On the morning of my wedding day,
my best man, Bruce Macpherson and I, climbed to the top of Stone Mountain. We stood and looked for miles across the
rolling plains of Georgia, punctuated by the skyscrapers of downtown
Atlanta. It was an awesome sight and for
a moment I felt a little overwhelmed by the size of my new adopted home. Having got me safely down the mountain, Bruce
was to be at my side once again as Melanie and I celebrated our wedding with
family and friends at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church.
So the Stone Mountain Scottish
Festival and Highland Games are very much our home event and it was particularly
good to be there for their 40th anniversary. In this special year, the games were graced
by the presence of no less than 12 clan chiefs, led by the Guest of Honour, the
Earl of Caithness, chief of the Clan Sinclair.
Over two days thousands of visitors came out in the beautiful fall
weather to watch the highland games, participate in country dancing, listen to
fiddle music, the clarsach, pipe bands, folk music and Celtic rock bands and wander
round the vendors and over 100 clan and Scottish society tents.
We started our weekend on Friday
night attending a concert by the folk group, Stonewall. The group is based in Co Armagh, Northern
Ireland and play Irish and Scottish reels, jigs and ballads. This repertoire reflects the ‘Scots Irish’
heritage particular to this part of the USA. Indeed, the group took their name
from the Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson whose Scots-Irish family came
from the Birches, Armagh. It was an
evening of good ‘craic’ with excellent music and friendly banter.
As Melanie and I wandered round the
games field it soon became evident why these are known as the “friendly games”. Perhaps it was the good weather, but people we
met had the time to stop and chat, or “visit” as they say in these parts. We met Scots who had moved here from
Scotland, others who were seeking out a barely remembered heritage and those who
were simply curious. For us, it was a
weekend of renewing old friendships and making new ones.
The enjoyable purpose of the event
was well summed up by the Earl of Caithness who told me, “The wonderful thing about Scottish games in America is that they are
inclusive … and here we have 108 clans all swapping stories and swapping
history. And you don’t need to be Scots
to come to one of these events and enjoy yourselves”.
http://stonewallmusic.co.uk/
