The Gathering, Day 1

"Do you know where Holyrood Park is?" Pa asked a passerby.

"Uh, yeah, it's down at the other end of the Royal Mile,"

Grandma and I groaned.

It wasn't even nine o'clock, and already we were lost.

We had gotten up early so we could get to the Gathering on time, which was a good thing, because we had gone to Edinburgh Castle, way up at the top of the Royal Mile, only to find out we had to go all the way back down again. I didn't mind, though, because it's a really pretty walk. All the old buildings and churches are really old and cool, and along the way we were looking in the windows of the shops. I was amazed at one store we came to that said Edinburgh Trading Company - Established 1320. The highlight of the walk, however, is when a complete stranger ran up to Pa and asked to take a picture with him. So there he was, standing in the middle of the sidewalk in his kilt, taking a picture with a random lady. Grandma said that we could make some good money if we charged people to take pictures with an "authentic Scotsman"

At about 9:30, we had made it down the Royal Mile and into Holyrood Park. The Gathering didn't officially start until ten, but already there was a horde of people flowing through the gates. We flashed the guards our passports and stepped onto the large, grassy field.

I couldn't believe how many people there were already! There must have been at least 1000 roaming the giant park, waiting for everything to open up. We pushed through them and made our way to the main stage. Pa had heard that Prince Charles would be speaking at the opening ceremonies, and he didn't want to miss it.

But when we got to the stage, it wasn't the opening ceremonies. Instead, there were these huge, scary-looking men doing something called "putting the stone". From what I could see, they had to pick up a 22 pound rock and throw it as far as they could. I was more interested in the people sitting next to us. They were Canadian, and from the moment we sat down they were asking us a million questions. Every time a Canadian stone thrower was up, they would leap to their feet and cheer as loud as they could. Every time it was an American's turn, they looked at us expectantly, like we should have been cheering just as loud as they were.

"Yay, America," I said halfheartedly. To tell the truth, I didn't really care if an American could throw a big rock farther than anyone else.

We stuck around for a little while after the putting the stone, but Prince Charles still didn't show up. So we bid our new Canadian friends goodbye and wandered around the Gathering. There was a section of the field called the Clan Village, where each Scottish Clan had set up a tent, but when we got to Clan Fraser, there were a ton of people there, so we decided to come back later. Pa wanted to go whisky tasting, so Grandma and I went to look at the Scottish food. We were inspecting the Chilled Berry Juice tent when a guy in a suit came up to us and said, "If you could just step off the mat for a moment, please," and ushered us onto the wet grass. He moved down the row, shooing everyone off the rubber mat, and that's when Grandma and I realized he was a Secret Service guy. Sure enough, a minute later, a group of important-looking people passed by. Prince Charles wasn't there, so I looked away, but then Grandma said, "Oh! Look!" I looked around to see what she was talking about, and it turned out to be that Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, was standing right in front of us! We could've reached out and touched her if we had wanted to! Grandma and I watched her for a second, but she wasn't very exciting, and besides, both of us smelled something delicious, so we wandered away in search of what was giving off the scent. We soon found it: hamburgers and sausages! Once Pa got back, we ushered him over to the stand, only to discover that the only things they had left were wild boar and apple and pork and leek sausages. Just as I was wondering who would want to eat either of those things, Pa walked up to us with a wild boar and apple sausage. I guess I stand corrected.

After that, we decided to go back to the Fraser tent. This time, no one was there but the Lady Saltoun and her grandson. The Lady Saltoun is like the head of the Fraser Clan. She was an old, frowning lady who looked like she knew just how important she was. Pa went right up to her and started chatting. I sat in a corner with Grandma and hoped that Pa wouldn't make me talk to her.

But of course, he did. He wanted Grandma and me to talk a picture with her, which obviously meant that we had to talk to her. We shook hands, and she said, "How do you do?" I didn't think anyone said that anymore.

Then Pa asked if she and her grandson would take a picture with me and Grandma, and before I knew it we were all standing together as the flash went off. Pa continued to talk with the grandson while Grandma and I wandered off. Pa said later that the grandson was coming to Washington, and that he had offered the grandson to come stay at their house.

I said that didn't think that a Saltoun's grandson who had grown up in a castle all his life would want to come stay with a couple of commoners, but Pa remained convinced.

Soon we'd had enough of the Gathering for awhile, so the three of us went to go walk around downtown and buy gifts for people. Along the way, Pa wanted to take some pictures of us. That was fine, but remember how I said that people in Scotland don't care that you want to take a picture? It took nearly five minutes just to take one picture because people kept walking right in front of the camera. On top of that, each one had to be perfectly zoomed in with the perfect background, so Pa more often than not would miss an opportunity to take a picture because he was trying to zoom in the camera just right. Once, he even made us walk out into the middle of the street onto a little concrete island, and then he stepped into the street to take the picture. Another time, he had us stand in front of a red telephone booth, preventing an old lady from using it. At the Gathering, he had an old man take a picture of the three of us twice because the first time he hadn't gotten the background right. And even though there all these pictures of Grandma and I, so far there only two of Pa.

We went back to the Gathering at around five, and hung out until seven-thirty, when the Clan Parade was supposed to start. The Clan Parade is when everyone at the Gathering gets with their clan and marches up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle. After the March, everyone who took part gets to watch the pageant, which was a play about the history of Scotland. Each clan had its own flag and a sign with their clan name on it. In theory, it should have been easy to find Clan Fraser. But there were about two or three thousand people milling about, and the signs had only been passed out to clans up the letter C. The clans were supposed to be lined up in alphabetical order, but since no one knew where to go, the Hall clan was first and the MacLauchlan clan was in between the Anderson and Armstrong clans. The Fraser clan so far had no flag and no sign, and all its members were MIA.

