Culture and The Arts
The Papa Stour sword dance may be of Norse origin and bears similarities to the long sword dance of the north east of England. A description of the dance appears in The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott.
The writer and journalist John Sands lived on Papa Stour and Foula for a while during the late nineteenth century. The writer, folklorist and musician, George P. S. Peterson was brought up on Papa Stour.
It is also the 'Papa' of Vagaland's poem Da Sang o da Papa men, now adopted as part of the folksong tradition, as set to music by T.M.Y. Manson. The insistent chorus chant, 'Rowin Foula Doon!', is particularly striking.
- "Oot bewast da Horn o Papa,
- Rowin Foula doon!
- Owir a hidden piece o water,
- Rowin Foula doon!
- Roond da boat da tide-lumps makkin,
- Sunlicht trowe da cloods is brakkin;
- We maan geng whaar fish is takkin,
- Rowin Foula doon!"
"Rowin Foula doon!" refers to the fishermens' practice of rowing their open fishing boat out to sea until the high cliffs of Foula were no longer visible. This entailed the boat being some 96 kilometres (60 mi) west of Papa Stour. The 'tide-lumps' are increased swells of unusual size due to the combined action of wind against tide. The resonant final image of the piece is of the fishermen being led back home to Papa by the 'scent o flooers' across the water. This is an example of Vagaland's ability to create a vivid sensual impression of a situation. An extra layer of meaning is added by the knowledge that Da Horn o Papa collapsed in a storm around the time of this poem's composition, so that it is a tribute not just to a lost way of life, but a noted geographical feature.
Read more about this topic: Papa Stour
Famous quotes containing the words culture and, culture and/or arts:
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... we’ve allowed a youth-centered culture to leave us so estranged from our future selves that, when asked about the years beyond fifty, sixty, or seventy—all part of the average human life span providing we can escape hunger, violence, and other epidemics—many people can see only a blank screen, or one on which they project fear of disease and democracy.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)