Thrawn, Braw and the Great Canadian Kilt Skate

The Scots have a word for it. THRAWN. It describes people who do something with tenacity and conviction. Even if it seems unreasonable to others. It is undoubtedly a Scottish trait that brought them to Canada to start a new life in a strange and cold new land. Another word also personifies Scottish character: BRAW, which loosely can be described as pleasant and enjoyable: FUN.

The pairing of these fundamental character traits makes Scots and Scots-at-heart enjoy a wee bit of challenge and adversity, and face it head on. In Canada, these are people who, in the depth of winter, even on the coldest days, celebrate Canadian Scottishness by strapping on the skates and taking to the ice in kilts. Why? Because it’s fun!

We do this all across the country and in many different ways. Some do it outdoors on community rinks, rivers, lakes and – in Ottawa of course -- canals.  Others kilt skate in indoor arenas.  This may diminish the thrawn element, but doubles down on BRAW when it turns into a bigger party or CEILIDH.

Kilt skaters come together in large or small groups or skate alone as individuals.  People of all ages kilt skate and of all cultural backgrounds too. You don’t need to be Scottish. You don’t even need a kilt. Just wear a bit of Canada’s favourite colour: Tartan! All you really need is to come with a Canadian and Scottish sense of fun and fortitude: braw and thrawn.

What’s a kilt skate like? Whatever you want it to be. Sometimes it is a bit formal, with opening ceremonies, national anthems and dignitaries. Some have refreshments like cake and hot chocolate.  At a kilt skate you’ll find some poised figure skaters practicing graceful pirouettes. And pond hockey players shooting at their improvised nets. Parents and grandparents teach their kids to skate and slide or just enjoying watching from the sidelines. Indoors or outdoors, you’ll often see the Highland fling, hear O Canada sung in Gaelic or – even when it’s so cold that the reeds squawk in protest – the skirl of bagpipes. 

The GCKS is growing as a national event and kilt skating is also catching on in the United States. It all began in 2014 at an Ottawa skating party to celebrate Robbie Burns Day.  The host, SSO’s Don Cummer, invited participants to skate on Ottawa’s Rideau Canal Skateway in their Burns Day kilts. The next year, the SSO wanted to mark the 200th birthday of Canada’s first Prime Minister and asked Don to help organize a kilt skate on a bigger scale. The National Capital Commission offered to make this kilt skate one of the opening events of Winterlude 2015, and provided funding for refreshments, musical entertainment, and even an ice sculpture featuring Sir John A. Macdonald on skates.  The morning of the kilt skate opened sunny and braw, but with the wind chill, the temperature was forty-below. Nevertheless, some 200 skaters showed up to enjoy the fun.  

The Department of Canadian Heritage also offered financial support for the bicentennial kilt skate, but only on condition that events be held in at least three different provinces.  The SSO worked with Scottish societies in Montreal and Winnipeg, a Highland dancing school in Saskatoon, and a service club in Calgary to organize and promote their own kilt skate events.  They all joined with Ottawa in making January 30, 2015, kilt skate day in Canada.  By 2022, the kilt skate family included 14 Canadian and two American cities, many families and many, many individuals.  Sponsors of the Great Canadian Kilt Skate this year included the Scottish Government and the Government of Ontario.

Over the years, different cities have taken great pride in being named the Kilt Skate Capital of Canada, and more communities have been added to the list of kilt skate partners.  The townships of Glengarry North and Glengarry South alternate hosting a kilt skate event each year, and each has earned distinction for organizing great parties.  Glengarry North was the first community to hold a kilt skate in a hockey-arena and combined it with an indoor ceilidh.  Not to be outdone, Glengarry South created a complete winter carnival, with marshmallow roast, toboggan hill, and horse-drawn wagon rides through the village.

In March 2020, the kilt skate winter carnival earned the Township of Glengarry South bragging rights as the kilt skate capital.  A couple of weeks later, the Covid pandemic shut down social events around the world.  For the 2021 kilt skate season, SSO and its partners across Canada came up with a new idea.  No community events?  Well, why not kilt skate on your own!  Outdoors. Safe.  Socially distanced.  And without the need to find an organization to host a community event.  We called it “the Home Edition” and kilt skating took off in places where it had never been done before.  From across Canada people sent SSO their pictures and videos to be featured on the SSO website.

At SSO’s 2022 Annual General Meeting, Don Cummer stepped down from the Board as National Kilt Skate Director.  SSO’s new Director of Communications, Andy MacCulloch, stepped forward to take over responsibility for working with kilt skate partners across Canada and in the United States.  Under Andy’s leadership, ongoing collaboration of communities nationally, with sponsors and with charities will take the GCKS to the next level. We’re looking forward to being together this winter celebrating Scottish culture with bare knees and ice, good cheer and fun: thrawn and braw.  Come join us!