Bonspiels
BACKGROUND
Courtesy of Wikipedia – Bonspiel
“Bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Historically prior to the twentieth century many were held outdoors on a frozen freshwater loch. Though not mandatory, curling teams involved in bonspiels often wear theme costumes. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared artificial ice……
………in Scotland itself outdoor bonspiels are now very rare; most lochs which formerly hosted bonspiels have rarely frozen over in recent years, for example Loch Earn.
The word spiel is sometimes used on its own to refer to an informal curling game, for example parish spiel. The most important Cashspiels in Scotland are part of Curling Champions Tour (CCT) which was previously called World Curling Tour Europe (WCT-E)”
I suppose in the general context of Wiki’s definition all games could be considered ‘spiels’. However in Lanark’s case we have 3 main spiels as listed below. And as Wikipedia alludes to they are real social occasions, where in the case of the Opening Spiel it’s great to reunite with members after the summer lay (rain)-off, Xmas is all ‘festive & glitzy‘ and the Closing is saying farewell to members after (what we hope) has been a successful season – till we meet again.