Caber Tossing

**davedove** · 12th June 06, 08:23 AM

With the different pictures of Highland games, I got to wondering. What is the practical application of the caber toss? It wouldn't be a practical weapon.

I imagine it could be intimidating though. "My God, that guy in the kilt has a tree trunk, and it looks like he's going to throw it at us!!!!"

**auld argonian** · 12th June 06, 08:36 AM

As with most of the Heavy Events, I can only think that they originated in the way that a lot of screwy things that I've participated in did: a bunch of guys standing around with nothing better to do and, possibly, one too many alcoholic beverages. I'm sure that there is an "official" historical explanation and that one or more of our resident historians will trot it out but I'm sticking to my personal theory.

"Hey...watch this!"

"See that muckle huge tree trunk over there?" "Yeah." "Bet I can toss the demn thing end over end so that it points straight away from me." "You're drunk!" "All the better, then!"

You can see stuff like the hammer throw...imagine being an invading army and getting showered with a torrent of farm implements being hurled through the sky by a bunch of hairy dudes in kilts.

...and that, my son, is why we all love the Highland Games Heavy Events so much...we look at those brawny guys in all of their kilted glory and think, "Better them than me...I'm gonna go get another Guinness."

Best

AA

...and I will be rooting for Kerry Overfelt at the Chicago Highland Games come this Saturday.

**smaughazard** · 12th June 06, 08:52 AM

A rabble of Scots with a dram too much to drink?! Playing with logs, stones, and hay bales(sheaves)?!

Reminds me of the most-common-last-words of a Redneck: "Hey, y'all, watch this…"

**cajunscot** · 12th June 06, 08:55 AM

I'll take a look this evening at Emily Donaldson's "The Scottish Highland Games in America" and see if she had anything to say about the actual origins of the caber toss. It's a reliable source.

Cheers,

Todd

**Pour1Malt** · 12th June 06, 08:56 AM

aye... ai'm wi' AA oan this yin!

blootered Scots invent a' kinds o' games....

golf is a guid example.....

"Jimmy, ai'm ga'in tae hit this wee ba' intae thot gopher hole wi' this crooked stick!"

"Och!, ya arr no!"

**Scottish Chi** · 12th June 06, 01:16 PM

...could it have been used to make a quick bridge across a stream or crevass? Of course with a stream that narrow one might as well just wade across than to chop and limb a tree.

Cheers! Bill

**bangkok kilt** · 12th June 06, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Pour1Malt

aye... ai'm wi' AA oan this yin!

blootered Scots invent a' kinds o' games....

golf is a guid example.....

"Jimmy, ai'm ga'in tae hit this wee ba' intae thot gopher hole wi' this crooked stick!"

"Och!, ya arr no!"

curling would be another one:

"Hey let's throw this stone and use brooms to brush the ice!"

Love the game, but man, who thought of that one.

**Barclay** · 12th June 06, 01:40 PM

Gleaned from wikipedia:

Many think that the caber toss originated with the throwing of logs into enemy battlements or the throwing of logs across rivers to create bridges, or even in the forestry industry.

Doesn't help much, eh? I looked at several sources and nowhere is the origin cited.

**Bil** · 12th June 06, 05:23 PM

I asked this same question when I got into the games 6 years ago. The consistant answer I received was that rivers were used as a means for carrying logs down stream to logging mills. The end-over-end method of caber tossing ensured that the bulk end of the log (being heaved from the bank) would place the log mid stream without worry of bottle necking against the shore line. Seemed a little far fetched but it is the only explanation I have heard, and from way too many sources for me to not believe that there is at least some element of truth to it.

**Yaish** · 12th June 06, 08:04 PM

Some of the Heavy Events have a known base in history. We know the Stone throw events evolved from ancient tests of strength, we know Sheave toss was derived from farm work, and we are pretty sure that Hammer Throw was a test among blacksmiths and the like.

Cabers I think are really just something they added as a "strong man" event, without much practical application. I cant think of anything you can do by tossing a log that way that isnt easier done at least three or four different, quicker ways.