These games featured
a tent with genealogists from the Mormon Church who were doing individual counseling.
They did two workshops during the day, one “Basics of Genealogy” and the other “Genealogy
and Your Scottish Records.” Not all games will have this element, but if you
are headed to one, check the schedule on their website before you leave home.
Only pack your genealogy notes and questions, if you can consult with a genealogist.
On the other
hand, every Scottish festival has clan tents or booths. These are almost always
together and separate from the vendors and food purveyors. Most of the booths
have some info for family researchers, if only a map* and list of septs (branch
families). I saw some pedigree charts Saturday so some genealogy was taking
place. I did observe that visitors had to talk to the clans people and not wait
for them to begin the conversation.
As my program
said, in that combination of English and Scottish perhaps spoken or written
only in North America:
“Search for
a bit o’ yer ancestry ‘neath ane o’ the mony clan tents.”
For
information about the larger highland games that might be near you, consult the
website of the Association of Scottish Games and Festivals: www.asgf.org. Next year’s Glasgow Lands Scottish
Festival will be in Look Park, Northampton, Massachusetts Saturday, 18 July 2015,
www.glasgowlands.org.
* To find
where your surname is most prevalent in Scotland, consult the Great Britain
surname project, University College, London, at www.gbnames.publicprofiler.org