Highland games are an annual Scottish festival celebrating Celtic and Scottish culture through athletic competitions, music, and dancing. Originating in the 11th century as mountain climbing races, Highland games evolved over time. By the 18th century, people began reviving Highland traditions through early games featuring bagpipes, dancing, and sports. The modern form of Highland games was popularized after King George IV's 1822 visit to Scotland, and now features traditional athletics like caber tossing, hammer and stone throwing, bagpipe and dance performances.

2. Highland games - festival,
which is held during the
whole of the calendar year
anywhere in Scotland and in
many other countries, as a
tribute to the Celtic and
Scottish cultures and their
great heritage. Many
elements of this annual
festival has already moved
into the category of national
symbols, so it happened
with bagpipes, kilts.

3. In numerous Chronicles, it was noted that approximately in XI century, the king
Malcolm Third Scottish introduced competition, the participants of which should
have been a race climb the mountain. Many historians see in this event the main
preconditions of the appearance of Highland games. In the document 1703, it
was mentioned that the representatives of the clan Grants profit on the game in
the armor and armed to the teeth, which spoke for itself that the game has
evolved.

4.  Since 1780, people began to try
and revive the life Highland
tradition, they were the timid
attempts, which resulted in the
emergence of Highland games
as we know them now.
 The popularity of games in the
new era can be timed to the visit
of king George IV to Scotland in
1822, although, up to that similar
events have already taken
place. For example, in 1819, the
community of the Holy Phileas
organized a full-scale game with
playing the
bagpipes, dancing, and athletic
competitions.

5.  Athletic
competitions, associated with
the movement of large scales.
As many centuries ago highland
of the game centered around
sports competitions, and all the
other events, like the
songs, music and dances
served more for
entertainment, and accounted
for but a single whole with the
sports part of the holiday. One
of such competitions, namely
rolling logs became a real
symbol of the games. In spite of
the fact that often the list of
sports competitions may
vary, some of them already
firmly in his hold.

6.  Throwing the stone. This contest is
very similar to the kernel, which we
can see at the Olympic games, only
here instead of steel kernel throw a
huge stone, from the Olympic games
Scottish throwing stone is different
and the two valid techniques:
«throwing stone» and «open
throwing».

7.  Throwing the hammer. This contest is also very similar
to what can be seen in the modern Olympic games,
but still there are some differences. In the Scottish
version of the round metal ball is attached to a wooden
stick 4 feet long. The participant becomes a bar and a
hammer over the head and tosses it over the right or
left shoulder.

8. Throwing a sheaf. A handful of
straw weighing 20 pounds (9
kg) wrapped in cloth and put
vertically upwards with the use
of the fork, the winning party,
which has succeeded in above
all throw his sheaf.

9.  For many of the audience, who visited Highland game the most memorable
was a game of hundreds of bagpipes. According to the tradition of more than
20 groups take part in the closing and opening of the games, marching on
the field and playing the bagpipes. As a result above the rumble of
traditionally favorite Scottish melodies.
 Play bagpipes also become a peculiar symbol of the games, there are
regular competitions to play the bagpipes and drums, pass performances of
the small groups.
 However, bagpipe and drum are not the only sounds that can be heard on
games, music acquires the different forms, here is the sound of the
violin, the flute.

10.  There are two fundamentally different kind of dance, practiced in games.
The first type is more like ballroom dancing, the second - it is very
technical, highly competitive dancing. They again are divided into two
categories. The first category of traditional Highland dance: the Dance of
swords, Drum, etc., the second category is more known as the national
dance, the most famous of which are the Scottish Lilt, blue berets and etc.
 Highland dances require long workouts. Rather, they have more in common
with ballet, than with ballroom dances, in addition unlike simple dance
Highland dances usually performed solo and are measured at the individual
indicators.