DOCSLIB.ORG

“Restoring to Use Our Almost Forgotten Dances”: Writings on the Collection

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“Restoring to Use Our Almost Forgotten Dances”: Writings on the Collection MONA DOUGLAS “RESTORING TO USE OUR ALMOST-FORGOTTEN DANCES” THE COLLECTION AND REVIVAL OF MANX FOLK SONG AND DANCE MONA DOUGLAS 1 “RESTORING TO USE OUR ALMOST-FORGOTTEN DANCES” 2 “RESTORING TO USE OUR ALMOST-FORGOTTEN DANCES” 1 WRITINGS ON THE COLLECTION AND REVIVAL OF MANX FOLK DANCE AND SONG BY MONA DOUGLAS 2 Edited by Stephen Miller Chiollagh Books 2004 This electronic edition first published in 2004 by Chiollagh Books 26 Central Drive Onchan Isle of Man British Isles IM3 1EU Contact by email only: [email protected] Originally published in 1994 under the title: Mona Douglas: Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore, Collected Writings Reprinted here in a reset 2nd edition, corrected, enlarged, and expanded © 2004 Chiollagh Books All original material by Mona Douglas © 2004 Estate of Mona Douglas Administered by the Trustees of the Manx Museum and National Trust (Manx National Heritage) Details of all texts included in the copyright notice are to be found on pages 77–80 & 121–23 All Rights Reserved isbn 1-898613-15-x CONTENTS 1 Introduction i * “Restoring to use our almost-forgotten dances” 1. Folk-Lore Notes: Lezayre Notes (1916) 1 2. Liverpool Manx Society: Lecture-Recital by Miss Mona Douglas, “Manx Folk Song” (1925) 3 3. Songs of the Manx Nation (1927) 6 4. Ceremonial Folk-Song, Mumming, and Dance in the Isle of Man (1928) 9 5. Twelve Manx Folk Songs, Set 1 (1928) 13 6. Twelve Manx Folk Songs with Manx Gaelic and English Words, Set 2 (1929) 14 7. Animals in Manx Folklore and Song (1930) 16 8. Five Manx Folk Dances, Set I (1936) 25 9. Manx Folk Dances: their Notation and Revival (1937) 27 10. The Traditional Dances of Mann (1941) 35 11. Folk Song and Dance in Mann with Some Notes on Collection and Revival of the Dances (1949) 39 12. Seven Manx Folk Dances, Set II (1953) 47 13. The Manx Dirk Dance as Ritual (1957) 48 14. Some Ritual Dances of Mann (1957) 51 15. Twelve Manx Folk Songs with Manx Gaelic and English Words, Set 3 (1957) 56 CONTENTS 16. ‘A Chiel’ Amang ’Em’: Memories of a Collector on the Isle of Man (1958) 57 17. Story of a Militant Manxwoman: Sophia Morrison was a Champion of Manx Culture (1964) 61 18. Can We Re-Popularise Manx Folk Music and Dance? (1973) 66 19. Manx Gaelic Singing (1973) 69 20. Hunting the Dance in Mann (1973) 70 21. Songs in Manx Gaelic (1975) 74 22. Manx Music: Then and Now (1978) 77 23. The Leighton Stowell Book of Manx Dances (1981) 81 24. Rinkaghyn Vannin: Dances of Mann ([1983]) 84 Sources 87 * “mona douglas came to crammag” 25. “Longing” (1914) 95 26. “Billy the Dollan” (1915) 96 27. Manx-Song and Maiden-Song (1915) 97 28. Learning Manx (1915–16) 98 29. Letters to Sophia Morrison (1915–16) 99 30. The Manx Call to Arms: And the Answer (1916) 100 31. “The Fairy Tune” (1916) 101 32. “Ersooyl” (1917) 102 CONTENTS 33. The Manx Language Society (1917) 103 34. Bessie Cowley (1919) 104 35. Letter from W.H. Gill (1921) 105 36. Letter to J.J. Kneen (1929) 106 37. “The Green Flash” (1929) 107 38. “Aeglagh Vannin: Objects” (1932) 108 39. “Manx Nationalism and Aeglagh Vannin” (1932) 109 40. “A Rallying Song for Aeglagh Vannin” (1934) 112 41. A Manx Primer (1935) 113 42. “‘Ta Mee Nish Keayney’: An Old Manx Song Expanded” (1942) 115 43. “The Laare Vane” (1942) 116 44. The Secret Island (1943) 117 45. Storied Isle (1951) 118 Sources 121 2 appendix Mr J.D. Qualtrough’s Stirring Address to [the] Manx Society (1942) 127 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION Ten years have passed since this collection first appeared under the title Mona Douglas: Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore, Collected Writings (1994) and a reprint has been planned for several years.1 Firstly, to correct the many infelicities of typography that have become apparent, the imposition of house style not being as consistent as was at first thought.2 Secondly, and perhaps inevitably, to add texts overlooked (or disregarded) at the time, the use of the term “collected writings” always a hostage to fortune, especially in an area that is as poorly served bibliographically as is Manx Studies.3 Two of the extra six pieces appearing here in this second edition were found in newspapers as a serendipitous result of working on other topics.4 The inclusion of these two newspaper pieces perhaps calls for a clarification of the selection criteria. Mona Douglas was profilic as a journalist, although she did not follow that as a profession, being employed in the Island’s Rural Library from 1933 until her retirement in 1966. To pursue her in newsprint over the years is a near impossible task and unlikely to bring sufficient reward should it be so embarked on. Compendiums of some of her output of journalism and other occasional pieces do exist,5 but none of her contributions on the subject matter treated with here are worth reproducing, bar one piece.6 1 Stephen Miller, ed., Mona Douglas: Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore, Collected Writings, (Onchan: Chiollagh Books, 1994). 