Europe joins sporran legion of caber tossers

WE are all Celts now - including the Germans. New research has found communities across mainland Europe are rediscovering their Celtic heritage by holding their very own Highland Games.

Last year there were more than 130 on the continent, with 46 hosted in Germany alone, according to David Hesse, of Edinburgh University's Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies.

Austria held 28, Belgium 18, the Netherlands 14, Switzerland six and France had three. Games were also held in Bohemia in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, the south Tyrol and Norway's Arctic north.

Crowds of up to 30,000 pay to watch members of "clans" such as Clan Reischinga from the eponymous village take part in the South Tyrolean Highland Games, or Clan of Eburons in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, as described by Caesar, compete in traditional Highland sports.

Hesse, who has written a doctoral thesis entitled Warrior Dreams: Playing Scotsmen In Mainland Europe, said many Germans felt the country's Celtic heritage has to be "reclaimed" after it was hijacked by the Nazis as a propaganda tool.

In contrast, Scots are seen as rebels and guardians of Celtic culture, who fought the Nazis and who have also produced inspirational leaders such as William Wallace and Rob Roy MacGregor, both of whom have been popularised in Hollywood films.

Hesse, who is Swiss, said: "In Germany, where pre-modern Germanic folklore and mythology has been ruined by Nazi misuse for many, Scottish Games - and bagpipes and kilts - are adopted as ersatz folklore.

"Hitler and the Nazis used the mythology of Valhalla, Odin and the music of Richard Wagner for their political fantasy of the Germanic master race."

Odin, the chief deity of Norse mythology, is known to Germans as Wotan and was later a character in Wagner's Ring Cycle. Shortly before he was injured at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Hitler wrote a poem that began: "I often go on bitter nights in Wotan's oak in the quiet glade..."

Hesse, who interviewed 60 people taking part in Highland Games across Europe, said Scottish play-acting has become popular across the continent, with thousands inventing new clans, designing their own tartans and contacting clan chiefs in Scotland, America and further afield with requests for recognition.

"They study the Gaelic language, re-enact selected moments of the Scottish past in period costume, and campaign for memorials to honour the Scottish military presence in Europe. They are visibly crazy about Scotland," he said.

He added: "There is also a feeling that Scotland might not take its own heritage seriously enough, that dedicated Europeans do a better ‘Scotland' than the Scots.

"The Scots - with their apparently ancient athletic, musical and sartorial traditions - have become surviving witnesses of a shared past. They are celebrated as guardians of an old European identity, and Highland Games become a suitable expression of a contemporary or Nordic contemporary identity."

Dr James Fraser, of the Celtic and Scottish Studies unit in the school of Literatures, Languages and Culture at Edinburgh University, said Highland Games provided "a safer way for Germans to get excited about their past".

He added: "The first great period of nationalism in Europe started in the 1800s but it was the Nazis who had the most monstrous notion of a specific homogeneous nation.

"Hitler made it very difficult for Germans to be dewy-eyed about their past. The culture had become poisoned and to be a romantic nationalist was to be a Nazi apologist."

Although most games include traditional tug-of-war competitions and other displays of strength, there can be local differences. In France a giant champagne cork is tossed instead of a caber, while Austrians have a speed-drinking event. Women are more inclined to take part in team strength sports, and Winter Highland Games including events such as downhill skiing are becoming increasingly popular.

Jim Brown MBE, president of the Scottish Highland Games Association, said: "I see it as a huge compliment and an accolade that Scotland is seen as the guardian of Celtic culture. I am not surprised in the least that these Europeans are going back past the Nazi era to look for something they can be proud of.

"Most folk now are looking to find their roots to get a sense of security and I'm sure the Celts have been everywhere. The more the games spread around the world the better. I have no problem with any diversification in local events in Europe as long as they keep the core together."

He added: "Highland Games are fantastic for everyone and are based on very basic disciplines such as lifting a stone and putting it as far as they could, trials of strength, running, pipe music and dancing.

"You don't need a stadium, they are great for tourism and they are a great recipe for celebration with no problems of bad behaviour from the crowd."

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