Archive for August, 2010

The Cowal Highland Gathering

Friday, August 13th, 2010

The largest highland gathering in the world — the Cowal Highland Gathering — takes place the final weekend of August each year in the Scottish Town of Dunoon. Also known as the Cowal Games, this event began in 1894 and by 1901 over 5,000 attendees came to see the first American competitor take part in the games.

Cowal Highland Gamesimg credit -  (cc) licensed

Celtic Music Radio broadcast live performances during the event, which can be heard within the Glasgow transmission area or can be accessed on-line. These broadcasts include interviews with musicians, sports competitors and attendees and also have updated reports on the results of the many contests.

In recent years, controversy has surrounded the games because of debates over whether to close many of the athletic competitions to let the pipe bands move closer to the crowd. After testing this system in 2008, the controversy died down because the revised layout got very positive reviews from attendees and participants.

A new feature is the “Most Entertaining Band” and the “Mace-over-the-Bar” contests which offers competitors lighthearted event s that are enjoyed by both the musicians and the crowds. The Ceilidh tent, which was added in 2008, has become a regular attraction because it was such a big hit. This year, the headline act Skerryvore is back by popular demand as well as Deoch n Dorus (Deoch pronounced Jock), an exciting young band who will start the show at 12.00pm on Saturday August 28, 2010.

Cowal Highland Gatheringimg credit - (cc) licensed

An average of 150 five bands march through the streets of Dunoon to open the ceremonies. At the end of each day’s events, the bands participate in what is known as “the march-past” — where 3000 pipes and drums salute the Chieftain of the Games. The march ends at the pier where the bands proudly display the trophies they have won that day.
The Cowal Gathering hosts some of the most prestigious international dancing competitions, including the World Highland Dancing Championships that draws contestants from as far away as New Zealand. The three day competition test the skills of up to 750 dancers and the finalist compete in the Scottish Highland dancing finale on the last day.

This tribute to Scottish culture and history features traditional costumes, instruments, food spirits and entertainment. Each year the Cowal Games attract up to 20,000 spectators to watch 3500 competitors from Thursday to Saturday, and the weather is typically fine and warm, although sometimes cloudy.


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Scotland’s Enigmatic Past

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Standing stone circles are remnants of a Neolithic age that used a technology that modern archaeologists are still struggling to understand.

The far flung islands of Scotland’s northwest coast are studded with ancient stone rings that have survived for centuries. The sparsely populated region seems a strange place to find such timeless monuments, and to this day their presence is wrapped in many fascinating legends and modern-day mysteries.

Callanish Stones


Callanish Stonesimg credit - (cc) licensed

The Callanish Stone circle is categorized by archeologists as belonging a group of at least 19 different circles, standing stones and cairns that are scattered across the islands of the Outer Hebrides, also known as the Western isles of Scotland. Visitors to the main site on the west coast of the isle of Lewis will find a visitor centre that features an exhibition hall and nearby shops.

Studies of these stone relics have dated their construction between 2900 and 2600 BC, although it is believed some of the buildings could be over 3,200 years old. The stones actual patterns seems to be in the formation of a Celtic Cross inside a circle. The stones are made of local Lewisian gneiss and can vary in height from 1 to 5 meters.

Local Legends

The folklore of the region tells of a race of giants that once liven on the island, and their refusal to covert to Christianity caused Saint Kieran to turn them all into stones as punishment. But more distant legends tell of the sunrise at midsummer that served as a path from other worlds for “the shining one” who would walk along the stone avenue, “his arrival heralded by the cuckoo’s call,” which is still considered the birdcall that heralds the arrival of the spring rains to the region.

John Morisone wrote in1680 that:

It is left by tradition that these were a sort of men converted into stone by ane Inchanter: others affirme that they were sett up in places for devotione.

Astronomy

The stones are tied to a nearby horizon phenomenon made by the undulating hills of Mt. Clisham, sometimes referred to as “Sleeping Beauty” or “Cailleach na Mointeach”, the “Old Woman of the Moors,” who was the goddess who married the Sun god.

The network of standing stones at Cailleach align to the moon’s rare moment in its orbit, when it stands still in the heavens, an event that only happens every 19 years.

The moon rises between the twin peaks, or “breasts” of these hillocks and is “reborn” five hours later. The moon’s rays silhouette anyone standing on the natural outcrop in the stone circle. This intricate complex was aligned to many celestial events and might have been viewed by the ancients as the hill of creation — or place of emergence — for the goddess Cailleach herself.

