SCOTTISH GAMES

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 November 1933, Page 10

SCOTTISH GAMES

A LONG HISTORY lion. R. Erskine of Marr writes in the London “Daily Telegraph”: — We all know that Greeks, Romans, Persians, and other great peoples of antiquity had their national games. The early English had them; and the Scots (including the Irish) also, ab initio. In English these are “sports”; but in Gaelic the word for them is cluichean (“games”), and Englishspeaking Scots use the latter, word, not “sports.” Games originated in Scotland, as in Ireland, in connection with the old fairs that were held through the country once a year. These popular festivals were named after Celtic saints for the most part, but some after some names in the Roman Calendar.

Lower down by a deal in history there was a period when there was very little religion at all in the country districts. The old. faith had been abolished; but the new (Calvinism) was not yet strong enough to plant ministers and build, or take over, churches outside its immediate sphere of influence, which was small; and in these days the custom was to hold games; in churchyards. When Calvinism waxed strong enough it put a stop to the practice. However, if we wish to discover the true origin of the games of to-day rather must we seek such in the great huntings that took place in Scotland of old. At these hundreds of men and —needless to say, where men are congregated—thousands of women, would I be gathered together. In the intervals between huntings, time was killed in pleasant fashion by tales, songs, dancing, playings on the harp, and particularly games. Scotland was a merry land in those days. Pundits who decry the old, pointing to famine, smallpox, and germs, forget the new, whose dulness is proverbial. A merry, if short, life is surely preferable to one extended in sanitised boredom even to age according to Methuselah. When Queen Mary visited the Earl of Atholl in that country the games held in her honour were extraordinarily fine. In those times the great, did not hunt from their castles, as now, but they -went into the hills for days together at a time, and whilst they were so employed they lodged in temporary erections, formed for tlie most part of turf and lopped-off branches of trees.

Mary’s lodging in the hills was a particularly sumptuous affair. The Earl well-nigh ruined himself over the entertainment he provided for the Queen, her followers, and the many nobles and gentlemen invited to this famous hunt, which may possibly account for his later apparent reluctance to succour Mary when she was in grips with the Calvinists, headed by her scheming half-brother of Moray.

MIMIC WARFARE But I<» return Io games. Games were, and are, athletic exercises of all kinds; hut. of old a. .specifically military character attached to them. This was natural enough, having regard to the lact that the men were trained and used to arms. Thus, on these occasions the different arts of contemporary warfare were practised in mimic, and the different weapons

of war used in those clays were similarly requisitioned. It is by no means impossible that the gladiatorial display that took place at Perth in the reign of one of the earlier Stewart Kings of Scotland, when representatives of two rival clans fought each other to the dealh in the presence of the King and a vast assemblage of people, was suggested by the mimic warfare of the games. In a point of time, harping preceded piping at the games. The pipes were by no means popular at one time in Scotland. Some of our Gaelic bards satirise them unmercifully, and say as unkind things about them as any Sasunnach without ear for them might say or has said. Still, in course of time and event the pipes prevailed over the harp, because among a warlike people, as the old Scots were, the former proved themselves to afford much better stimulant in battle.

THE “OLD TREWS” DANCE' Dancing, of course, has ever formed a principal feature of our games. The sword-dance was as popular formerly as now. Reels and other cantrips were no less so; but there is one Glance, formerly much esteemed, which nowadays is but rarely seen, and even then not in perfect state. I mean that beautiful dance of which the Gaelic name is Seann Triubhas. Now “Old Trews” or “Old Trowsers” is an odd name, surely, for any dance. It has puzzled many. But the explanation of this, as of divers other things, is simple—once you know it. It is, then, that the name is derived from the fact that the dancer always wore tartan trews of the old close-fitting kind, not the kilt. And it is evident from this that the name is popular and dates from comparatively recent times; in -short, about the time when the old skintight garment I have named was going out of fashion in Scotland. Formerly tartan treks was the common wear. The kilt, now made so much of, was worn only on the hill, and principally when men were out hunting.

What the true and early name of this majestic dance might be I am unable to say. In any event, its apparent . passing is to be deplored inkmen sely. Finally, the efforts of some games committees to modernise games have not been happy so far. They seem to lack so far proper understanding of the past, knowledge of history, and imagination. 'isSpectaciHarly, the games of Braeniar are probably the best in modern Scotland; but those of Argyll and Inverness are considerably more satisfying in the point of view of a purist with regard to such matters.