Bagpipes and drums pierced the air at a park in western Massachusetts over the weekend as a festival devoted to Scottish culture returned to the area.
Hundreds of pipers and drummers, dozens of clans and a few thousand visitors were at Look Park Saturday for the 29th annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival.
With more than three dozen pipe bands, historic reenactments and a fair bit of food as well, the event put a focus on all things Alba.
Festival chairman Peter Langmore says about three decades ago, the event began as a means to raise money for an historic building in Blandford – a small Hampden County town settled in-part by Ulster Scots in the early 1700s.
Raising funds for preserving what’s known as the “White Church,” Langmore says, the initial festival called on the area’s Scottish roots, and turned out to be a significant success – only growing since.
“30 years later, and the purpose of the festival is, first of all, to promote the Scottish culture, and to raise the money we raise - we donate to two other nonprofits, River Valley Counseling in Holyoke and Forum House in Westfield, and last year, we were able to donate $30,000 - $15,000 to each of them – so, we are very proud and very happy to be able to do that,” he told WAMC.
So, what goes into a Scottish festival? Besides the pipes and drums, which totaled around 700-800 participants, Langmore estimates, dozens of booths featuring Highland culture and its clans welcomed visitors.
Historic reenactors manning blacksmithing bellows, cauldrons for cooking, as well as an assortment of spinners and weavers put on a history lesson of the northerner lifestyle some 250 years ago or so.
That, and some swords clashing. Ken Mondschein, lead instructor of the Massachusetts Historical Swordsmanship group, was in Florence with his team, who sparred with longswords and broadswords – demonstrating the fighting styles and technique that go into swinging the blades many associate with the Highlands.
“People think of Scotland, of course, they think about, well, they think about ‘Highlander,’ of course - ‘There can only be one,’ though, they are making another sequel, so I guess that wasn't true,” Mondschein said. “They also would think about ‘Rob Roy,’ with the basket-hilted broadswords used in the 18th century.”
They were by no means the only feats of strength on display at the festival, either – dozens took part in various Highland Games, featuring everything from chucking Braemar stones to 16-pound hammers to the iconic caber toss, where contestants attempt to throw a nearly 20-foot pole.
“From the way I understand it - I'm not a huge historian, although I do value my cultural heritage - a lot of clans used it as a test of strength with their warriors in the past, and it's one of the oldest sports, I think, in the world,” said one of the competitors, Christine O’Connell.
Originally from Toronto but now in Conway, Massachusetts, O’Connell tells WAMC Highland Games bring a chance to connect with her cultural background as well as a warm community.
Connecting with one’s background was also being offered up directly at the festival. Representatives for dozens of Scottish clans offered visitors a chance to learn more not just about the people of Scotland, but possibly trace their own roots and connect dots with their own family names.
Jonathan Tucker was running the table for Clan MacIntyre.
“I got involved with this, because - I found out I was descended from a specific prisoner-of-war from the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, who got captured with his two brothers, and then [was] sent across the ocean to work at some of Cromwell’s buddies projects here in the New England colonies,” Tucker explained, pointing at a sheet on his table telling the story of “Robert McIntire.” “So, we've been here since the 1650s - our family has been here since then."
“It's a progressive disease,” Tucker joked, referring to his love of looking into lineage and becoming a historian of sorts. “You start looking into it and the next thing you know, you're wearing a kilt and talking funny and that's how it goes!”
Having identified their own clans, Easthampton resident George Claxton says he and his wife, Lori, have been regulars at the festival – from taking in the live sheep herding demonstrations to the caber toss and more.
“We come out every year for the Scots festival,” he said. “I'm Clan Urquhart, my wife there is MacKay, and the two of them are Campbell's, you can ignore them,” he said, indicating other members of his group. “We love the Campbell's – but yes, we come out every year for this.”