2 The format has likewise been changed so this is also a reset edition as well as being corrected, enlarged, and expanded. Finally, the title has also changed. 3 For the first attempt to list Mona Douglas’ substantive writings see Stephen Miller, “Mona Douglas: An Interim Checklist of Writings on Manx Folkways,” Manx Notes: Folkways and Language 4 (1993). The follow-up to this was Miller, ed., Mona Douglas: Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore, Collected Writings. 4 The six extra pieces are “Liverpool Manx Society: Lecture-Recital by Miss Mona Douglas, ‘Manx Folk Song’,” Isle of Man Weekly Times 14 March 1925, “Songs of the Manx Nation,” Isle of Man Weekly Times 19 March 1927, “Story of a Militant Manxwoman: Sophia Morrison was a Champion of Manx Culture,” This is Ellan Vannin: A Miscellany of Manx Life and Lore (Douglas: Times Press, n.d. [1964]), “Can We Re-Popularise Manx Folk Music and Dance?,” Manninagh 3 (1973), “Manx Gaelic Singing,” Manninagh 3 (1973), “Manx Music: Then and Now,” Manx Life March–April 1978. 5 This is Ellan Vannin: A Miscellany of Manx Life and Lore (Douglas: Times Press, n.d. [1964]), This is Ellan Vannin Again: Folklore (Douglas: Times Press, 1966). The last item reprints many of the pieces from the first title here, often with just slight and only minor changes. The pieces first appeared in the Isle of Man Weekly Times. See too, They lived in i Stephen Miller This collection has been restricted to material appearing, in the main, in academic journals and Insular small press magazines. Also reproduced as well are the forewords and prefaces to both her own and other published collections of Manx folk dance and song. Why then these two newspaper articles? Chronology is the key here. Her first article, a short piece on folklore collected by herself in Lezayre appeared in 1916. The second, on folk dance, was published in 1928. The newspaper pieces are from 1925 and 1927 and gain their inclusion from their early dates, presenting an early view of the activities and attitudes of the young Mona Douglas as she steps into the light as both a collector and a revivalist. On another issue raised by the notion of chronology, in the first edition the texts were grouped together thematically under three headings, namely folklore, folk dance, and folk song. In retrospect, this was a mistake as nothing was gained by such an arrangement, and so the texts now appear here in date order. Inevitably, there is more than a little recycling of material between her pieces, and in the case of the “Dirk Dance of the Kings of Man” elaboration and inflation through the years. Moreover, as regards those years, these twenty-four texts span the years, extraordinary, as it seems, from 1916 to 1983. Mona Douglas was born in 1898 and died only in 1987.7 Throughout all these years, she was continually active in the Celtic cause, never, it would appear, experiencing “burnout” at any stage. Mona Douglas was active, among other things, in teaching Manx folk dancing, and this accounts for not just dozens, but hundreds, and literally so, of Manx people who were taught by her. The catalyst for her revival of Manx folk dancing was the occasion of the English Folk Dance Society in 1929 holding an Easter Vacation School at Douglas and where: […] it came as a great surprise to many of the Manx members of that school, no less than to the English visitors, to find there were still surviving in living memory, in a sufficiently complete state to be recorded and demonstrated, some of the traditional dances of the Island.8 Ellan Vannin (Douglas: Times Press, 1968), We call it Ellan Vannin (Douglas: Times Press, 1970). Another such title is Christian Tradition in Mannin (Douglas: Times Press, 1965). 6 Douglas, “Story of a Militant Manxwoman: Sophia Morrison was a Champion of Manx Culture.” The exception is made because of the personal reminiscence of Morrison that this piece contains. 7 Born 18 September 1898, died 8 October 1987. For obituaries and other notices, see “Obituary: Miss Mona Douglas, MBE,” Peel City Guardian 17 October 1987, “Funeral of Mona Douglas,” Manx Independent 20 October 1987, Margery West, “Death of Miss Mona Douglas,” Isle of Man Examiner 13 October 1987, Joe Woods, “Mona Douglas: A Great Manx Cultural Personality,” Manx Independent 16 October 1987, “Mona Douglas Memorial to be Established,” Manx Independent 13 October 1987.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Manx Traditional Dance Revival 1929 to 1960
