Ceilidh Culture

Historically, Borders fiddles go hand-in-hand with dance culture, rather than a formal concert setting.

For the poorer classes, pairs of fiddlers would often play at 'penny weddings' in the 18th and 19th centuries. As recently as last century, 'penny reels' took place, where men with leather bags would collect a penny for each dance.

The upper classes held balls and house parties, and still managed to dance to fiddle music, even in confined settings, as described in this 18th century report:

'On Wednesday I gave a ball. How do you think I contrived to stretch out this house to hold twenty-two people, and nine couples always dancing? Yet this is true… Our fiddler sat where the cupboard is, and they danced in both rooms; the table was stuffed into the window and we had plenty of room.'

(Alison Cockburn: A Short History of a Long Life)

Also in the 18th century, the Ednam-born poet James Thomson (famed for writing the words to Rule Britannia) describes a Scottish harvest dance in The Seasons:

'While, loose to festive joy, the country round
Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth,
Shook to the wind their cares.
The toil-strung youth,
By the quick sense of magic taught along,
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance.'