What are the opening hours?

Saturday 9am - 6pm Sunday 9am - 6pm

http://www.vascottishgames.org/

Virginia Scottish Games, 5089 Old Tavern Road, The Plains, VA (2026)

10/08/2026

Now we really need to get a Highland Cow back to the games! Seán Heely💙

10/05/2026

Interesting read

There is a small knife tucked into the top of every formal Scottish Highland stocking. Most people who see it at a wedding or a military parade assume it is decoration. It is not, exactly. Its origin is more interesting than that.

The sgian-dubh, from the Scottish Gaelic for knife (sgian) and black (dubh), began as something you were not supposed to see at all.

In the Highland clans of Scotland, men routinely carried a small blade concealed beneath the armpit, inside the plaid or jacket. This was the sgian-achlais, the armpit knife. It was practical, unobtrusive, and entirely hidden. Every man carried one as a matter of course. Nobody spoke of it.

The problem arose when a Highlander entered the home of someone he intended no harm to. A hidden blade, even on a peaceful guest, was an affront to the host's trust. The custom that developed was both practical and elegant: you declared your intentions by removing the concealed knife from its hiding place and displaying it openly, tucked into the top of your stocking where the host could see it at all times.

The visible blade meant: I have a knife. You can see it. I am not hiding anything from you.

It was a gesture of transparency that became a gesture of respect, and over time, a gesture of formal good manners.

Through the 18th and into the 19th century, as Highland dress was codified and romanticized following the repeal of the Dress Act in 1782 and the rise of Scottish cultural revival under figures like Sir Walter Scott, the sgian-dubh moved from custom into ceremony. What had once been a practical peace signal became a fixed element of Highland formal dress.

The knife did not change its position. It stayed where the Highlander had placed it when entering a friendly house: visible, at the stocking top, handle above the sock.

Modern versions are often elaborately decorated. Celtic knotwork on the handle. A cairngorm stone set into the pommel. Sterling silver fittings. They are still called sgian-dubh, still worn in exactly the same position, still present at every Highland wedding and military occasion and pipe band performance.

Most of the men wearing one have no idea they are performing a gesture of peaceful intent that their ancestors used to signal they meant no harm.

A hidden thing, made visible. A practical precaution, turned into ceremony. The blade that said trust me is still there, right where you can see it.