    ‘…while the others did some capers’: the Manx Traditional Dance revival 1929 to 1960 By kind permission of Manx National Heritage Cinzia Curtis 2006 This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts in Manx Studies, Centre for Manx Studies, University of Liverpool. September 2006. The following would not have been possible without the help and support of all of the staff at the Centre for Manx Studies. Special thanks must be extended to the staff at the Manx National Library and Archive for their patience and help with accessing the relevant resources and particularly for permission to use many of the images included in this dissertation. Thanks also go to Claire Corkill, Sue Jaques and David Collister for tolerating my constant verbalised thought processes! ‘…while the others did some capers’: The Manx Traditional Dance Revival 1929 to 1960 Preliminary Information 0.1 List of Abbreviations 0.2 A Note on referencing 0.3 Names of dances 0.4 List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Methodology 1 1.2 Dancing on the Isle of Man in the 19th Century 5 Chapter 2: The Collection 2.1 Mona Douglas 11 2.2 Philip Leighton Stowell 15 2.3 The Collection of Manx Dances 17 Chapter 3: The Demonstration 3.1 1929 EFDS Vacation School 26 3.2 Five Manx Folk Dances 29 3.3 Consolidating the Canon 34 Chapter 4: The Development 4.1 Douglas and Stowell 37 4.2 Seven Manx Folk Dances 41 4.3 The Manx Folk Dance Society 42 Chapter 5: The Final Figure 5.1 The Manx Revival of the 1970s 50 5.2 Manx Dance Today 56 5.3 Conclusions
    [Show full text]
  • Europeanfolkdanc006971mbp.Pdf
    CZ 107911 EUROPEAN FOLK DANCE EUROPEAN FOLK DANCE .-<:, t "* ,,-SS.fc' HUNGARIAN COSTUME most elaborate costume in Europe EUROPEAN FOLK DANCE ITS NATIONAL AND MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS By JOAN LAWSON Published under the auspices of The Teachers Imperial Society of of Dancing Incorporated WITH ILLUSTKATIONS BY IRIS BROOKE PITMAN PUBLISHING CORPORATION NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON First published 1953 AHSOOrATKI) SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS. I/TT>. London Mblbourne Johannesburg SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS (CANADA), LTD. Toronto MADB IN QIUtAT DRTTACN AT TTIK riTMAN PRBSB^ BATH For DAME NZNETH DB VALOIS With Gratitude and Admiration Hoping it will answer in some part Iter a the request for classification of historical and musical foundation of National Dance Preface MrlHE famous Russian writer has said: and warlike Gogol "People living proud lives I that same in their a free life that express pride dances; people living show same unbounded will and of a diniate A poetic self-oblivion; people fiery express in their national dance that same and passion, languor jealousy," There is no such as a national folk dance that a dance thing is, performed solely within the boundaries as are known political they to-day. Folk dances, like all other folk arts, follow it would be to define ethnological boundaries; perhaps possible the limits of a nation from a of the dances the and the arts study people perform they practise. The African native of the Bantu tribe who asks the do great stranger "What you dance?" does so because he that the dance will knows, perhaps instinctively, stranger's him to understand of that man's life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sophia Morrison & Josephine Kermode
