NH Highland Games & Highland Dancing

Two of the key activities in the Highland Games are the Heavy Events Athletics and Highland Dancing.

Scottish Highland dancing is one of the oldest forms of folk dance. Although Highland dancing was historically restricted to men (warrior or celebratory dances), it has been performed primarily by females since the 1900s. Highland dances, which require both athletic and artistic skills, include

• The Highland Fling
• The Sword Dance (Gillie Callum)
• The Seann Triubhas (prounounced "shawn trews" and meaning "old trousers")
• The Strathspey and Reel

Of the Heavy Athletics events, I saw the stone toss, in which a 100 lb. stone is tossed with two hands for distance. It precedes the modern one-handed shot put. The winner of this game tossed the stone nearly 15 feet!

The signature event of the Highland Games Heavy Athletics is the caber toss. Unfortunately I missed this one. In this event, the athlete lifts the caber (essentially a 130-lb. telephone pole), runs with it, stops abruptly and tosses the caber end over end (at at least attempts to do so). This is something I plan to see next year!