The Friendly Games

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 40^th 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/