Origins of the Games
Foot-racing, horse-racing and wrestling were a common feature of St Michael's Day (29 September) celebrations while other racing and athletics contests sprang up at fairs on the various holy days as well as at cattle fairs on the quarter days of the Scottish calendar. Similar sporting contests also took place at the conclusion of military musters called wappinschaws that were staged by different clans. The clans' warriors used these events to test their physical prowess in much the same way as modern soldiers engage in physical training. According to one source, it was at one such muster in 1574 that 'tossing of ye barr' (caber-tossing) first appeared on record. Yet these original competitions did not call simply for feats of strength since poets, bards and musicians also performed and competed.

The Modern Games
The formalisation of Highland Games and their establishment as annual events dates from the 1820s, a part of the romanticisation of Highland culture that was rife amongst the British ruling class at the time. Accounts from the games of this period describe a programme of contests that are largely unchanged today: the Invergarry Games, for example, featured 'dancing, piping, lifting a heavy stone, throwing the hammer and running...'. Happily, the more specialised pursuit of 'twisting the four legs off a cow for which a fat sheep is offered as a prize' does not feature in the more civilised repertoire of the modern games. This usually comprises running and jumping, throwing stones or hammers, tugs-of-war, tossing the caber, as well as a variety of piping and dancing competitions.