    THE SOPHIA MORRISON & JOSEPHINE KERMODE COLLECTION OF MANX FOLK SONGS A PRELIMINARY VIEW One of the difficulties of seeing Sophia Morrison and Josephine Kermode as song collectors is that there are no notebooks full of folk songs nor, say, a bundle of sheets pinned or grouped together to conveniently stand out as being the Morrison and Kermode Collection. There is not, for instance, the four tune books that make up the Clague Collection nor the bound transcript of the Gill brothers collecting to hold reassuringly in the hand. Instead, we have loose sheets scattered amongst her personal papers, others to be found in the hands of Kermode, her close friend and it is argued her fellow-collector. Then there are the song texts published in 1905 in Manx Proverbs and Sayings. And then, remarkably, her sound recordings made with the phonograph of the Manx Language Society purchased in 1904, the cylinders now lost. Morrison stands out as one of the pioneers in Europe in putting the phonograph to use in recording vernacular song culture. It is clear, however, that Morrison’s papers and effects have suffered a considerable loss despite them being in family hands until their eventual deposit in the then Manx Museum Library. One always reads through them with a sense that there was once more— considerably more—and so then they can present us at this date only with a partial view of her activities and that any sense or assessment of her achievements as a collector will ever understate her work. She was active as a folklorist, folk song collector, a promotor of the Manx language, and a Pan Celtic enthusiast of note.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Dogs Represent Evil, Having Derived from Odin’S Black Hound in Viking Mythology’
    Cave Canem by Chris Huff The Black Dog phenomenon remains an enduring connection to our ancient history. But many of the ‘facts’ we thought we knew about the phenomenon may not be true after all. Black Dog (henceforth BD) legends and folk tales are known from most counties of England, there are a few from Wales and one example that is known to the author, from the Isle of Man. There are many tales about these spectral animals. Few are alleged, in the popular sources, to bode well for the witness, and there has grown a misleading folklore around the phenomenon which is largely unsubstantiated by the scanty evidence. What exists is a collection of folk tales, spread across the length and breadth of Britain, about large spectral hounds, with black fur, large glowing eyes and perhaps an ethereal glow around them, which may explode, emit sulphurous breath, augur death and misfortune and produce poltergeist-like activity. At the outset I must take pains to point out that any recorded examples of BDs which may be a genuine haunting by a dog which happened to be black have (bar one at Ivelet in Swaledale) been screened out. The evidence presented below is not comprehensive but is believed to be a representative sample of the available recorded cases and thus may produce an insight into the phenomenon, or promote further in-depth study. Some common misconceptions or misrepresentations about the BDs include the following three statements: (1) It has frequently been claimed that the BDs are to be found in the Anglo-Saxon and Viking areas of Britain.
    [Show full text]
  • Alt Sally Anne 2010-08-01 12:11:00 Harry
    2010-08-01 12:11:00 Harry It was an honour to be invited to your party. I hope you enjoyed it as much as the rest of us did! I had a very nice time. alt_sally_anne Only a month before we go back to Hogwarts. Enjoy the last bit of summer hols, and I'll see you September first. alt_harry at 2010-08-03 02:30:29 (no subject) Thanks Sally Anne. It was pretty wizard actually. 2010-08-01 13:41:00 (no subject) 'Sometimes yer the bludger, sometimes yer the bat.' Does that even mean anything? alt_wagstaff Right, you lot. I'll show you who's got the bigger bat. 2010-08-01 15:04:00 ORDER ONLY: Frank, Sirius, Kingsley Check in, my lovelies! At the very least, you three ought to have gotten over your hangovers from last night by now. What's alt_alice the latest? Any luck tracking down Poppy's mysterious man? Whatever you've found, I certainly hope that you keep safe. And what's this "Yes and no" Sirius? You didn't try to infiltrate Harry's birthday party, did you? Because I shall have to be very cross with you if you did. alt_sirius at 2010-08-01 19:59:26 (no subject) Morning, Allie. Er. Afternoon, I guess. I'm not hungover but Frank is. Kingsley already went out and did a reconnoitre of the Knole (at least the southward end) and didn't see anything particular. Last night we spoke to a few of the locals, who were all too quick to tell tall tales of an unauthorised centaur clan taking up residence in Knole Park, the ghost who regularly haunts the inn at Godden Green and most importantly the apothecary's son who made a cake of his life by carrying on a torrid liaison with the Chipstead camp administrator's wife.
