Scottish Weekend

Welcome Tea and Scottish Treats!
4pm

Join us for afternoon tea and cookies to begin the weekend of Scottish festivities. Meet the performers and program leaders for this weekend and enjoy some Scottish music and Highland dancing while you enjoy your tea and cookies.

Timothy Cummings and McKinley James
9pm

McKinley James (cello) and Timothy Cummings (Scottish smallpipes & low whistles) are a multi-generational Vermont duo who take particular delight in both instrumental and genre pairings that surprise and inspire their audiences. Their arboreal combination of cello and mellower, bellows-blown pipes is unexpectedly persuasive, with varied woody resonances alternately enhancing and reinforcing each other. The low-whistle adds a feathery complement to the deep strings and baritone reeds. McKinley and Tim each draw on backgrounds of both traditional Scottish and classical music, a symbiotic synthesis born of ‘trad’ and Baroque-era dance music.

Annual Mohonk Cèilidh
10pm

The evening show is followed by the annual Mohonk Céilidh, a Gaidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) word meaning “A visit”. We invite you to “visit” with us in the Parlor and enjoy the opportunity to share a song, poem, story, “party piece”, or to simply sit back, listen, and enjoy and perhaps sing along to some Scottish favorites. Meet the performers and fellow Mohonk guests during this very special part of the tradition of the Mohonk Scottish Weekend.

Tales from Loch Ness
10am

Stories of Picts, rocky landscapes, and loch monsters have existed in Scotland for thousands of years. Come listen to Steve Blamires and David McCormick tell a tale or two about the Neolithic people and mountains of Scotland, and how they in turn moulded our fascination with the one and only Nessie.

Kilt Making Display
10am – 4pm

Making their Scottish Weekend debut, we welcome Ava K. Lamb-Freedman of The Kiltmakers Apprentice, located in Highland, NY. Ava will be here to answer all of your questions about kilts, tartans, and the artistry that goes into making them!

Celtic Art Workshop with Patrick Gallagher
11am

Join Patrick Gallagher Celtic Artist as he takes you on a journey through the “ins and outs” of the Celtic Art Tradition. Travel from the dawn of time to our own world. Experience the power and heritage of a symbolic design system that has survived virtually intact since the Neolithic era of old Europe. Like a tree, Celtic Art is ever-growing, evolving, accumulating, and perfecting the images and spiritual concepts that connect us to the earth and our environment. No experience is required.

Scottish Country Dance Workshop
2pm

The Castle Point Scottish Country Dancers come from all over the tri-state area to perform at Mohonk Mountain House and have chosen to name their demonstration team in honor of the Scottish Weekend at Mohonk. This is always a popular workshop and combines fun and exercise! Learn the basics of Scottish Country Dancing, the social dancing of Scotland. Led by Emily Ritter, a teacher of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Association with the Castle Point Scottish Country Dancers, this workshop is for everyone, and no previous experience or partner is necessary to participate! Simply come willing to have a tremendous amount of fun and learn dances that are enjoyed all over the world today.

From Warp and Weft to Waulking
3pm

Follow the traditional practice of cloth production in the Highlands and Islands, and participate in a real Waulking (milling) of handwoven cloth with Gaelic song. Caroline Bennett is a weaver and singer and regularly weaves blankets and cloth for clothing. She takes this cloth to Cape Breton each summer where she gathers friends to participate in a traditional milling, as they call it in Cape Breton. There have been Gaelic singers over 100 years old at these events held in the home of Angus MacLeod. Today Caroline will bring some cloth, fresh off the loom, for us all to participate in this ancient practice. This is the first time that this has taken place at Mohonk!

Tea & Scottish Treats!
4pm

Join us for afternoon tea and cookies alongside some Scottish treats. Today’s Tea and Cookies will also feature music with Harpist, James Ruff.

Scotch Whisky Tasting
5pm

“To Friar John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae, VIII bolls of malt.” — Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1 June 1495.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association, Scotch whisky evolved from a Scottish drink called uisge beatha, which means “water of life”. The earliest record of distillation in Scotland occurred as long ago as 1494. Please note: Pre-registration is required. $75 per person program fee for admittance. Space is limited. Must be age 21 or over to attend.

Address to the Haggis and Tribute to Robert Burns
6:30pm & 7:45pm

Enjoy the annual procession into the dining room for dinner, followed by a traditional Address to the Haggis, led by David McCormick and the Mohonk Pipe Band Ensemble.

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll mak it whissle;
An’ legs an’ arms, an’ heads will sned,
Like taps o’ thrissle.

-“Address to a Haggis” by Robert Burns

A Classic Scottish Concert
9pm

The performers of the Mohonk Scottish Weekend are pleased to bring to you a very exciting evening of entertainment featuring dance, songs, poetry, and music. Experience the energy and elegance of jigs, reels and strathspeys with the Castle Point Scottish Country Dancers, spirited performances from the Skytop Highland Dancers with traditional highland dance as well as original choreography and musical collaboration; music from Highland Grove and the Mohonk Pipe Band Ensemble. The evening’s festivities are led by Mohonk Scottish Weekend’s David McCormick and this year we feature the theme of “Folklore in the Traditions, History, and Culture of Scotland”.

Informal Scottish Cèilidh Dancing
After Show

Following the evening entertainment, you will have the opportunity to join in Céilidh Dancing in the Parlor led by Emily Ritter This is enormous fun and no experience is needed! Partners are not needed either!

Continuity – Scottish Traditions, Customs & Superstitions
10am

Scottish historian Steve Blamires presents an illustrated and in-depth talk that will delve into the past and present-day celebrations, rituals, customs and folklore of the Scots and, in particular, the Gaelic-speaking areas of the country. Many of these can be reliably traced back two thousand years, others are much more recent but still based on ancient sources. Do you know the origins of the festival we call Halloween? Hint – it has nothing to do with witches and ghosts. What was the folk-medicine remedy for smallpox? How did a Victorian Scottish writer single-handedly change a race of thirty-feet tall aggressive beings into tiny creatures that today decorate children’s nurseries throughout the world? How can you participate meaningfully in a calendar of festivals that have survived for millennia? Join Steve for the answers to these questions and a plethora of other curious, serious and revealing information that may make you think twice the next time you say “Oh, that’s just a superstition.”

The Makers of the Bagpipes
11am

Have you ever wondered how bagpipes are made? Join Mike MacNintch to learn about what goes into making a set of bagpipes, from the wood to the bag, and the reeds. Parts of the instrument in various stages will be shown, followed by a few tunes, of course.

The Singing of Auld Lang Syne
12pm

The singing of Auld Lang Syne is a fond tradition at Mohonk that brings to a close the festivities of the Mohonk Scottish Weekend as we already look forward to next year.