Throughout the land dancers and pipers are rehearsing, athletes and heavy athletes are stepping up their training and Highland games committees are holding meeting after meeting to make sure that everything runs smoothly on their big day.
Historically there are two aspects of Highland games, one of these goes way back for centuries; the other is more recent.
The Highland games began as a gathering of the clans with perhaps a wee bit of an employment agency on the side. The chieftain wanted to keep an eye on his clansfolk and more importantly check out who were the best and strongest warriors for the fighting and the most talented musicians and dancers to entertain his guests. What better way than to get them all to compete; who could swing a hammer, was so strong that he could lift up a big tree trunk or throw a huge stone. Which piper could play so loudly they could be heard across the glen to signal, or so sweetly they could become famous. Prowess at the games could mean advancement.