A peerie wird
fae da editor
We are in the midst of what is often called
‘the silly season’. End of year functions, school breakups,
Christmas parties, summer holidays looming, Christmas cards to send, presents to buy, food to organize – the list goes
on! If
you don’t have time to read this newsletter now, tuck it for holiday reading!
Shetland is possibly the only part of
Britain where Christmas is celebrated on more than one
date. While Christmas is held on 25th December in most of Shetland,
the island of Foula still holds ‘Auld Christmas’ on the 6th
January. This date links to the Julian calendar the system used in the
past. In 1752 Britain changed to the Gregorian calendar which we use today. There
was considerable resistance in Shetland to changing dates of significant festivals.
Lerwick led the way in 1879 by changing to the 25th December for Christmas celebrations. Gradually over the ensuing decades other areas conformed but Foula and Norwick in Unst remained staunch. Today Norwick celebrations have all but died out leaving Foula remaining strong. So if you have the right connections (and the weather is suitable) you can still
celebrate more than one Christmas!
Yule time celebrations go back to the
Vikings. The winter solstice was marked with a celebration that lasted
24 days. With the arrival of Christianity a mid winter festival of Christmas
was introduced to replace or blend with existing festivities.
In this newsletter we feature the island of Foula and its Yule and New Year’s Day celebrations. We look at NZ
- Shetland Christmas connections, receive feedback from readers, catch up with Society events and so on.
Take care driving over the festive season.
Guid Yule ta wis aa.
Mary Wood
Christmas Connections
Christmas is a time to keep in touch with
friends and kinsfolk. Even though phone calls and Email makes communication
so easy these days, there is still something special about exchanging cards at this time of year.
For some of our members the final date
for sending overseas mail at reduced rates will be firmly kept in mind. Cards,
calendars or gifts will be purchased, messages written and items prepared to post before the deadline. Christmas could be the once a year contact that provides a link between Shetland and NZ. News from folk is keenly looked forward to on both sides of the world.
In days gone by many a Shetland wife living
in NZ baked Christmas cakes to send hame. It is unclear when this practice
started but it took place during World War II. Although there was rationing
in NZ conditions were much tougher in Britain and this was one way practical support could be given. Cakes
were baked, carefully packed into tins, sealed, wrapped and sent on a long sea voyage to arrive in time for the festive season. For some this practice continued into the 1960s.
Shetland and NZ Christmas connections
remain strong and in many members homes on New Year’s Day a 2005 Shetland calendar may replace the 2004 version hanging
on the wall.
Foula
The small island of Foula (3.5 miles by 2.5miles) with a population of about 32 lies 15- 20 miles west of the Shetland mainland. The distinctive silhouette shows its peaks and dramatic sheer cliffs dropping into the sea. The highest cliff rises 1200ft from the Atlantic
Ocean and is the second highest sea cliff in Britain.
The name ‘Foula’ is thought
to come from Old Norse ‘Fugl ey’ meaning bird island. Foula
is a Special Protection Area for Birds and also a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its flora and fauna and for the
geology of its dramatic coastland. The web site www.escapetotheedge.co.uk/foula has this to say “Foula is not the place for peace and quiet – this is the place to come to
if you are ready to embrace nature with all it’s noise, whirlwind pace and sheer vitality…This is home to thousands
of sea birds, all living their lives energetically at full volume.”
Traveling to Foula has always been challenging
and it continues to be so today, hence the island’s remote reputation. The
small exposed harbour and airstrip are weather dependent. Adding to these
difficulties has been a lengthy dispute over crewing the ferry the New Advance. This
resulted in the Shetland Island Council hiring temporary skippers from the UK mainland, at great expense, to keep the service running. Three
options were proposed to resolve the difficulties. The inhabitants of Foula
chose a proposal which would see a Foula based company running the service and the boat being re-graded to a work boat which
would change the certification requirements for crew. These new arrangements
should be in place early next year.
In the book Shetland Norman Newton
says “The island has a famous shipwreck, the Oceanic, (a sister ship of the Titanic) which proved equally
sinkable when it hit a reef of Foula in 1914.” The Shetland Times
has just re-published a book about this incident, details are provided in another section of the newsletter.
To have a peerie peek at Foula check out
www.panphotos.co.uk/shetland/foula
Auld Yule &
Newerday on Foula
On 16 January this year The
Shetland Times had an article about Christmas and New Year celebrations on the Island of Foula. With kind permission we reproduce extracts from this article.
While most folk were taking down their
trees and tinsel last week the people of Foula were putting up their Christmas decorations for their traditional Auld Yule
and New Year celebrations. Celebrated on January 6th, this year
Auld Yule fell on a Tuesday. Foula resident Isobel Holbourn said the day
was an excellent one.
“It was absolutely brilliant. It was such a beautiful day and at night it was bright with a full moon –
almost as light as day outside.
During the day the men were out at the
cliffs with their guns as usual, shooting tin cans and balloons on the beach.
I went to see what the next door bairns had got from Santy and we went to visit old folk during the day. We all went visiting through all the houses too.