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Creating Scottish Whiskies

Friday, August 6th, 2010

The whiskies of the Scots are known world-wide for their mature, subtle flavors that Scottish distilleries have been producing for centuries. Understanding how their whiskey is made will help you appreciate sampling the many varieties of fine spirits that are brewed with loving care from ingredients native to Scotland.

Whiskyimg credit - (cc) licensed

Barley and Water

The brewing process begins when barley grains are spread out across the floor of the malting house to be steeped in water. As the grains sprout they are turned with paddles that causes the starches in the barley to break down into sugars. When the mixture is just right, the barley is poured into hot, peat-fired kilns to stop the germination and prepared for the next step.

Grist, Mash & Wort

When the barley is dried, it is milled to produce the grist which is mixed with hot water to produce a mash. This mixture is transferred to a mash tun and pails made of pine or cypress are used to draw the wort. It is set aside in wooden washbacks where the fermentation process begins.

Wash & Distillate

The fermenting mash is moved to copper pot stills where the spirits go through a series of steps, first producing low wines and eventually top quality whiskies. The results are tested and the brews moved into casks were they can mature. Usually the barrels selected for maturation have previously been used for other alcohols such as bourbon, sherry, port or rum.

Cask & Bottle

Unlike wine, whiskey only matures in the cask and not in the bottle.  Because they spend so long in the cask each year, up to 2% of the spirits will evaporate, which is called “the Angels’ share.”  This is one reason that whiskey that has matured longer is considered more valuable.

Tasting Whisky

When you settle back to enjoy a glass of find Scottish whiskey, there are a few tips you can use to make the most of experience. First, watch how the whiskey swirls in your glass and note the colour and how the whiskey flows down from the lip of the glass –ideally it should form a teardrop shape that forms ” legs.” You can tell the age of the whiskey by how slowly the teardrops form and how far apart the legs are in the glass.

To correctly sample the first taste of the whiskey, you’ll want to judge the ” mouth feel” or mellow sensation, which indicates how expertly the distiller has aged his product. Since the aroma can take awhile to spread through your face, hold it in your mouth until you feel the vapors move into your nose, so you can smell what you are tasting.

You can swirl the whiskey around your palette to detect the many flavors and subtle undertones of the region where it was distilled.

Finally, you’re ready to swallow the whiskey, which is referred to as the ” finish” of the experience. This is when you finally get to enjoy the full beauty of all that goes into making a fine blended Scotch whiskey.

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Understanding Traditional Scottish Attire

Friday, August 6th, 2010

As we all know, the Scottish are famous for their kilts, those knee-length skirts that beg the question –

What do Scotsmen wear underneath their kilts?

Leaving that mystery aside, there are many aspects to the garb worn at traditional  Scottish events that are often misunderstood by visitors.

Tartans

Tartansimg credit - (cc) licensed

Tartan is a fabric usually made with wool interwoven into bands of colors creating “setts,” to create the traditional checkered patterns. These are woven into right angles with lengthways thread — known as the ‘warp’ –that  is determined by the set of the loom on which it is woven.

The ‘warp and sett’ of a tartan pattern is like a calling card to Scotsmen, and proclaims clan affiliation as effectively as a name badge.

Formal occasions such the Highland Games require dress tartans — as opposed to casual hunting tartans.

Plaid
Often visitors confuse the phrases tartan and plaid, since in America “plaid” refers to the Tartan pattern associated with the Scottish regalia.

But to a Scotsman the plaid is not a pattern, but rather a single rectangular piece of Tartan cloth that can be draped over the shoulder rather like a shawl. Adding a belt to the plaid for the style that is recognizable today was a later development

To don a traditional plaid skirt, the belt is first laid on the ground and the plaid is laid on top of it and pleated. Then the Scotsman lies on the plaid and fastens his belt around him so that the it wraps around his body and hangs down to his knees.

Kilts

Kiltsimg credit - (cc) licensed

A tradition since the 16th century, the kilt consists of overlapping layers of tartan fabric that hangs from the waist down to the knees. It is pleated in the back and the flat overlapping layers — known as flaps — are created by wrapping the cloth around the body. It is fastened by a kilt pin in the front or on the side.

The pleats at the back of the kilt are achieved in two ways. When they are folded to make vertical stripes down the center of each pleat, it is referred to as “pleating to the stripe” or “military pleats”.  If the kilt is “pleated to the sett,” then the fabric is folded so that a certain pattern is repeated all the way around the kilt.

Pleats are characterised by their width and depth. The depth is the inside fold and is determined by the pattern of the tartan weave, and the overlying protruding pleat is the measure of the width.

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