Royal National Mod

The tradition & historical record

The Royal National Mòd (Scottish Gaelic: Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail) is an Eisteddfod-inspired international Celtic festival focusing upon Scottish Gaelic literature, traditional music, and culture which is held annually in Scotland. 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. ¹

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. 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 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 of 1914–1919, the Second World War 1939–1946, and the COVID-19 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. ¹

The Mòd largely takes the form of formal competitions. Choral events and traditional music including Gaelic song, fiddle, bagpipe, clarsach and folk groups dominate. Spoken word events include children's and adults' poetry reading, storytelling and Bible reading, and categories such as Ancient Folk Tale or Humorous Monologue. Children can also present an original drama, 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 [Scottish] Gaelic 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. ¹

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. ¹

There has been some recent criticism of the "Gold Medal" event, which favours the style of Gaelic singing as adapted into the Victorian era art song 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-singing from the Mòd. Furthermore, the Mòd is popularly known as the "Whisky Olympics", which is considered, "either a vicious slur or fair comment". ¹

BBC Scotland has traditionally broadcast Mòd highlights on BBC One, BBC Two 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 MacDonald. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Royal National Mòd”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Royal National Mod is Annual Scottish Gaelic cultural festival in Scotland, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 4 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²