Around about midnight there were 22 of us in a peerie croft house kitchen
– men, women and bairns. It was just hilarious, we were laughing
and laughing and had such a good time. That was about two thirds of the
island all in one house, with the other third all in another one. The bairns
were playing hide and seek round the yards out in the moonlight.”
On Christmas Day small presents were delivered
to friends and neighbours. “It’s just peerie presents like
home bakes but everyone takes something around. If someone has been especially
good to you through the year you try and take something special to them. Things
like photos as well.”
Mrs Holbourn said “New Year’s
Day was a bit quieter and more moderate than Yule. The first part of the
day was spent doing normal things as the custom on the day was to try and do a bit of everything you would be doing through
the year. The night before all containers in the house are emptied as a
way of ensuring a fresh start.
At night everyone goes out visiting again
and tries to get to houses they missed at Yule. A peerie coarn of drink
is usually taken, just enough to ensure everyone has a good time and the following toast is often said: ‘long may your
lum reek and your stroopie pour’.
She said Foula had some of its own unique
customs for the day. “Some of the old folk have a chant that they
try and say to you before you get a chance to say it to them – ‘my New Year’s gift, my Hansel, my kishie
o dis year’s gloy’. If I recognize a certain woman’s
voice on the telephone on New Year’s Day I have to try and say it quickly before she does.
There’s another thing we do as well. When I came to Foula first I used to go and help an old woman who lived over the burn
and on New Year’s Day she would come with this package and catch me in between the doorway. It’s called a hansel and it is wrapped up in silver paper or Christmas paper. It’s like the gypsies crossing a baby’s palm with silver, it’s for good luck. You aren’t supposed to tell anyone what you’ve got it’s a secret. There are another two rules as well – you aren’t supposed to say thank you and you must
use it all for yourself.”
Although Mrs Holbourn couldn’t divulge
what she had got in any of her hansels, she said you could expect to get something like a bar of chocolate or a packet of
cigarettes if you smoked.
Because Up-Helly-Aa is not celebrated
on the island the school was shut and the Islanders had a holiday on Wednesday.
Spaek awa
(letters to the editor)
Feedback from the Voar newsletter.
Memories
I received the Newsletter this afternoon and enjoyed reading it.
I was feeling a bit ‘Shetlandish’ after hanging a shawl on the hap stretchers that I inherited from
my mother, Maggie, another one of the Isbister tribe of Island Bay. She
and Andrew Jamieson, as newly marrieds, arrived in Wellington on the ‘Ionic’ in 1911. The rest of the family, Mother,
Father, Babsy and Jack Tait, Laurina and Mary came in 1913….the whole damn family!
My dad wasn’t a fisherman, but Mum was a knitter. I
think she would be happy to see the shawl, but who will want the hap stretchers after me?
With all good wishes
Jean Styles
Masterton
Shetland mode
I’m in real Shetland mode right now, so must pen a few lines.
This morning I had a young woman here teaching her to spin. After
she left I took your advice and ‘dipped me doon and had a braaly guid read’!
I love the Shetland words you use in our Shetland Society Newsletter. I’ve
just read every word again in peace.
An hour later I had an unexpected visit from cousin Gilbert Inkster and wife Chrissie up from Nelson for the Pamir reunion this year held in Wellington. More Shetland vibes.
The Island Bay story is so interesting. My Uncle Tom Inkster was a great
friend of Peter Isbister and as a child I remember going out there, his house had a dome on it. My
cousin Gilbert and John Inkster were seafaring mates (cobbers) and in 1970 Gilbert agreed to skipper his fishing boat to the
Chatham
Islands. John was apparently unable to make it.
Another Shetland thing that happened recently was a phone call from a relative from
Mid Yell. He phoned at 4.15am Shetland time having come
home from a wedding. The call concluded with him saying “I’m
not quite sober mind”!
Kind wishes
Geraldine Mason
Waikanae
It is great to hear from readers; feedback,
comments, memories, brickbats & bouquets, so put pen to paper and send them in.
Society News
New members
It’s always nice to welcome new
members and we’re especially pleased to have second and third generation Shetland descendants join the society. Vaila & Richard Finlay and their three children Michael, William and Sarah
have joined in our activities with great enthusiasm. Vaila has a strong
connection with the Society through her Jeromson grandfather. Angela
and Les Hallam also have close associations with us through Angela’s parents, Ralph and Vi Sutherland. Shetland descendant Liz Sutherland has also joined as has Lisa and Kevin Chafe with their children
Alex and Danny. Lisa’s Shetland heritage is given in her middle name,
Moncrieff. The Moncrieff’s hailed from Sandness on the west coast
of Shetland and it has been a family tradition for all the women to be given Moncrieff as a middle name. Marie Warner’s husband Marc is a brother to Lisa.
Obituaries
Very sadly we learnt of Betty Lancaster’s
death whilst her daughter Karen was on holiday here in NZ. A close friend
and neighbour of our Past President Mary Christie, it’s
been several years since Betty left Jefferson Street in Brooklyn to live in Western Australia.
