As I sat on the bench seating at the Scottish festival watching the competitions, the sun came out from behind the clouds shining brightly. I had to reach into my tote bag for my sunglasses while my husband returned with the food he had gone to get for our lunch. I sipped my IRN-BRU drink and enjoyed my Scottish meat pie as I watched the men's and women's competitions such as the caber toss, the sheaf toss, the stone lift, and the tug of war, as all the events are not only meant to be won, but to foster camaraderie and a sense of belonging. Hearing some of the viewers of the games jeering at the women competitors sparked the question in my mind. When were women allowed to participate in the Heavy Events of the Highland Games?
The Highland Games events, originally started to find the strongest men amongst the Clans, have all changed over the years, adding some events, omitting others, but the foundation and reason behind them have remained the same. One thing that has changed for the better is the inclusion of women and women's events. Bringing in the idea of the shieldmaidens of the Viking Clans. There have been some tweaks to the weights that the men throw or lift in order for the women to compete, but there are some women that do use weights that are close to the men's minor weights.
Currently over 100 Highland Games are held in Scotland every year. Thought to be the oldest and continuous, the Ceres Games in Fife were started in 1314. They are said to now be held in memory and honour of those who fought at Bannockburn, 24 June 1314 and was a large Scottish victory over the English in the First Scottish Independence War.
The largest Highland games in the world would be the Cowal Highland Gathering which is held in August in Dunoon, Scotland. The Highland games have been copied and expanded around the world with the highest gatherings being at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, along with the Caledonian Club of San Francisco, California.
Women participating in any sports have been demeaned, infantilized, and degraded as well as having had different restrictions or perceptions on them. This is akin to wearing different shades of sunglasses. Rose coloured glasses can mean that you see everything in a positive and optimistic light, which I have been accused of. Blue coloured glasses can mean that you see everything based on the male population. Yellow coloured can mean childish or a child's innocent point of view. Green can mean money-centered and brown can possibly mean a negative view.
As I was attempting to watch the games, I noticed how my husband had a negative view on the women's events. He became more and more negative and it started to do my head in so I decided to shift my seat over away from him. I decided I didn't want to lose out on watching the events because of his prejudiced attitude. I checked to see if he was wearing brown shades of glasses and it wasn't long before security was called by someone else and he was carted off and escorted out of the festival.
I moved from the bench seats to a spot on the grass, using my cloak as a blanket to sit on. I did thoroughly enjoy watching and cheering on the women in the events. At some points I wished that I had thought about competing when I was younger, as I was fitter then and might not be in the shape I'm in now. I had been jeered and demeaned too as a youngster, not only by others, but by my own supposed family. I was told that I should eat more green vegetables, that I should exercise more, that I should eat less. In fact I loved green vegetables, so much so that at one point I could not eat them because my body was rejecting them, I was eating too many green vegetables. I rode my bike everywhere, miles on end, I did drink lots of water and wasn't really eating much at all. The doctors put me on all sorts of different diets to try to help me lose weight, and none of them helped.
As I got older, I began researching more and as it turns out, dieting, exercise and water wasn't working because the diets made the estrogen in my body become more dominant. I looked at my situation through yellow lenses, a child-like innocence view. When I figured out, after my child bearing years, that I needed to make the progesterone in my body more dominant, that is when I started losing the weight. But then the stress of living with a man-child such as the husband I had then, was taking its toll on me. I wasn't stress eating, but it was causing cortisol to build up in my system. Upon doing more research, I found some herbs that were anti-stress and anti-cortisol, and they did indeed help. I was then able to walk longer distances, couldn't ride my bike outside due to the dangerous roads, but I bought an indoor bike training stand which worked. I started with 10 minute sessions, with an app on my phone, then moved up as the weeks passed by. I'm now able to bike for a hour, which according to my research is the perfect length for me, not too much, not too little.
But, I digress, getting back to the Highland Games, I do enjoy watching the participants and cheering them on, regardless of their gender. I will even write the Highland Games Qualifiers into my television series, along with a few other cool events. And I will remain wearing my Rose Coloured Sunglasses, regardless of what anyone says or thinks. Still not sure what, if anything I should do about my husband, I'm beginning to think his brown coloured glasses are permanently attached to his head.