    [Show full text]
  • 2002 Scottish Games
    Try our Lindsay's 80/- (Shilling) Brewed Especially for the St. Louis Scottish Games. Schlafly Beer 2t DO Locust, Saint Louis, MO 63 t 03 3t 4-24t -BEER www.schlafly.com CeudMile Failtel ~ ~ "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!" Table of Contents Greetings, and welcome to our Second Annual l Scottish Games & Cultural Festival of the 21st Ceud Mile Failte century! CEO's Message. 2 Ceremonies .. 3 It seems almost like yesterday when we were at the Help ....... ... 4 fun-filled 2001 Games, rain and all. Although a lot has Animals & Birds . ... 5 changed around us, other traditions have been revived Athletics. ...... 6 and solidified. The modern Scottish Games are a British Car Show & Clubs ...... 10 celebration of the deep and rich cultural heritage that Children's Activities .. ..... 11 originated in Scotland and is recognized throughout Entertainment 12 America. We are pleased to continue to present such Overview Schedule ........._.... .... 17 a festive and exciting occasion within Forest Park. Site Map ..................................... 18 The uplifting spirits of Scotland and America will again be intertwined with History/Storytelling 20 culture, heritage, and celebration during the St. Louis Games. We encourage Scottish Genealogy . ..22 you to take the opportunity to be entertained by the wonderful skills of Photo Opportunity ..... ... _.23 competing dancers, athletes, pipers, and drummers. Listen to the folk musicians, Highland Dancing .. 24 storytellers, and Clan historians. View some classics at the British car show, Piping & Drumming ..... 26 and watch the sheepdogs perform. Sample some great food and find unique Clan History ... .... _28 gifts. I guarantee that the assembled tartans of the Clans and the full force of Gaelic .............._.......
    [Show full text]
  • For Peer Review 19 20 Indeed, the Performative and Affective Potential of the Monster Is Something That Recent Human Geography Has 21 22 Interrogated
    cultural geographies On the s paces and movement of monsters: The itinerant Forcrossings Peer of Gef the Review talking mongoose Journal: cultural geographies Manuscript ID CGJ-14-0123.R2 Manuscript Type: Article Keywords: Monster, Monstrous geographies, Mobility, Supernatural, Isle of Man Geographical enquiries of the monster and the monstrous have increased in recent years. Through the accounting of a particular monster that emerged in the Isle of Man in the 1930s, I seek to contribute to these debates. The monster detailed in this paper underscores the argument that the power of the monster lies in both their proximity to familiar spatial and cultural codings, and their distance in the unfamiliarity they perform. However, I argue that the geographical accounts of the monster must focus their attention not only on their ambiguous status, but how they are Abstract: constituted through mobility and movement. It is the constant itinerancy in-between and in-the-between wherein the monster finds its disruption and potential. Furthermore, in exploring monstrous modes of mobility, I argue the monster is best understood as an itinerant crossing that is incessantly and continually emergent. I finish by reminding those interested in monstrous geographies that whilst these strange beings may act as sources of hope and potentiality, geographers must not lose sight of how the monster still has the capacity to warn and to bite. http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/culturalgeog Page 1 of 33 cultural geographies 1 1 2 3 On the spaces and movement of monsters: The Itinerant crossings of Gef the talking mongoose 4 5 6 7 8 Abstract 9 Geographical enquiries of the monster and the monstrous have increased in recent years.
