Failte Oirbh! Welcome To You
A Brief History of the Scottish Ceilidh
"An informal social gathering at which there is Scottish or Irish folk music and singing and folk dancing and even story telling", is how you would find the word 'ceilidh' described in a dictionary. A Ceilidh (pronounced "Kay-lay", emphasis on 1st syllable) is many things to many people. It derives from the Gaelic word meaning a 'visit' and originally meant just that. It can also mean a 'house party', a 'concert' or more usually an evening of 'informal Scottish traditional dancing to informal music'. Ceilidhs in the Lowlands tend to be dances, in the Highlands they tend to be concerts. Dances in the Highlands and traditional ceilidhs in the Lowlands are often referred to as 'ceilidh dancing' or 'ceilidh dances'.
Ceilidh dancing is a more relaxed, non-competitive version of Scottish country dancing. Ceilidh dancing is much less formal - its primary purpose being the enjoyment of the dance. Scottish Country Dancing is much more orientated towards being a demonstration or exhibition. Ceilidh dancing over the last 20 years have become increasingly popular with young people, particularly students, and often attract from a few dozen people to several hundred. To many of us, going to a ceilidh goes hand in hand with good company, great ceilidh band music, fun times and having a laugh while you swing and jig with friends on the dance floor.
Great music maketh a ceilidh
In Britain and Ireland, there is a fair amount of similarity between ceilidh dancing and barn dancing. Chambers dictionary states that 'barn dancing', for example, is: "a kind of party at which there is music and country dancing, originally held in a barn". The country or folk dancing associated with a barn dance, uses dances mostly from within and around the British Isles and you may be familiar with terminology such as do-si-do, right hand star and swing your partners, etc. These terms and instructions certainly also feature prominently in ceilidh dancing.
In simple terms, ceilidh dances tend to be either a partner dance or a group dance, and they also frequently have callers who shout out the moves - which makes a ceilidh ideally suited for novices in an audience. It's a relaxed opportunity to meet and dance with a lot of people, friends old and new. Because the dances are so energetic, it is quite usual to pause for a chat and a drink between dances - or you can choose to just watch the other dancers whilst you are soaking up the energy-charged atmosphere.
35th Annual Cambridge Highland Games
Friday July 16th – Saturday July 17th 2010
You know you're from Scotland when....
1. 'Scattered showers with outbreaks of sunshine and a cold northerly wind' is good weather!
2. The only sausage you like is 'square'.
3. You have been forced to do Scottish country dancing every year at high school.
4. You know a wide vocabulary of random Scottish words -
an idiot is 'a numpty'.
'Aye'- yes.
'Aye Right'-not likely.
'Auldjin'- someone over 40.
'Baltic'-freezing.
'Dry yer eyes'- aww..diddums.
'Dry Boak'- sickened. etc
5. You have an irrational need to eat anything fried with your
supper from the chippy: haggis, pizza, white pudding, sausage, fish,
chicken (but not mars bars) etc...
6. You used to love destroying your teeth when you were young;
Buchanan's toffees, wham bars, tablet, Irn-Bru bars, Cola Cubes, etc
7. You have an enormous feeling of dread whenever the Scotland national football team play a 'diddy' team that we will lose to.
8.You happily engage in a conversation about the weather. 'Dreich day eh? Aye at least the wind has died down'
9.Even if you normally hate the Proclaimers, Runrig, Caledonia,
Deacon Blue, Big Country etc. you still LOVE it when you're in a club
abroad and they play something Scottish. (you'll probably even ask the
DJ to play it…)
10. You take a perverse level of pride by the fact that Scotland has
the highest number of alcohol and smoking related deaths in Europe. At
least we know how to party, 'Yer a lang time deed'.
11. You used to get up really early on a Saturday/Sunday to watch
cartoons when you were a kid. You watched Glen Michael's Cartoon
Cavalcade on a Sunday afternoon with his sidekick oil lamp called
Paladin. You remember Glen giving Paladin a good hard stroke!.
12. You were given an Oor Wullie or Broons Annual at Christmas.
13. You have come in from the pub pi**ed with flatmates and watched an episode of Weirs Way engrossed by a little guy with a bobbly hat walking around Scotland.
14. You can tell where another Scot is from by their accent. E.g.
Glaswegian: 'Awright pal, gonnae gies a wee swatch oa yur Record, cheers, magic
pal'
Fifer: 'Aye, that wifie is getting it oan wi a laddie fae the butchers'
Dundonian: 'Twa bridies, a plen ane in an ingin ane an a'
Aberdonian: 'Fit ya bin up tae, fair few quines in the night eh?'
Invernesian: 'Ah-ee, Right Enufff! 'How's you keeeeeepeeeen?'.
15. You see police and hear someone shout 'Errrapolis'
16. You have participated in or witnessed people having a 'square go'.
17. You know that when someone asks you which school you went to, they
actually want to know if you're a protestant or a catholic.
18. You have eaten lots of random Scottish food like Bridies, Aberdeen
Rowies(butteries), Mince & Tatties, Haggis, Cullen Skink, Stovies,
Tunnock's Teacakes/Snowballs, Scott's Porridge Oats, Macaroon Bars,
Baxters Soup, Scotch Pies, Scotch Eggs, Oatcakes, Shortbread, Arbroath
Smokies etc.
19. A jakey has asked you for money: 'Got any spare change hen?'
20. You wait expectantly for your 1p change from the shopkeeper.
21.You know the right response to 'yoo dancin' is 'yoo askin', followed by 'am askin' and finally 'then am dancin!!'
22. You know that whenever you see sawdust it reminds you of pools of
vomit because that's what the 'jannies' used to chuck on it.
23. You lose all respect for a groom that doesn't wear a kilt to his wedding.
24. You don't do the groceries or shopping, you do the 'messages'.
25.You've been sitting quietly on the train/bus and then a drunk man
sits beside ye..telling ye a 'joke' ..and saying 'I'm no annoying ye am
a hen/pal?' You: 'Not at all...yer fine...'a think this is ma stop!!'
26.You know a Scottish male can have a telephone conversation using only the words 'Awright', 'Aye' and 'Naw'.
27. You have experienced the peer pressure to have an alcoholic drink
after you've ordered something non-alcoholic. 'Mon, have a drink,
whit's wrang, ye driving? Naw. Are you no well? Naw. Get yersel a
drink, (other folk-Wahey!)
28.You know ye cannae fling pieces oot a twenty storey flat, seven
hundred hungry weans'll testify, to that. If it's butter, cheese or
jeely, if the breid is plain or pan, the odds against it reaching earth
are ninety-nine tae wan.
29. You know that going to a party at a friends house means bring your own drinks
30.Your holiday abroad is ruined if you hear there is a 'heatwave' in Scotland while you're away.
