Event of the Month

Looking to expand your vocabulary? How about taking in the 28th annual Arizona Scottish Highland Gathering and Games this month at Tempe? You'll pick up some words that'll give you real lexicographical clout with your friends. For instance: Quaich. That's the Scottish cup of friendship. Derives from the Gaelic cuach, which means "shallow cup." You can buy a quaich at one of the booths or just stand and admire its pewter beauty. Braemar. As in the Braemar-stone throw, named for a region of Scotland. One of several uniquely Scottish athletic contests staged at the games. Last year Scottish musclemen - and musclewomen, too came to Tempe from as far as Nova Scotia to take part. The event involves throwing stones weighing up to 56 pounds as far as you can without stepping out of bounds. Trig. That's the board you stand behind while throwing the Braemar stone. Caber. This is a log measuring between 16 and 20 feet in length, weighing 85 to more than 200 pounds. In the caber toss, another contest of strength, you throw the caber, not to see how far you can toss it, but how accurately. You have to live right to do well in this one. Chanter. This is one of the five pipes making up the bagpipes, the one you play with your fingers to create the notes. Pipe bands come from all over (last year, from Tucson, San Diego, and Bountiful, Utah, among other places) to compete at the games, making music that thrills the Scots and sets some others' teeth on edge. ("A true gentleman," runs one definition, "is a man who can play the bagpipes, but doesn't.") John Goff, a member of San Diego's House of Scotland Pipe Band, says one member of his band has even sustained hearing damage from playing the pipes. Just a word or two

MUSCLES AND BAGPIPES TAKE CENTER STAGE AT ARIZONA'S COLORFUL GATHERING OF THE CLANS

one definition, "is a man who can play the bagpipes, but doesn't.") John Goff, a member of San Diego's House of Scotland Pipe Band, says one member of his band has even sustained hearing damage from playing the pipes. Just a word or two more about those ever-fascinating pipes: they have a history traceable to a thousand years before Christ. Their distinctive skirl has roused soldiers to epic feats in battles from Bannockburn to El Alamein. In World War II an officer of Canada's Cape Breton Highlanders, his unit pinned down in Italy, dispatched an urgent message to his headquarters: "Send half a dozen tanks," he said, "or one piper." If you can tear yourself away from the pipe bands, spend some time watching the marvelous sheepherding dogs at work in an open field nearby. The dogs are Border collies (from their origin on the Scottish-English border). Their job is simply to bring in the sheep (or cattle, or hogs, or even poultry) from wherever the critters happen to be. And an animal being herded by a Border collie knows it had better go where the dog wants it to go. "You can't get 'em to market until you get 'em in the pen," explains Dodie Green of Buckeye, who demonstrated the talents of her champion sheepdogs at last year's games. What's a good Border collie worth? Ralph Pulfer, a retired Ohio farmer who carts both sheep and dogs to about 30 different highland games a year, including Tempe's, sold one for $8,000. The Tempe games are sponsored by the Caledonian Society of Arizona, simply to celebrate the Scottish heritage. And integal to the Scottish heritage, says Games Chairperson Terence Shelbourne, is the concept of ancient kings and clan chiefs holding Highland games to pick the biggest and brawniest individuals as their protectors. You get the general idea when you see some of the bumper stickers thereabouts on games weekend: "It's Hard to Be Humble If You're Scottish." "Scots Do It Better in the Kilt," and "On the 8th Day God Created Bagpipes."

WHEN YOU GO

The Arizona Scottish Highland Gathering and Games takes place Saturday, February 20, 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., at the Diablo Soccer Complex, 48th Street and Alameda in Tempe. From Phoenix, exit Interstate 10 at 48th Street, then drive south to Alameda and east to the parking area. Admission is $5 for adults. Children under 12 get in free. For more information, telephone (602) 431-0095. Tucson has Highland games, too. They're sponsored by the Tucson Celtic Festival Association and will be held in the fall.