360 degree summer celebrations

Last year I spent a few months working with Collective, a Gallery in Edinburgh that sits on top of Calton Hill. I had loads of ideas about how to draw on the idea of Gala days, and how we could recreate one. This is an excerpt from the zine I created.

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When I was first asked by Collective to think about the theme of Gala Days and to perform at their gallery, I immediately thought about flower garlands, crowned queens, and communities coming together. Growing up, the Meadows Festival was probably my equivalent of a local Gala day. We would always look forward to the jumble stalls, the parades, the live music, and the atmosphere. It would always rain; that was a given, but we had waterproofs.
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Gala Days happen across Scotland and the rest of the UK. They all have similarities- on the surface they are some form of community celebration that happens ‘simply’ for the joy of it. But each has unique aspects linked to the places they have grown from. 

When you stand on the top of Calton Hill, you can look out over Edinburgh in every direction. This panoramic view is famous, and it inspired me to take a deep dive into the many traditions surrounding Gala days from all of the different places you can see from the hill. 

I see places as holding a lot of knowledge about the past. They can be thought of as elders in themselves, teaching us about what has come before. They act as anchors of cultural continuity. So I really enjoyed having the chance to learn about so many different ways to celebrate our cultures and places during this project. 

PANORAMA: an entire view of any situation as it appears to an observer turning quite around

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​WEST
West from Calton Hill, we can see the former coalfields of Midlothian, stretching towards the shale villages of West Lothian. This area’s Gala traditions are deeply connected to Scotland’s industrial history.
The very first Gala Day may have been held in Loanhead in 1770 when the miners from the Dryden Colliery and their families were invited to celebrate the birthday of local landowner, Lord Lockhart of Carnwath.
Until the latter part of the 18th century, all Scottish miners were thirled, bound to the pits, along with their children. The bondage was continued from generation to generation and it was almost impossible to escape. Even when a colliery owner sold his pit, the miners were included as part of the sale. Those tied to the mines were not granted their freedom until 1779 when an Act declared them free from their servitude. It was to celebrate this new-found liberty that the miners of Bo’ness staged their first Fair.
Many of these original fairs proved to be quite debaucherous - and were converted to ‘children’s fairs’ in order to make them more family friendly! Loanhead Children’s Gala was established in 1903, it has taken place almost every year since, interrupted only by the First and Second World Wars. The event centres on a grand procession through the town, the crowning of the Gala Queen, and a programme of sports and entertainments. In its early years, the gala was strongly supported by local collieries and related industries, which provided decorated lorries for floats and funded musical performances. The involvement of local schools in electing the Gala Queen and her court reflects a broader trend in Scottish galas of being child focussed and linking civic ritual to the rhythms of the school calendar.
These industrial galas were supported by contributions from workers’ wages and company donations. The decline of industries reduced resources, but Galas persist through the efforts of volunteer committees, fundraising events, and the engagement of local schools.
“Oh that was a red letter day, the gala day! That was the only thing we had! The gala day. You had your rubbers and your tinnie wi’ a tape on it, oh yes...A new print frock and rubbers - well plimsolls or what they call them now...Oh we looked forward to the gala day! You had a bag of buns and your tinnie of tea, and then you had racing...and five-a-side football, and then it finished up at night with a dance.” 
Quote from Shale Trail, Almond Valley Heritage trust.