Ye Olde Highland Games

On the last Saturday of June, the village of Ceres (pronounced "series") 

hosts the oldest free highland games in Scotland. 

They date back to the time of Robert the Bruce, in the early 1300s.

Marissa and I went for an hour or two, meeting up with Caroline and her friend Liu.

There were all sorts of events happening at the same time:

foot races, bicycle races, wrestling, highland dancing, tug-of-war, and the quintessential strongman events like the caber toss.

It looked like chaos.

Everything happening at the same time.

This was the first event we saw.
The aim was to pitch this bale of what looked like cedar boughs...

... over that bar.
After each round, they would raise it.

Next they had to throw this rock that was bigger than a person's head as far as they could.

What Scottish event could be considered complete without a pipe band?

These adorable little girls were dancing away the entire time.

One of the tug-of-war teams.

There was an Oompa-Loompa on one of the teams!

Ah yes. The Caber Toss.
It wouldn't be a proper Games without it.

There was a bagpiping competition.
Unfortunately, it continued while the pipe band was making its way around the field.
Cacophony.

I was trying to take a sneaky picture of this gentleman in his impressive Scottish regalia.

Uh oh... he caught me!
Eep!
If that isn't a fierce look, I don't know what is.

In a nutshell, Highland Games are a sports day/strong-man competition with a dash of music and dancing thrown in.
It's a truly Scottish experience not to be had anywhere else.