For many years Betty with her husband Ken was a great worker and supporter of the Society, eventually holding the position
of Vice President for over ten years. Although it has been quite a few
years since Betty was last in Wellington,
we know that many of our members will remember Betty’s lively spirit, great organizational skills and her wonderful
hospitality and will join us in mourning her passing. Our condolences go
to Karen and Jimmy and their families.
Our condolences also go to Fay Johnstone
on the death of her husband Sandy who passed away earlier in the year.
Functions
Christmas parade
Sunday
21 November 2004
There were some anxious looks skywards
as Jarl John Freeman led the Senior and Junior Vikings Squads down Molesworth
Street to join the 2004 Wellington Christmas Parade. But the big black cloud did no more than cool the air briefly before the sun shone as strong as ever
for a huge crowd lining Lambton Quay through to Manners Street. We were greeted warmly and were apparently one of the few
floats to interact with the waiting crowds.
Children’s & Members’
Christmas Party
Sunday
5 December 2004
Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so kind to us for our Christmas Party which included a guided tour of the
zoo. We were surprised at the number of parents and grandparents who wanted
to go as well and the weather was no deterrent (even though they needed hot coffee at the end of the tour!). They all enjoyed the tour which was followed
by a few games back at the hall, afternoon
tea and then the highly anticipated visit from Father Christmas.
Christmas Dinner
Saturday 4 December 2004
There were 60 members and friends who
gathered the night before the Christmas Party to share in seasonal goodwill, conviviality as well as gourmet dining. As usual Pat Dixon and her helpers provided us with superb food, shared with
excellent company which could only add up to a great night.
Forthcoming
2005 Functions
Picnic Queen Elizabeth Park
Paekakariki
Sunday 13 February
2005 Viking Ball
Saturday 7 May
Indian Cultural Centre
Kemp St Kilbirnie
New fae kin
(News from kindred Societies)
November and December saw Shetland
Societies throughout New Zealand holding some kind of Christmas function. Our President, Jim
Coutts was invited to the Manawatu Christmas Luncheon to regale them with the inside story of Up Helly Aa. His wife Rose relates the experience as an example of the kind of fellowship we have all enjoyed
through the spirit of Christmas.
We arrived to a kitchen humming with Committee
members, hall and tables resplendent with Christmas decorations, raffle basket at the door. Just
like our Christmas Party! We were made very welcome and immediately met
new people as we caught up with old friends. After a delicious lunch, Manawatu
Secretary Dennis Milne spoke about his visit to Shetland with his wife Judy. Unfortunately
we could only hear snatches of his story as Jim was preparing to give his Up Helly Aa story in full squad dress (and it takes
some time to get it all on!). But I did hear a familiar line from Dennis
“our time in Shetland wasn’t long enough”. Jim made a
very impressive entrance and we both spoke about what it was like to be involved with Up Helly Aa. There was plenty of questions afterwards and by then Jim was feeling the heat of the afternoon –
Up Helly Aa squad dress is not designed for warm southern hemisphere temperatures!
We had a grand time and thank Manawatu for their wonderful hospitality.
To
all our fellow Shetland Society members we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
New publications
The other
Titanic
Simon Martin
In 1914, just after the outbreak of World
War 1, the greatest liner of its day, the White Star Liner Oceanic, struck a remote reef off Shetland and sank. This ‘Queen of the Seas’ was even more magnificently luxurious than
the Titanic and unlike her, a remarkable salvage operation was achieved some sixty years later by two young and relatively
inexperienced divers.
In this book one of these divers tells
the story of the disaster and the remarkable salvage work that he and his partner Alec Crawford undertook. The story was first told in 1980 and is reproduced just as it was originally written, although an introduction
and postscript have been added.
Shetland
Bus Man
Kaare Iversen
Shetland Bus Man is the unique memoir
of a Norwegian Resistance man who escaped from German occupied Norway in 1941. He made the hazardous journey across the North Sea in a small fishing boat with a number of other men to continue the
war against the German force from secret bases in Shetland. During the
first years of this operation these men used the small boats to bring Norwegian people, whose lives were in danger, to Shetland. The operation became known as ‘The Shetland Bus’.
Kaare Iversen was born in Norway in 1918 and on leaving school worked on a pilot
boat with his father and went salmon fishing during the summer months. He
married a Shetland girl, Christina Slatter, in 1944. After he was discharged
from the Norwegian Navy in 1946 he returned to the life of a fisherman and made Shetland his home. Kaare Iversen died in Scalloway in 2001.
Both books are published by The Shetland
Times Ltd and are available from
The Shetland Times Bookshop, 71/79 Commercial St, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 OAJ.
E-mail: bookshop@shetland-times.co.uk www.shetland-bookshop.co.uk
Twa Tree wirds
du maybe dusna ken
hansel a gift to commemorate
an inaugural occasion such as a new baby or new
boat
kishie a straw basket
carried on a person’s back; traditionally
used for carrying peat
lum
chimney
reek
smoke
stroopie teapot
