15 - 16 June: Birthday parties and Aberdeen Highland Games

Saturday 15 June was set aside for birthday parties for both our sons. We had two parties for their friends from school, with a gap of two hours between the two parties. As parents we thought it was great, as we only had to do the preparations (tidying the house, decorating with balloons, baking cakes etc.) once. And the kids behaved so well, it was no stress at all having both on the same day.

Our oldest son's birthday was on Thursday the same week, while our youngest had to wait two months this year... I have lots of excuses for being so late, but won't bore you with that.

Creative birthday cakes

Birthday parties for the kids still means I get the opportunity to be creative when I bake cakes. Our oldest son chose to have a beach-cake, while our youngest son went for a swimming pool. This year I didn't manage to get "seigmenn" (sweets shaped like small men), so I had to settle for Jelly Babies. Not quite as good, but they still did the job.

When the parents came to pick up the children they were invited in for tea and cake and after they all had left, our neighbours came over for tea and cake too. We almost managed to finish off both cakes, the rest was eaten the next day at the Aberdeen Highland Games.

Aberdeen Highland Games

Sunday morning we went to the Aberdeen Highland Games with our Polish/Dutch neighbours from across the road, arriving at Hazelhead Park in Aberdeen just after the games started at 10:00. The weather was nice and sunny, and it stayed nice the whole day through, which made it easy for us to stay for the full event. Sunny weather is not something we've had plenty of while we've been living in Scotland.

At the Highland Games, a number of events were happening simultaneously, so we walked around the grounds to see as much as possible. In addition to all the the competitions (Scottish 725kg Tug-o-war Championship, heavy and light events, track and field events, dancing, pipe bands and solo piping), there was a lot of activities for the kids, including a small fun fair.

Family entertainment at the Highland Games

The fun fair was a big hit with the kids, and the queues weren't too bad compared to the queues in theme parks on a sunny day. Both boys had a lot of fun with laser combat (shooting at the other team with laser guns) and  mini golf. One of our boys' favourite rides was a carousel where their 'car' spun round a centre axle and in addition around a smaller axle. I got nauseous just watching.

My husband, our oldest son (who was above the age limit of 10 years) and I all tried the Segways. It was easier than I had expected and we soon became quite skilled at navigating our 'bikes' through the obstacle course that had been prepared for us.

My husband was very fascinated by the man who did chainsaw wood carvings. I must say it was impressive to see what he managed with his chainsaw.

Haggis in different shapes and sizes

The Highland games last from 10:00 to 18:00, so there were plenty of opportunities to buy food, ice cream, sweets and drinks. There was even a separate bar tent with a small fenced area outside.

The longest queue was outside the Fish and chips-van, but I found it quite interesting that another stall served Haggis burgers, Haggis sausages, Haggis with eggs etc. The plan was to get some Haggis burgers before we left, but there was so much going on, we simply forgot. We didn't feel we missed out on much though. My husband always has the full Scottish breakfast when we travel and that usually includes haggis, so he's had it quite a few times by now. I've also had a taste of his haggis a few times and it's quite nice.

Highland Games: Sports and music

Throughout the day there were competitions for solo pipers as well as for pipe bands. The rules for these competitions were rather complex, but in addition to competing according to grade there were also the categories Piobairaechd, Marches, Strathspey & Reel and Jig. I have no idea what these categories were, they sounded the same to me. Having all these competitions meant that you always heard piping somewhere, which was great for the atmosphere.

When it comes to the other traditional sporting competitions, it seemed you either entered in the Light Events or the Heavy Events. The Light events included 90 metres, 400 metres, 800metres, long jump and triple jump, and the men wore traditional sports outfits. I thought the Heavy Events were more fun, as the competitors all wore kilts and the competition included putting heavy stone (22lbs), putting light stone (16lbs), throwing heavy hammer (28lbs), throwing light hammer (16lbs), weight for distance (28lbs), tossing the caber and throwing 56lbs weight over the bar. There were some seriously strong (and heavy) men competing in these events.

Competitions for strong men

Another competition with really big, strong men was the tug-o-war Scottish championship 725kg. Lots of testosterone going on in this event, with lots of sweating and grunting. The turf got some serious damage when these big, strong men put their shoes down to pull the other team across to their side of the middle. We could actually see the turf roll up when the men at the back tried to avoid their team being pulled across to the other side. 

Out of all the events we watched, my favourite was the Heavy Event 'caber tossing', i.e. throwing a huge, really heavy log. The log is supposed to do a complete turn up in the air and then land in the '12 o'clock position', which means it's perfectly aligned with the direction of the field. That's no easy task, that's for sure.

Elegant dancers

Another favourite was the dancing competitions. This is way outside my area of expertise, but according to the program the dancers competed in Highland Fling, Shean Truibhais, Strathspey and Reel, Sailors Hornpipe, Reel of Tulloch, Sword Dance and Irish Jig.

The dancers had a number of outfits, but I liked the Highland Fling, Strathspey and Reel, Shean Truibhais and Sword Dance the best, they all seemed to have the same outfits and similar dancing techniques, but that's probably just me not having the faintest clue about these dances. I thought they looked very elegant and energetic as they jumped and danced around the stage.

I have embedded a video with an example of highland dancing. It's not from Aberdeen, but it gives you an idea of what the dancing is like.

Prize ceremony and piping bands

When all the competitions were over and only the final prize ceremony remained, all the pipe bands marched into the centre of the arena, playing the same tune. The combined piping band was really impressive, I'm sure the music could be heard quite a distance away from the arena. And such a great way to end a fantastic day! For us, this day felt like the Scottish version of our National Day (17 May) and it was like we had been given a synopsis of Scottish culture.

By the way: The winners of the tug-o-war competition got whiskey as part of their prize; very appropriate for Scotland we thought.