We pushed our way through the crowd of kilts when finally we saw it: a lady standing in the road wearing the ancient Fraser tartan.

"Frasers?" She asked when we approached. Pa asked her if she knew where we were supposed to be.

"Nobody's given us a sign or told us where to go, and I don't know where everyone is," She answered. "I'm trying to group some Frasers together so they'll give us a sign."

There were four or five other Fraser clan members standing around, and Pa immediately introduced himself and starting chatting with them. The other Frasers seemed concerned that none of their fellow clansmen had shown up.

I thought it'd be kind of funny if there were all these huge clans marching down the street, and then Clan Fraser had seven or eight people.

The ragtag clan snaked its way through the crowd, trying to figure out where it should stand. Along the way,we ran into some more Frasers, and they joined the line of clan members pushing through the horde. By the time we officially found out where we were supposed to be, we were more than twenty strong.

Just when a few old ladies were showing signs of panic, a big white sign was slowly making its way towards us. FRASER, it stated. Another one was right behind it. FRASERS OF LOVAT was its name. Leading both of these signs was a blue flag with three white flowers.

Two event staff members were holding the two Fraser signs, and the flag was being carried by the grandson. Trooping behind them were another twenty Frasers. We still didn't know where the clan was supposed to be, but at least we had a sign. We knew that we were supposed to be in alphabetical order, but the Farquharsons were right in front of us and the Moffats were right behind us.

We were all looking around for Clan Forbes, who we were supposed to be directly behind, when our sign and flag disappeared. They were making their way towards the front of the clans, which was apparently our position. We formed a line tried to follow it, but the crowds wouldn't let us through. Finally, the Fraser at the front of the line made it through the sea of kilts, and the rest of us followed. A middle-aged man from a different clan appeared next to me out of nowhere, also trying to fight his way to the front. He shoved me aside. I shoved him back. I'd like to say that I don't believe in pushing and shoving other people when you're trying to get through. Unless someone shoves you first. Then it's okay.

Finally, we were in the right place, with Fraser behind the Forbes and the Frasers of Lovat behind the Frasers. The horde of people had morphed into a semi-orderly trail. Soon we heard the drums and the bagpipes start up, which meant it was time to move out. Slowly we marched through the courtyard of Holyrood Palace (this is where Queen Elizabeth stays when she visits Scotland) and out to the street. When we turned on to the Royal Mile, I couldn't believe my eyes! It seemed like the whole town of Edinburgh was there to watch the parade! The streets were packed, and there were even some people leaning out their windows! The best part was that some of the people belonged to a certain clan, but weren't in the parade. When their clan passed, they would yell out, "Let's hear it for the Frasers!", and the Frasers in the parade would all cheer. The Fraser clan got a pretty good reception, but the Frasers of Lovat (who, for some reason, are a separate clan from the Frasers) brought down the house. They cheered the loudest, marched the loudest, and got the most cheers from the parade watchers.

"I think all the happy drunks are in the Frasers of Lovat, and that's why everyone loves them," Grandma muttered.

There was a guy in the audience who yelled, "Frasers! The best clan in the world!" We all cheered and waved to him. A few blocks later, he was back! "I love you, Frasers!" He called. "I love you all!" It was almost as good as the ten or fifteen people who were sitting on their second-stort windowsill with their feet resting on the roof of the shop below them and waving their Scottish flags. Honestly, it was kind of weird to have a bunch of strangers cheering for you like you're the best thing they've ever seen just because you belong to a certain clan. It was awesome that they got so excited about the parade. Well, and maybe the people standing outside of the pubs with beers in their hands were just a tiny bit drunk (like the Frasers of Lovat)

We made it up the mile to the Edinburgh Castle courtyard, where there were three huge grandstands slowly being filled by the clans who had completed the mile. We bid goodbye to our fellow Frasers and went up to our seats for the pageant. They were made of plastic, and so close together that I could feel the knees of the person behind me digging into my back for the whole show. This was especially unfortunate for the two overweight women sitting in front of us, who had to take turns sitting on the steps because they couldn't fit into the seats.

We got to our seats at nine, but it didn't start for another hour. I guess this was to give enough time for everyone to get to their seats, since the march was awfully slow. Twenty minutes after we sat down, I peeked down into the street, and they were only up to the Mackays. I sighed, leaned back in my seat, and occupied myself by listening to the lady behind us, who was taking a picture of the family sitting next to her. "I want to remember the people," She was telling them. "The buildings are nice, but I want to remember all the friends I've made."

The sudden booming voice of a lady telling us to turn off our cell pgones made us all jump. This meant that the pageant was starting, though, so I didn't mind much. Withing another five minutes, the actors were all in place, and it had begun. From what I could understand (some of those actors had such heavy Scottish accents that I couldn't understand a word they said), the pageant was about taking pride in your Scottish ancestry no matter where you lived or what happened, and it followed a Scottish family from the 1300's to modern times. I thought it was pretty interesting, but in addition to me not being able to understand them, it was a bit slow and melodramatic at times (but maybe that's just me), and there was something wrong with the sound system, because sometimes the actors would shut their mouths but we could still hear them talking. Despite all these things, I still really enjoyed it, and I was sad when it was over. One thing that was really interesting was Edinburgh Castle itself. It was amazing to think that I was looking at the exact same castle that one of my ancestors might have seen 500 years ago, and nothing about it had changed, at least on the exterior.

It was past eleven by the time we left the courtyard, and we were packed shoulder to shoulder with people trying to get away from the castle. We were stuffed as tight as sardines for a few blocks, until people got into taxis and disappeared down side streets, and we were able to move freely again. We returned the hotel, and the three of us flopped down on our beds and slept soundly for the rest of the night. It was an incredible first day, and we couldn't wait for what was to come!

Love,

Kiera