Mona Douglas Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore Collected Writings chiollagh books mannin Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore 2 CHIOLLAGH BOOKS [] William Cashen, William Cashen’s ‘Manx Folk-Lore’ () --- [] Thomas H. Kinrade, Life at the Lhen, Kirk Andreas: ‘Notes on the Lhane Mooar and Largagh Districts of Kirk Andreas’ () --- [] Charles Roeder, Skeealyn Cheeil-ChioleeManx Folk-Tales () --- [] W.W. Gill, Customs and Traditions, Cures and Charms, Fairies and Phantoms () --- -- [] A.W. Moore, Manx Folk-Songs () --- [] Mona Douglas, Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, FolkloreCollected Writings () --- [] A.M. Crellin, Manx FolkloreFairy Legends, Customs and Superstitions () --- Mona Douglas Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore Collected Writings Edited by Stephen Miller Chiollagh Books Isle of Mann ‘Print-on-Demand’ Titles in this series are prepared with the same editorial care and attention as with all titles from Chiollagh Books. However, they are produced in a much smaller number than other titles. As a result it is only economically feasible to reproduce them in a ‘copy-shop’ format. The down-grade in quality is unfortunate, but this is not in any way a reflection upon the worth or value of the material published in this format. This edition first published in by Chiollagh Books Central Drive Onchan Isle of Mann British Isles This Edition © by Chiollagh Books Individual Texts © by the Estate of Mona Douglas Introduction © by Stephen Miller All Rights Reserved --- British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Contents Introduction i (‒) -, Ceremonial Folk-Song, Mumming, and Dance in the Isle of Man () Manx Folk DancesTheir Notation and Revival () The Traditional Dances of Mann () Folk Song and Dance in Mann () The Manx Dirk Dance as Ritual () Some Ritual Dances of Mann () ‘A Chiel’ Amang ’Em’Memories of a Collector on the Isle of Man () Hunting the Dance in Mann () Introduction to The Leighton Stowell Book of Manx Dances () Introduction to ‘Rinkaghyn Vannin’–Dances of Mann (No Date) Lezayre Folklore () Animals in Manx Folklore and Song () -, ‒ Prefaces Manx Folk-Songs, Set () Manx Folk-Songs, Set () Manx Folk-Songs, Set () , ‒ Prefaces Manx Folk Dances, Set () Manx Folk Dances, Set () Sources Mona DouglasA Bibliography Introduction Manx Folk-Song, Folk Dance, Folklore collects reincarnate through still living forms and worthy together all the substantive articles written by Mona element in our national spirit’ (). Continuity was Douglas (‒) outside of her activity as a essential‘it is still … possible to find in the remoter journalist for various Island newspapers throughout spots quite a lot of old people with the genuine her many years as an activist in the cause of matters feeling for song and dancefolk who do these things Celtic and Manx. Several of the articles inevitably as naturally as they speakand it is chiefly from such incorporate material published in earlier pieces. persons … that my descriptions and part- demonstrations of the Manx dances have come’ A collection of the writings of Mona Douglas on (1937). It is restoration not revival in the eyes of Manx traditional cultural forms, their collection and Mona Douglas. revival, has long been overduenevertheless, care is needed with their use. In a piece dating from she ‘As naturally as they speak’the typical conceit of the wrote that ‘much of my own life has been spent Romantic. The unlettered, unaffected folk. This among the shepherds and farmers and fisher-folk to overwhelming need to seek deep-rooted folkways led whom what is officially known as folklore is no mere to an arch piece of fakelore, the so-called ‘Dirk field of scientific enquiry but a vital and important Dance of the Kings of Mann.’ The originator of this part of every-day life; and I have absorbed that point dance, Jack Kermode, was well known as a joker, but of view to such an extent that I feel I am not and Mona Douglas was so taken by it that references to never shall be a satisfactory collector from the the dance occur throughout her writings, even scientific standpoint.’ devoting a single article to the ‘dance.’ An earlier paper from , on animals figuring in Kermode was (apparently) the hereditary ‘possessor’ Manx folklore is a clear, detailed piece of writing of a ceremonial dance performed at the annual based on material collected in the field and presented Tynwald gathering of freeholders of land before the with an apparatus of footnotes detailing informants. King of Mann. In Kermode’s own words‘It’s the It is the very model of an approach to the dance the young Kings of Mann were doing one presentation of material which she sought to reject time, when they would come to be men, and the and which she indeed did so. Druids were teaching it to them. They had to move around the way of the sun, and finish saluting the The introduction to her first publication, Manx Folk- place of the sun’s rising, to bring light and liberty to Songs (), shows her position‘It is true that the people. It’s all in old history, how the Kings from several sets of words are sometimes recorded as the North stopped doing the dance themselves and having been sung to one air; but in such cases I have made a Manxman dance it before them at Tynwald’ tried to choose the best words available. I have also, (). But as Mona Douglas herself wrote earlier in in some cases, found it desirable to select the best , ‘Of the dance itself, however, I can find no trace verses from songs which had too many for all to be in the records of Tynwald, so that if it ever was printed.’ Again, in the second number‘No actual actually performed as part of the Ceremony, it must alteration of traditional words has been attempted have been discontinued at an early date.’ beyond a word here and there to help the sense; but in most cases several variants of the song treated were So how did it come then to the Kermode family? available, and the version given consists of a careful According to Douglas, it must have passed from blend of the best lines and verses from all the being danced by the King of Mann himself to an variants’ (). officer of State, who then passed this privilege on to members of his own family, and ‘that later the actual Mona Douglas was never a collector as such but a dance may have passed out of State usage but revivalist, and it is the Romantic standpoint of the remained as a tradition in a certain family or latter that determined the former. She was concerned families.’ But, as she writes, ‘This is pure surmise, of not to be seen collecting fragmented memories of course, and I do not know of any similar traditional ‘defunct’ folkways‘The attempt to restore the ‘privilege’ dance’ (). Indeed. There is no tradition [folk dance] to its former vigour and suggestion at all that Kermode is simply ‘faking it,’ importance is, therefore not merely the exhuming no willingness to disbelieve such is the desire to and articulating of dry bones, but rather an effort to believe. i To the Romantic folklorist, the so-called ‘Dirk Dance of the Kings of Mann’ is simply too attractive with too many elements to ignore. The Druid myth of origin, the ‘Pagan’ sword-dance, the attendant Sun Worship, the preservation of the dance amongst the peasant fisher-folk after its removal from the Tynwald ceremony, the dance a Celtic custom which even the Norse Kings of Mann felt bound to continue and which was only apparently abandoned when the Island passed into English hands. And the ultimate conceitthat one who has lived among the ‘shepherds and farmers and fisher-folk,’ should be the one to record this dance and see to its ‘restoration.’ Of course, Mona Douglas was not alone in this attitude to folkways, then or even now. ‘A modern and alien life is all about us now, and before its onslaught the old Gaelic culture of our land and race is in danger of being lost unless we can persuade the rising generation to love, appreciate and use our national heritage of artistic expression’ (). That ‘artistic expression’ was essentially the folk dance. There is an echo here of de Valera’s infamous vision of ‘comely maidens dancing at the crossroads and the laughter of athletic youths’ in the new Éire. Dance had the convenience of being obviously a visible spectacle, and an activity which can be easily learnt by all age- groups. The weakness of the Romantic folkloric position is its inability (or its unwillingness) to understand the forces which are leading to the cultural dissolution of the society under its gaze. Instead of a critical reflection, it leads a retreat into a concentration on a set of stylised forms of dance and song which, if continually re-circulated in a fixed and unchanging manner, act as a guarantee of cultural ‘wholeness,’ by an implied link with the past. Given all the above, why then this collection? First of all, Mona Douglas cannot be ignoredshe was active continually until her death in promoting the Celtic cause, admittedly the Celtic cause as she saw it, but active nonetheless. A judicious and balanced summary of her activities and achievements is still waiting to be written and it is hoped that gathering this material together under one cover will help with that project. Secondly, she has a place in the history of the recording and revival of Manx folkways which deserves to be acknowledged. Following on from the latter, her sentiments towards the revival animate still and need to be challenged.