    [Show full text]
  • GD No 2020/0062
    Tuarastyl Vleinoil ANNUAL REPORT 2019/2020 of the Manx Heritage Foundation Undinys Eiraght Vannin ta dellal trading as Culture Vannin fo’n ennym Culture Vannin Incorporating the report Goaill stiagh tuarystal y Ving of the Gaelic Broadcasting Ymskeaylley Ghaelgagh Committee www.culturevannin.im Our year in numbers Nyn vlein ayns earrooyn EXISTING FILMS: The Secret 1800s Bank Vault in Castletown views OUR MOST POPULAR FILM 1,023,828 ONLINE HAD OVER NEWLY UPLOADED: The Isle of Man’s first 1 million UFO sighting? 3,067 views views during the year ON FACEBOOK: Chibbyr Vreeshey: St. Bridget’s Well at the Nunnery 20,600 views Videos added to YouTube 1,546,477 views videos newly uploaded 200 (making a total of 652 videos now available) 158,827 hours of viewing followers to our main Culture Vannin Twitter account, 3,648 with 1,598,000 impressions new audio files Listens in the past year: have been released Over 10,100 224 on SoundCloud (total of 522 now +3,522 on BandCamp available) =13,600 increase in Likes on our #culturevannin 19% main Facebook page images released 323 on Flickr Across our accounts: Facebook Twitter combined likes of pages and total followers on Twitter 14,444 members of groups on Facebook 7,698 across three accounts 1 CULTURE VANNIN ANNUAL REPORT 2019/2020 Contents Cooishyn sthie 03 SOME WORDS FROM OUR CHAIR 04 GOAN VEIH’N CHAAIRLIAGH AIN 05 WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO 06 QUOI TA SHIN AS CRE TA SHIN JANNOO DEVELOPMENT WORK OBBYR VISHEE 07 SOME HIGHLIGHTS 08 PAART DY HALLEEYN CRONNAL A SUCCESS STORY FOR OUR VA COURYN Y VLEIN
    [Show full text]
  • Council of Ministers Annual Report of the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee
    GD No: 2015/0064 Council of Ministers Annual Report of the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee Bing Ymskeaylley Gaelgagh Year ended 31 March 2015 BING YMSKEAYLLEY GAELGAGH Gaelic Broadcasting Committee Report to the Council of Ministers for the financial year 2014-15 Future of the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee The Gaelic Broadcasting Committee is to cease existence as a separate entity but its operations will be continued by Culture Vannin. Details of this change are to be finalised. Periods of membership of the Committee detailed immediately below are provisional. Membership of the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee The Committee membership for the year April 2014 until March 2015 was as follows: Mr Adrian Cain (member until 25.03.19) Mr Robert Carswell (member until 02.08.17) Ms Catherine Clucas (secretary) (member until 02.08.17) Hon. Philip Gawne MHK (member until 02.11.19) Mr James Harrison (member until 02.08.17) Dr Breesha Maddrell (member until 25.03.19 – re-appointed in January 2014) Dr Brian Stowell (chairman) (member until 16.01.18) Background The Gaelic Broadcasting Committee was appointed by the Council of Ministers under Section 12 of the Broadcasting Act 1993, after consultation with the Communications Commission. The Committee consists of a Chairman and not less than three other members. Monies for expenditure by the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee are allocated via the Communications Commission, and claims for expenditure approved by the Committee are sent to the Communications Commission for processing. Concerning radio programmes in or involving Manx Gaelic broadcast by Manx Radio, only Moghrey Jedoonee requires expenditure involving monies allocated to the Committee.
