The Royal National Mòd () is an Eisteddfod-inspired international Celtic festival focusing upon Scottish Gaelic literature,

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

which is held annually in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is the largest of several major Scottish Mòds and is often referred to simply as the Mòd. The Mòd is run by '' An Comunn Gàidhealach'' (The Gaelic Association) and includes competitions and awards.

History

The Mòd was founded by An Comunn Gàidhealach. St Columba's Church, Glasgow, also greatly influenced the Mòd's inception when, in 1891, its choir was invited to give a Gaelic Concert in Oban, presided over by Lord Archibald Campbell."Encouragement to the Gaelic Mod"
in ''The Highlander's Friend Chapter 9'', Highland Cathedral, St Columba's Church of Scotland The concert was attended by much of the Scottish nobility, including Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife. After the concert, the choir were entertained to supper at the Alexandra Hotel, and a description of the entertainment is given in one of William Black's novels. This concert was the prelude to the first Mòd, which was held at Oban the following year and St Columba Choir won the award in the

Choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

competition. The poet, traditional singer, and Highland Land League activist Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (1821–1898), performed in the first Mòd's Gaelic song competition, but she was not awarded a medal. The Mòd has been held most years in October since 1892. The only years in which the National Mòd was not held were during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

of 1914–1919, the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

1939–1946, and the Covid pandemic year of 2020. The "Royal" was not originally part of the name. It is still the practice of the St Columba's Church to send a concert party to start off the fund-raising when the Mòd visits Oban. As well as winning the premier choir competition for the first three years, the congregation has also had many Mòd gold medallists over the years. The Mòd itself has been greatly influenced by the National Eisteddfod of Wales, although it tends to be somewhat more restrained in its ceremonial aspects. According to Ronald Black, "In 1923, following the example of the Welsh Eisteddfod, ''An Commun Gàidhealach'' simplified the structure of its annual poetry competitions into a single contest for a Bardic Crown (''Crùn na Bàrdachd''), the winner to be acknowledged as Bard of An Commun (''Bàird a' Chomuinn Ghàidhealaich'') for the coming year. The man behind the move, not surprisingly, was Angus Robertson, then President of An Comunn. Offering a distinctive middle path between traditional and modern verse, the competition produced much work of note which deserves to be put into perspective... (Many subsidiary prizes remained; Sorley Maclean won a junior one in 1928, while in 1946 Derick Thomson won a gold medal as the most distinguished entrant in the literary competitions generally). The Bard was crowned each year at the closing concert of the Mòd. Astonishingly, unlike in Wales, the winning poem itself formed no part of the proceedings... In 1978 no award was made because no entry was of adequate quality. It was the second time in five years that this had happened, and in March 1979 An Comunn announced that the Bardic Crown would no longer be awarded." A watershed moment took place during the 2011 Royal National Mòd at

Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...

, when the poetry of Lewis MacKinnon, composed in the Canadian Gaelic dialect spoken in Antigonish County,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, won the Bardic Crown. It was the first time in the history of the Mòd that such an award had been granted to a non-Scot.

Competitions

The Mòd largely takes the form of formal competitions. Choral events and

including Gaelic song,

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, bagpipe, clarsach and folk groups dominate. Spoken word events include children's and adults'

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

reading, storytelling and

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reading, and categories such as Ancient Folk Tale or Humorous Monologue. Children can also present an original

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

, and there are prose and poetry competitions in written Scottish Gaelic literature. The Mòd also runs an annual shinty competition, the Mòd Cup, between the two shinty teams closest to where the Mòd is taking place. The winners of each day's competitions are invited to perform in the winners' cèilidhs held every evening. The Mòd is a celebration of cottishGaelic language and culture, which raises its profile and contributes towards the aim of securing its future. Improvements in and the recent mass expansion of Scottish Gaelic-medium education across Scotland has meant that beginning in 2007 the junior fluent speakers' section increased to such an extent that the organisers were forced to extend some Mòd competitions beyond one day. Culturally, the Mòd is comparable to the Welsh Eisteddfod and the Irish Oireachtas na Gaeilge.

