Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Why Are Designer Engagement Rings Locked Away?

By Adrian Jones


Guard those Celtic Wedding Bands

In Orkney, designer engagement rings and Celtic wedding bands are normally carefully locked away behind barricades through the Xmas period. Why are we taking this stance, you may ask? We don't want our designer engagement rings together with other fine jewellery goods like Celtic Wedding bands, falling prey to a very competitive sporting fixture which takes place today.

Fairly recently on www.olagoriejewellery.com we blogged with respect to the annual mass football game named the Ba' (ball) which is played in Kirkwall, setting out just opposite St. Magnus Cathedral. Usually the game is played out on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but this christmas the game will be fought on Boxing Day and January 2nd. Which means men and boys who play in the Ball game will spend Christmas Day with their families for a change. The rules say the game mustn't wind up being played out during a Sunday.

We say 'fought' the Ball as it is a very contested game involving hundreds of individuals who take over the streets in the middle of Kirkwall. There are two sides: the Uppies and in addition the Doonies; the names supposedly taken from Old Norse as the contest appears to be played as far back as Viking times. Joining a team all depends the place where you were born, or where in Orkney you arrived at when you first visited. The names of the teams are shortened versions within the Norse phrases Up the Gates or Down the Gates.

Designer Engagement Rings Under Lock and Key

To get a victory, the team will have to score a goal by taking the cork and leather ball to its specified goal, which varies. The Uppies need to take theirs inland yet the Doonies have a water goal inside the sea or harbour basin. In earlier times the Doonies simply had to truck the Ball, or bring it up the mast of a sailing vessel.

There is a Men's together with a Boy's Ball game played out on each day. It can take a few hours to arrive to their goals. Women would once take an active part in the games but it really was way back on Christmas Day 1945 since there was last a Women's Ball game.

Mass football games once were played through out Scotland, however now only the Kirkwall Ba' and also a couple of others are played. The Norse played a kind of mass football, took it to France,. Then much later the Normans took it with them to England where it had been played at carnivals. Football might have come to Scotland from France where it had been called La Soule.

But do not worry, our designer engagement rings, Celtic wedding bands and other items of intricate jewellery are safely under lock and key and the windows and entrance doors are barricaded throughout the town against property damage caused by the enthusiasm associated with the eager crowds. It's not a quiet period in Kirkwall!




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