Celtic Moment

Tossing the Caber: “Desire for strength is greatest where manliness is strongest” “When you have the caber balanced in the cup of your hand, a little dancing around can help you keep yourself in control, but the best advice there is if you feel you are losing it is ‘get out from under it!’” From an instruction book Surely the quintessential event at any Highland Games is the tossing of the caber. It has been written about since the 16th Century, yet most people today see it as a bit eccentric, if not quite a mad thing to attempt. It looks difficult and it is. What are its origins? According to David Webster in his book Scottish Highland Games, the most probable is that it was devised by Scottish woodsmen in their leisure time and maybe came from the practice of throwing tree trucks into the river for easy transport. An old saying tells us that the “Desire for strength is greatest where manliness is strongest” so it is more than likely that contests involving strength and skill were popular with these brawny lads. With logs readily available, caber tossing would be easy to arrange and would appeal to their taste in sport. So foresters most likely brought the sport to the games. Another theory lays the origin in a military discipline to breach fortifications and barriers — yes Scotland is a harsh country requiring hard men! The dimensions of the caber (or cabar in Gaelic) can vary but the norm is 18ft (5.3m) long and weighs over 150lbs (68kg). Contrary to popular belief …

Music to have you dancing

Ophelia of the Spirits presents CELTIC FIRE – a new concept show which explores a breathtakingly beautiful world of Celtic folklore through music and visuals. Coming in 2010. Subscribe to Ophelia of the Spirits’ YouTube channel now. www.opheliaofthespirits.com www.myspace.com/opheliaofthespirits

More @ www.myhotelvideo.com Location: This sophisticated apartment hotel is located within the heart of Edinburgh, only a stone’s throw from the historic Royal Mile and a 5-minute walk from Princes Street. A 20-minute walk takes guests to the top of the Royal Mile where they will find Edinburgh Castle and Camera Obscura. Links to the public transport network lie directly in front of the hotel. Shopping venues, restaurants, bars and pubs are approximately 300 m from the hotel and the nearest club around 500m away. The nearest beach is about 8 km away and the airport is some 20 km from the hotel. Facilities: These contemporary, upmarket apartments were built in 2000 and received complete renovation in 2005. The building comprises 6 floors with 41 apartments. The reception is staffed 24 hours and offers concierge services to assist with guests’ every need during their stay. A car park for guests’ cars is available for use at the (at an extra charge). Overall the apartments provide the guest with style, sophistication, space and modern convenience within the centre of Edinburgh. Rooms: Modern, clean lines, dark cherry-wood flooring and Italian tiled bathrooms are just a taste of what these sophisticated 2 bedroom apartments have to offer. Each apartment offers 2 bedrooms that feature extra long queen-size or single beds. 90% of the apartments have 2 bathrooms with hairdryers, shaving mirrors and anti-steam wall mirrors. Each kitchen is fully equipped with all modern …

Scottish Dancing When organised Highland Games were instituted over 100 years ago, with caber-tossing, hammer-throwing and piping, the dancing contests, too, were an all male event. Nobody it seems had ever considered that girls could dance. That is until a young woman called Jenny Douglas entered a competition and was accepted. By 1900 that first girlish drop had become a substantial trickle and then a flood so that today the position is completely reversed with the girls outnumbering the boys by roughly 100 to 1. There are two main types of Scottish dancing Country Dancing and Highland Dancing. Scottish Country Dancing is entirely different from Highland Dancing.

Originally posted 2010-11-27 15:25:08.

NAB Tartan Warriors • Bundanoon Stones: The Stones of Manhood proudly sponsored by The National Australia Bank This year 2010 the Annual Scottish Highland Gathering will see our past Brigadoon (Bundanoon) champion, Derek Boyer (195cm and 140kgs) returning to challenge present and past champions in the amazing feat of the Lifting of the Stones of Manhood The Stones of Manhood are modelled on the Maglashen Stones from Scotland…consisting of a set of five round stones raging from 90kgs to 165kgs. . (See following page for the history of the Lifting of the Stones) Derek held our title for five years, taking a break from competition to concentrate on other strong-man events, as well as films. He has been persuaded by David Huxley to return to Brigadoon on April 17 to give us a real Battle of Champions! Defending the current title will be Aaron Monks (185cm and 110kgs) who won for the first time in 2009 against Craig Reid (185cm and 127kgs). Craig had held the title for three consecutive years. Included in the team will also be Luke Reynolds (200cm and 145kgs), a young man with serious potential for upsetting these Champions! 2010 is all about the Challenge of the Champions, so be there and witness this gigantic struggle of strength, speed and agility … culminating in the crowing of the NAB Champion of the Bundanoon Stones. BUNDANOON STONES OF MANHOOD Modeled on the Maglashen Stones from Scotland they consist of a set of five round stones ranging from 90 kgs to 165 kgs in …

42nd Royal Highland Regiment 1815 (Australia) Inc. ABN 96 515 982 714 E-Mail: solomon.s@bigpond.com Website www.rhra.com.au The 42nd RHRA are coming to Bundanoon Who is the 42RHRA? Or is that What is the 42RHRA? The 42nd is better known as the Black Watch. This title comes from the dark colours that make up the pattern of the kilt. Many people are very familiar with this sett and it is called the Government Sett. The 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (1815) Australia Inc. is a fully incorporated association of living history enthusiasts that actively re-enact all aspects of the Georgian\Napoleonic Period (1800-1815). We are part of the Worldwide Highland Brigade (a living history organisation with links into Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States). The association also has reciprocal membership arrangements with the European Napoleonic Society (ENS) and Napoleonic Association (NA) of the UK. In Australia, the 42RHRA has members in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The 42RHRA research and strive to show how men and women lived, worked and survived in the early 19th century. Members learn such thing as; how to load and fire a Brown Bess flintlock musket; how to light a fire without modern matches and to perform period foot drill. Find out how people dressed and what was happening the English Empire in during the period of His Majesty King George III. A Brief History of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment The Black Watch …

Scottish Highland Dancing Students of the Joy Reiher and Simone Cowley Schools of Scottish Dancing will perform a variety of Highland dances. There are only three real highland dances, the Highland Fling-the sword dance and the Seann Triubhais- were most definitely NOT a Lassies dance in their original form. Of the three, the Fling is the Oldest, considered to be based on the rutting movement of the Stag in season, a kind of fertility dance Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots is credited with the sword dance. The story goes that he slew an opponent in battle. He had only recently been converted to Christianity and with this in mind and overjoyed at his enemy on the ground in the form of a cross, he danced in triumph over them. The Seann Triubhais, pronounced Shan Trews is the youngest of the highland dances. It is devised as a dance of derision during the period after Culloden, when the wearing of the kilt was proscribed, often under penalty of death. The name Seann Truibhais means ugly or unwanted trousers and the movement of the dance, the shake, the shake down the leg, are a visible attempt to discard the hated garment. Proudly sponsored by; Macqueen Auctioneers and Valuers Mittagong, NSW 2575 Ph.61 2 4888 2188

After a wonderful day of all things Scottish, Pipe Bands, singing, dancing, Tartan Warriors and Swordplay the closing ceremony and lone piper performed, and the highlander Celtic Rock Band sang us out with Auld Lang Syne Another great Brigadoon had come to an end and 13000 visitors to the Southern Highlands had had another day to remember. Date for the Diary 2 APRIL 2011