The Mòd Fringe

The Mòd draws a large crowd, which leads local venues to put on various events in addition to the official Mòd events. These events are collectively referred to as the Mòd Fringe.

Controversy

There has been some recent criticism of the "Gold Medal" event, which favours the style of Gaelic singing as adapted into the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

art song An art song is a Western world, Western vocal music Musical composition, composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical music, classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is ...

tradition, which was popularized in the early 20th century by Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. Some 21st century Scottish traditional musicians now allege that the contest has long marginalised more traditional singers like the late Flora MacNeil and their styles. This is not a new criticism, however. In conversation with American ethnomusicologist Amy Murray, Fr. Allan MacDonald (1859-1905), an iconic poet in Scottish Gaelic literature, once said that the choral arrangements of Gaelic songs usually performed at the Mòd during its inception were based on "collections noted both on the staff and in Tonic Sol-Fa, with of course all the twists and turns cut out", and were "As though you were to fit a statue into a box by taking off the nose and ears." More recently, Scottish traditional musician Fergus Munro has noted that as Scotland has grown increasingly secularised, as a critic of what he alleges is a growing tendency to exclude both Christian poetry and Gaelic psalm- and

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

-singing from the Mòd. Furthermore, the Mòd is popularly known as the " Whisky Olympics", which is considered, "either a vicious slur or fair comment".

Media coverage

BBC Scotland has traditionally broadcast Mòd highlights on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

and Radio nan Gàidheal. Since its introduction in 2008, BBC Alba has provided coverage in Gaelic. Presenters have included traditional musician, Gaelic speaker and broadcaster, Mary Ann Kennedy and Gaelic broadcaster Cathy Crombie.

Past and future festivals

The Mòd is held each October, and has been held in the following locations throughout

, both

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

and Lowland. These are the host locations to date: *

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

- 1946, 1955, 1964, 1976 * Airdrie - 1993 * Aviemore - 1969 * Ayr - 1973 * Blairgowrie - 1996 *

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

- 1905, 1931, 1991 *

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

- 1902, 1913, 1937, 1959, 1974 * Dunoon - 1930, 1950, 1968, 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, 2018 * East Kilbride - 1975 *

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

- 1899, 1910, 1919, 1928, 1935, 1951, 1960, 1986 *

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

- 2008 * Fort William - 1922, 1927, 1932, 1981, 1985, 1999 *

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

- 1895, 1901, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1933, 1938, 1948, 1958, 1967, 1988, 1990, 2019 * Golspie - 1977, 1995 * Greenock - 1904, 1925 * Inverness - 1897, 1903, 1912, 1923, 1936, 1949, 1957, 1966, 1972, 1984, 1997, 2014, 2021 * Largs - 1956, 1965, 2002 * Lochaber - 2007, 2017 *

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

- 1983 * Oban - 1892, 1893, 1894, 1898, 1906, 1920, 1926, 1934, 1953, 1962, 1970, 1978, 1992, 2003, 2009, 2015, 2024 * Paisley - 2013, 2023 *

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

- 1896, 1900, 1924, 1929, 1947, 1954, 1963, 1980, 2004, 2022 * Rothesay - 1908, 1952 * Skye - 1982 * Skye and Lochalsh - 1998 *

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

- 1909, 1961, 1971, 1987 *

- 1979, 1989, 2001 * Thurso - 2010 * Western Isles - 2005, 2011, 2016 The locations for upcoming Mòds are: * Lochaber - October 2025 * Glasgow - October 2026 * Western Isles - October 2027

References

External links

An Comunn Gàidhealach, organisers of The Royal National Mòd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal National Mod 1892 establishments in Scotland Culture of Scotland Cultural festivals in the United Kingdom Scottish Gaelic language National Mod Folk festivals in Scotland Recurring events established in 1892 Cultural festivals in Scotland Literary festivals in Scotland Shinty Celtic music festivals 1892 in music Festivals established in 1892 Music festivals established in the 19th century Events in Scotland Autumn in Scotland Verse contests