Common Riding
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Common Riding is an annual event celebrated in Scottish Border towns, to commemorate the times of the past when local men risked their lives in order to protect their town and people.
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[edit] Hawick
The Hawick Common-Riding is the first of the Border festivals and celebrates the ancient custom of riding the boundaries of the parish/marches and the capture of an English Flag in 1514. The Common-Riding proper takes place in June on a Friday and Saturday.
The Cornet for the year is elected by the Provost's Council in May. From then until the festival is over the Cornet is an honoured figure in Hawick. The first recorded Cornet was in 1703 and other than the World Wars there has been an unbroken line to the present day.
In the weeks preceding the actual Common-Riding, on each Saturday and Tuesday, the Cornet and his supporters are out on their ride-outs in the course of which they visit surrounding villages and farms. The first of the Cornet's Chases takes place up a hill called the Nipknowes where a local caterer is asked to prepare the customary dish of “curds and cream” for refreshment during the actual riding of the marches. This marks the end of the preliminary procedure.
On the Sunday before the Common-Riding the Council attends the Kirkin' o' the Cornet, a church service. In the afternoon the Cornet's Lass with the Lasses of the two previous Cornets travel to the Hornshole Memorial and lay a wreath.
Following Chases on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings the second major Chase takes place on the Thursday morning when the Cornet carries the Flag for the first time. The Principals visit the local schools where the Cornet asks that the children are given a holiday for the rest of the week. This is of granted and the children and parents join in singing festival songs.
The Colour Bussing, takes place on the Thursday evening in the Town Hall. The Provost and Magistrates are played into a packed Hall by the Drum and Fife Band. Then come the Lasses with the Maids of Honour. The Cornet's Lass carries the Flag to the front of the Hall with her attendants and “busses” the Flag by tying ribbons to the head of the staff. The Flag is given to the Cornet where he is reminding him that it is “the embodiment of all the traditions that are our glorious heritage”. The Cornet is charged to ride the marches of the commonty of Hawick and return the Flag “unsullied and unstained”. The Halberdier then callw on the burgesses to “ride the meiths and marches of the commonty”. Then begins the Cornet's Walk round the town with his supporters.
Early the following morning the Drum and Fife Band set off to rouse the town. At Towerdykeside a ceremony called the Snuffin' is performed, when snuff is dispensed from an old horned mull. Soon the crowd soon disperses to the surrounding pubs for the traditional rum and milk before breakfast, followed by the singing of the “Old Song” at the door of the Tower Hotel, each of the Principals taking it in turn to sing verses.
Following this the Principals, along with upward of 300 followers, mount their horses and process round the town and onto the Nipknowes where the main festival chase takes place concluding in song, toasts and the curds and cream. The riders then set off via Williestruther Loch and Acreknowe Reservoir to ride the marches where the Cornet ceremoniously “Cuts the Sod”. They then make their way to the race-course where, after a programme of horse-racing, the company remounts and proceeds to Millpath where a proclamation is made that the marches have been duly ridden, without interruption or molestation of any kind. This is then followed by more singing and playing of Drums and Fifes and the Flag is returned temporarily to the Council Chambers, where it is displayed. The assembled gathering then eat, sing and dance into the night before seeing in the dawn from the summit of Moat Hill.
On Saturday the town is again roused by the Drum and Fife Band and by 9.30 a.m. they ride to Wilton Lodge Park where the principals lay wreaths of remembrance on the town's War Memorial. The procession then heads for the Moor where horse races are again held.
On the Cornet's return, his official duties end when he ceremoniously returns the Flag to the Provost in the Council Chambers. In the evening there is the Greeting' Dinner - an informal occasion when the company bid farewell to the Left-Hand Man, who as Cornet of two years ago, is wearing his uniform for the last time. Afterwards the guests and principals make their customary tour of the fairground in the Haugh.
Teribus is traditionally sung at many occasions during the festivities.
In March 2007 The Rough Guide tourism book wrote that Hawick Common Riding was one of the best parties in the world. It praises the event, which "combines the thrills of Pamplona's Fiesta de San Fermin with the concentrated drinking of Munich's Oktoberfest". Guide book praises common riding
[edit] Selkirk
The Selkirk Common Riding remembers the young men who rode around their town’s boundaries checking for encroachments by neighboring settlements. The job was one often brimming with danger, with risk of murder or kidnapping never far from the minds of those who ventured out. It also remembers how after the disastrous Battle of Flodden Field only one man from the town (the Town Clerk) returned.
[edit] Langholm
Langholm's Common Riding ("Langholm's Great Day") attracts a large number of Langholmite exiles and also tourists from all over the world. The Public election for Cornet takes place in May..
On Common Riding Day, the last Friday in July, after the Cornet receives the flag, there are three Cryings of the Fair: two outside the Town Hall and one on Whita Hill. The Fair Cryer stands on the back of a horse!
Horses are important, as the cornet and his followers have to be able to ride a horse to get to the Monument* checking the ancient boundaries.
The emblems - Thistle, Spade, Crown and Barley Banna' - are also important.
Common Riding Day is concluded by returning from the Castleholm to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne", dancing polkas on the A7 trunk road, handing back the flag and finally singing of "God Save The Queen."
(*Monument, which was erected in memory of Sir John Malcolm)
[edit] Common Ridings today
Today Common Ridings attract large numbers of crowds gathering from all around the world, as Borderers pay respects to those who risked their lives protecting the townspeople. The mounted procession around the towns' lands is usually lead by a Standard Bearer or Callants, who is picked from the towns' young men.
The oldest Common Ridings are held at Hawick, Selkirk, Langholm and Lauder, with histories tracing back over hundreds of years, though most border towns hold some type of similar event each year.
[edit] References
- Tranter, Nigel, The Story of Scotland, 1987, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
- BBC Scotland news, on Selkirk Common Riding, 15 June 2007, in pictures[1].
