Episode 104 – Pipers’Persuasion interviewed some of the Administrators and Worthies of the Antigonish Highland Games; The Antigonish Highland Society was founded in 1861 and has sponsored more than 150 Highland Games while supporting the Gaelic language, piping and drumming, Highland dancing, fiddle music and step-dancing, athletics and the Ancient Scottish Heavy Events. A fuller history is published below. This subject is in 2 parts showing the Games and then the broader scene of Step Dancing , Gaelic College and Games Personalities. Many thanks to all who made this Episode possible.
Tags : Antigonish ; Giles ; Boyd ; McIsaac ; Worrall ; Mike Grey ; Mike Gray ; Bruce Gandy ; Alex Gandy ; 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band ; Barry Ewen ; Wayne Moug ;
Antigonish Highland Society
20 East Main Street
Antigonish, Nova Scotia
B2G 2E9, Canada
902-863-4275
admin@antigonishhighlandgames.ca
Antigonish Games have been sponsored by the Antigonish Highland Society since 1863 but were an evolution of community picnics preceding that time. The first Antigonish Highland Games in 1863 took place in October in an area where the vegetation had been trampled down by cattle after a cattle drive very much like the original games in Scotland and thus have a similar evolution as the Northern Meeting and the Royal Highland and Island Exhibition. Until about 1910 most of the inhabitants of this area were gaelophone and there were Gaelic poetry competitions at the early Games. Gaelic activities have always had a role. Furthermore, the Concert Under the Stars was the apotheosis of recognition for a fiddler in the County or Cape Breton for decades. Indeed until the 1940’s this was the only Scottish gathering in Nova Scotia and its results were widely reported not only here but in Eastern Ontario and in the West. As you know from Barry Shear’s work a large number of pipers came to Nova Scotia from the 1770’s until the 1840’s and every district had its own piper whose capacities were always compared to those of adjoining areas. This involved piping for dances , weddings and funerals as well as work such as hay making and other repetitive tasks. Unfortunately this style of piping was seriously frowned upon by the British Army during the First World War when much fingering was obliged to become standardised. As well there is a recorded active indigenous piobaireachd tradition which was recognised perhaps into the 1880’s. The original pipe band in Nova Scotia of local origin was organised in Glace bay around 1911 by expatriate Scottish miners working in the coal mines. The 1868 Antigonish Games did host the band from the 78th Highlanders which would have been the first recorded attendance at the Games by a pipe band but the competitions were individual not band.
The Antigonish Highland Society was founded in 1861, about 75 years after the Gaels first began arriving on nearby shores. At its first meeting, the new Society elected Dr. Alexander MacDonald as its president and approved the Society’s objectives of perpetuating the language, music and traditions of the Highland Scot and assisting their fellow Gaels in times of need. The Society celebrated St. Andrew’s Day that year and two years later held its first Highland Games on Apple Tree Island in the east end of town. Since then, the Society has sponsored more than 150 Highland Games while supporting the Gaelic language, piping and drumming, Highland dancing, fiddle music and step-dancing, athletics and the Ancient Scottish Heavy Events. It has kept alive or created numerous traditions and events that help to define the character of Antigonish town and county