queen Victoria, that put a stop to the race from the foot to the top of a certain bill immcdiatolv overlooking the Castletown of Braemar. On one occasion one ol the competitors died in the course of this arduous race, which so shocked Queen Victoria that, she ordered that particular item of the Braemar games programme to be discontinued. Agreeably t<> their military character, the' Scottish games were trcquentlv used of old to prepare the commonalty to take part in armed undertakings. And vasts "bunts" were organised" in order to cover the military preparations', of which the innocentlynamed ."games" were the first beginnings. Thus, preparatory to the raising of the standard in the Braes of Mar in 1715, the Earl of Mar ordered a big "bunt," in which leading Jacobites" from divers parts of Scotland took part. The "games" that followed the "hunt" on that occasion were primarily a military display, in which broad-sword practice and shooting at nv.iTkv; v»vt\\ wwskvls \\w\ \ustuls, manoeuvring in mass, and other pure. lv military exercises were predominant. Then, as" of old, the castle park or haugh was the scene of the gathering. The building known indifferently as Mar and Braemar Castle, erected in the early years of the seventeenth century, stands, appropriately enough, on part of the ancient Campus Martins. of the district. The field in which the Braemar games are nowadays held has no historic connection with the great gatherings of other years. The former predominatingly military character of the Braemar games is still seen reflected, in a measure, in the parade of armed and kilted men, which is so popular and picturesque a feature ol the famous meeting. To those, too, who know somewhat of the history of our ancient Scottish games, and take delight in tracing out resemblances between them and the kindred institutions of Greece and India, there is a deal that is interesting, if not much, that is pathetic, in these valiant struggles of the past to temper with its own forms and spirit the iconoclastic innovations of modern times. How far that may be a justifiable struggle it in hard to say: and of its event, in the long run, there can lie no reasonable doubt whatever. Sooner or later, the past will be called on by the inexorable "march of events" to dispose of its own dead; and the place of the "highland pageant." 'tis probable, will be known no more -even at Braemar. Doubtless, dry bones can be made to live again. provided those who think to infuse fresh life and new movement into them know their business, and their country's history; but. alas! that science also is passing rapidly away, together with the tartaned greybeards, with their braw claymores and Lochaber axes. Meantime, however, let us rejoice that love of "life" and "color" still survives. and that. Ihe glint of .sun on sword and dirk still has power to make a royal holiday among the distant Braes of Mar.