Scottish sword dances

[1][2][3] Related customs are found in the Welsh and English Morris dance, in Austria, Germany, Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Romania.

One theory is that King Malcolm III killed a rival chieftain and proceeded to celebrate the victory by dancing over both men's swords.

When it looked as if he would disappear from everyone's sight, the whole frenzied procession halted, the song died away, the music faded, and the dancing contingent froze suddenly and unexpectedly.

When Mary, Queen of Scots married the dauphin, celebrations in Edinburgh on 3 July 1558 included a sword dance performed by dancers in costume adorned with bells.

[11] Scottish courtiers performed a sword dance for Anne of Denmark and Beaumont, the French ambassador, at Hampton Court on 6 January 1604.

[13]Many of the Highland dances now lost were once performed with traditional weapons that included the Lochaber axe, the broadsword, a combination of targe and dirk, and the flail.

[citation needed] The old Skye dancing song Buailidh mi thu anns a' cheann, "I will break your head", may indicate some form of weapon play to music.

'Breaking the head' was the winning blow in cudgelling matches throughout Britain, "for the moment that blood runs an inch anywhere above the eyebrow, the old gamester to whom it belongs is beaten, and has to stop."

Then to the sound of bagpipes he dances a choreographed series of steps and movements between and around the swords, keeping his back straight, arms raised, and hands posed in a certain way.

Illustration from The Book of the Club of True Highlanders showing step patterns and timing of the Sword Dance: http://www.electricscotland.com/history/club/club2%20084.jpg