Border Town Festivals

During the summer months each year, the Borders towns come alive with the celebrations of colourful traditional festivals of riding which have their origins in the 13th Century. These times of troubles saw wars with England and lawlessness that created the Border Reivers - a term denoting customary plunder and cattle thieving. In such an age, townspeople would ride the boundaries of their land on horseback - also known as riding the marches to protect their area. This tradition continues in every Border town, where a young man is selected each year to carry the town's traditional Standard or flag whilst the cavalcade of horses and their riders follow. Each year, the Standard is "bussed" - where ribbons are tied to the staff by a selected Lady Busser, in memory of the times when a maiden would attach her ribbon to a knight's lance before battle. Often, a schoolgirl is selected as a Queen of the event and leads processions of school- children in fancy dress parades and festive floats.

Coldstream Civic Week: August
Duns Summer Festival: July
Eyemouth Herring Queen Festival: July
Galashiels Braw Lads Gathering: June
Hawick Common Riding: June
Jedburgh Callants Festival: June
Kelso Civic Week: July
Langholm Common Riding: July
Melrose Festival: June
Peebles Beltane Festival: June
Selkirk Common Riding: June
West Linton Whipman Festival: June
Yetholm Festival Week: June