Bundanoon Highland Gathering (New South Wales) 5th April 2014
After the mists have risen at dawn, the town of Bundanoon becomes Brigadoon for a day (even the name on the station changes to Brigadoon!)
The main street is closed and there is a bustle of activity as people prepare for the big parade which begins at 9.30am. Visitors from all over Australia are making their way to Brigadoon (over 10,000 of them). Thousands line the streets as hundreds of pipes and drums (over 20 bands in all), colourful floats and displays, marchers, vintage cars, and service and community vehicles make their way to the grounds for the games. After the bands have arrived, the first of the massed band displays for the day takes place. With carefully manouevred patterns of marchers, the flourishes of the drum majors, and the heavenly sound of the pipes receding, advancing, and reverberating around the glen, you don’t need to be Scottish to feel the thrill of the occasion.
The gathering is officially opened at 10.30 a.m. and is followed by a massed demonstration of Scottish Country Dancing. If you’ve never attempted Scottish Country Dancing before, this is your chance as the display ends in the “Dashing White Sergeant” and the audience is invited to join in! There are other displays of Country Dancing during the day, and also of Highland Dancing.
Part of the fun of the day comes from watching, or preferably participating in, the various Highland Games and other activities, such as the Bonnie Bairns Highland Dress Competition, the Hay Toss, and the Kilted Dash. Throughout the day in the main arena there are pipe band displays. Up to 600 pipers and drummers typically attend Brigadoon, and although bands do not compete against each other, the pipe band display offers them the opportunity to engage in some virtuoso performances of their favourite marches, lilts and airs.
The sun has lowered in the western sky, the clock moves towards 4.00 p.m., and our day at Brigadoon is drawing to a close. In the final ceremonies the pipes and drums reappear for the Final Massed Bands Display and inspection by the Chieftain of the Day. After the official Closing Ceremony the crowd falls silent for the Lone Piper. Another year – another day at Brigadoon – has come to an end, and the crowd leaves in the gloaming with full hearts and their ears still ringing with the haunting sounds of the bagpipe. In the evening visitors to Brigadoon and participants gather at the local hall for the Ceilidh – a traditional Highlands knees-up where the haggis holds pride of place.
And then the mist descends, and the mythical village of Brigadoon falls under a spell, to sleep again until next year.
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