Scotland's crowning glory: Gala days past and present

For communities across Scotland, one of the highlights of the year is the annual Gala day.

A royal coronation ceremony is the norm where a Queen and, sometimes, a Kng are crowned. These are popular annual events in the old coal mining communities of Midlothian and the oil shale towns and villages of West Lothian. Loanhead hosts the longest-running children’s gala in Midlothian. It was first held in July 1923.

Gala day celebrations also take place in some fishing communities. In Cellardyke, the Sea Queen festival celebrates the village's connection to the sea.

The Scottish Life Archive collects, records and preserves Scotland’s social history. This includes documentary and illustrative evidence from Gala days. Our collection includes photographs, objects, ephemera and oral history recordings.

Gala day material, including photographs and film footage, can be useful for tracing family history. They can also tell us about buildings, businesses, public spaces and traditions that have long since disappeared.

A great number of Scottish local festivals capture national and international attention. The Common Riding festival and the Riding of the Marches take place in the Scottish Borders. The Fisherman’s Walks in Musselburgh mark the safe return of the fishermen at the end of the fishing season. Eyemouth’s Festival of the Herring Queen has taken place in the village since the end of the Second World War.

The Beltane fire festival in Edinburgh is a vibrant event that welcomes the beginning of summer. South Queensferry hosts its famous Burryman's Parade where a figure, covered in burrs, walks a seven mile route through the town.

In many Gala day events, children are at the heart of the celebrations. In these communities, the Gala day is something of a rite of passage to end your primary school years. And it's not just the children who get dressed up in costumes - homes are decorated, too.

In mining towns, in the early years of the Gala day, miners would help to decorate. They constructed huge arches in front of the homes of the Queen and her Chief Lady. This would lead to competitions between miners who lived in different parts of the town. They would compete with one other to build bigger and better arches on their street. The practice of building the large green and boxwood arches has now all but died away.