    [Show full text]
  • Canntaireachd: Articulate Music
    H.M. U X. EX-UBRIS uHEW- MORRISON QI CANNTAIREACHD: ARTICULATE MUSIC /. F. CAMPBELL, — — CANNTAIREACHD: Articulate Music ]ji;un.'ATi;u TO tiik ISLAY ^SSOCI^TIOK, 0". IF. C J^ IVC IP B IE Hj !_,, T A T X T I . K A C I r . 14th AUGUST, 188 O. Like a herald of old, or a bard, or a piper, I can staud here on a green knoll, in a yellow fog, out of the field of the fray, and incite jjeople to battle, -with the mustering of the clans in the old forgotten language of MacCrimmen, piper to MacLeod of Dunvegan; of MacAi thur, piper to the Lord of the Isles; of " The Piper o' Dundee; " and of John CanipLell, the Lorn piper, who taught uic fifty years ago how to rouse men with strange words out in the Isles: CuGADH NA SiTH. Battle or Peace. The True Gathering of the Clans. I Hodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin, Hodroho, hodroho, hodroho, hachin, Hiodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin, Hodroha, hodroha, hodroha, hodroha, Hodroha, hodroho, hodroho, hachm, Hiodroho, hodroho, haninin, hiechin, Hodroha, hodroho, hodroho, hodroha, Haninun, hanimui, haninun, haninun, Finishing measure in eight syllables Hiundratatateriri, hiendatatateriri, Hiuudratatateriri, hiundratatateriri. All of which means music; which meant "Almost alike for us battle or peace." GLASGOW: Printed by ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR, 62 Argyle Street. MDCCCLXXX. PIPER'S LA.NaU^aE, 1880. January. —Heard of Ge.sto'» book for the first time. February 5. —Book got. March 20. —Finished a paper rouglily. ,, ^6.—Copied it. May 21. —Got together two pipers and a skilled Uiusitian ,, 22.
    [Show full text]
  • FOLK D:ANCE 'AND DRAMA' (Lecture Delivered in Tbe University Tbeatre on Tbe 3Rd May, 1960)
    FOLK D:ANCE 'AND DRAMA' (Lecture delivered in tbe University Tbeatre on tbe 3rd May, 1960) ByVIOLETALFORD My TITLE says Polk Dance and Drama because I have long specia1ised in the se interwoven subjects, and because. so far as I can judge in a visit to the island, ·Malta possesses some very good comparati'le material in these subjects.:If there is time l would like to bring in the irilprovising singers of Malta who I have been able ta hear and compare them with other _. improvisingbards, especially the Basque Bertsularis. ,and a wonderful bard from Croatia I once heard. :If time. also I would like to touch :on the tradition of Giants. :But one talk of forey .miriutes will be short .indeedand the folklore subjects will perforce be but few. ~ Y:our Maltija - to plunge sttaight inta comparison ~ is. a cer.emoriia1 Country dance when used at Court, that is at the Governor' s State Balls, . a recreational, social' dance when performed by Country people .and others who like to practise their.'own customs. ~ountry dancesare figute dance~, Rounds, Squares according to.. their. shape, ,or in old fashioned language 'Longways for as many .as wili'. :The Country dance is historically an in­ vention' of the English.- not the British. generally, but of the people of England .who were written of as 'the dancing E-nglish. who carded.8 fair presence~. :The dances began to appear in the 'Tudor period after the Med­ ievalCarole had gone out of fashion and died away. :Yetth1s ancient Chain dance does still li'le,'in the form of the famous Farandole 01 P.ro­ vence, the Cramiġnon of the Low Countries and the Ghoros of Greece, and Hi:>ras of the Balkans.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparative Reading of Manx Cultural Revivals Breesha Maddrell Centre for Manx Studies, University of Liverpool
    e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies Volume 2 Cultural Survival Article 4 5-8-2006 Of Demolition and Reconstruction: a Comparative Reading of Manx Cultural Revivals Breesha Maddrell Centre for Manx Studies, University of Liverpool Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/ekeltoi Part of the Celtic Studies Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, Folklore Commons, History Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Linguistics Commons, and the Theatre History Commons Recommended Citation Maddrell, Breesha (2006) "Of Demolition and Reconstruction: a Comparative Reading of Manx Cultural Revivals," e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies: Vol. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://dc.uwm.edu/ekeltoi/vol2/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact open- [email protected]. Of Demolition and Reconstruction: a Comparative Reading of Manx Cultural Revivals Breesha Maddrell, Centre for Manx Studies, University of Liverpool Abstract This paper accesses Manx cultural survival by examining the work of one of the most controversial of Manx cultural figures, Mona Douglas, alongside one of the most well loved, T.E. Brown. It uses the literature in the Isle of Man over the period 1880-1980 as a means of identifying attitudes toward two successive waves of cultural survival and revival. Through a reading of Brown's Prologue to the first series of Fo'c's'le Yarns, 'Spes Altera', "another hope", 1896, and Douglas' 'The Tholtan' – which formed part of her last collection of poetry, Island Magic, published in 1956 – the differing nationalist and revivalist roles of the two authors are revealed.
    [Show full text]