defestival1-6, Exercise 3: A Schützenfest and the Highland games

Model answer (check the details):

Similar:
- Both are community events, organised by local clubs, with a parade, competitions and a festival atmosphere.
- Both have a competition at their heart: shooting at a wooden bird in Germany; heavy events, running and piping in Scotland.
- Both claim roots in older times: the shooting guilds of medieval towns; clan gatherings and Highland customs.

Different:
- The Schützenfest is a town or village festival tied to a club, with uniforms and a king; the Highland games are a series of gatherings tied to a place and the Highland identity.
- Beer tents and a funfair are central in Germany, while the Highland games centre on athletics, dancing and music, with a different crowd.

Claims about age:
- The shooting guilds are documented from the Middle Ages, but the present weekend festival is largely 19th century.
- Highland gatherings are older in places, but the present form, with kilts, a set programme and the romantic image, owes much to the 19th-century revival after George IV's visit in 1822 and to Queen Victoria's Balmoral (check).

What it shows: in both countries a festival that feels ancient was shaped by clubs and by romantic movements in the 1800s.