mánadagur 6. oktober 2014síða 14

Mánadagur 6. oktober 2014 · Nr. 113 14 Sosialurin Hugskot og viðmerkingar – send sms til 225000 Heri Mohr Dear Sir. Please stop your disturbing our standar of living in the Faroe Islands as far as whale hun­ting is concerned. In ol­den dayes fishing and hun­ting whales in Faroese sea territory and fiords was a struggle for existence. A ques­tion of to be or not to be. Older than this phfrase by Shakespeare. In connection with whale hun­ting you ought to know that in the Faroe Islands prac­ti­cally everybody has tradi­tio­nel knowledge and experi­ence in killing animals for food. Say whales, lambs, birds etc. Nowadays we are im­por­ ting ready served chickens, lambs, beef et cetera – with­ out your intervention. So why this discrimination against the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands? Where are your crusades agains kil­ ling chic­kens, ducks, geese, lambs, pigs etc? Quite honestly: why are you meddling in our affairs, in our struggel for cultural exi­stence? Unwearied year by year. Normally all visitors are welcome to the Faroe Is­ lands. Obviosly including mem­bers of your esteemed Soci­ety. In our expectation of your respect for the legis­ la­tion and our old culture. A well-intentioned re­com­ men­dation: please procure the book The old man and his sons (Faroese: Feðgar á Ferð) written by the Faroese author Heðin Brú (1901- 1987). An instructive book illuminating the old Faroese civilization. The best ever written so far. The book has been translated into several languages. By the way; all drama­ti­ za­tion around pilot whal hunts in Faroese water re­ mindes me of a coloured whale round-up in Picture Post seventy odd years ago written by Kenneth Willi­ am­son (1914-1977). He served with the British occupation of the Faroe Islands during World War II; in 1944 he mar­ried Esther Louise Rein of Tórshavn. From 1948- 1957 he was Director of The Fair Isles Bird Observation. Sub­se­quensly he became a Senior Reserch Officer with the British Trust for Orni­to­ logy. Fellow of the Royal So­ ciety Edinburgh. In 1948 he authored the book The At­ lan­tic Islands, a Study of the Faroe Life and Scene. (Wiki­ pedia) The Faroe Islands were oc­ cu­pied by the British forces in 1940. The writer of this let­ter was present when the sol­diers, Lovat Scouts, from Scot­land were trained how to kill the enemy (dummy) with fixed bayonets. One of these young people in that way educated in but­ chery felt indisposed, when he was observing the mass- slaughter in the East Har­ bour in Tórshavn. There´s no comparison be­tween the bayonet lessons and the whales-slaughter: The kapokdummy was not blee­ding and no bowels. In 1944 the Lovat Scouts were in active service in Italy with fixed bayonets and probably no dummy. An other event I dare say in 1942: A school of ”these ocean beasts” entered Nólsoyarfjørð the fiord south-east of Tórshavn. The tide and darkness made the hunt compIicated for the small boates. In spide of the en­tired blackout because of the war a British officer in charge turned on the power­ ful searchlight in order to finde the whales somewhere in the fiord. Extract of the Round-up in Picture Post: ”Half a century ago, com­ mu­nal whale-hunts with Caaing or pilot-whales as their victims, were a feature of Orkney and Shetland life, but it is only in the Faroe Is­lands, two hundred miles to the north of Britain, that this tradition continues and whale-hunts are still con­ duc­ted on a highly organised scale. Schools of these ocean beasts, usually hundreds strong, roam the Atlantic in search of the squids on which they feed, and in most years a few schooles enter the Faroe fiords. As a rule they are first sigh­ted by the fishermen, hand-line fishing for cod in their small bots……. Immediately the foreman arri­ves, he takes charge of pro­ceedings. In consultation with the finding-boat, he de­cides where the school or grind shall be driven ashore. It is not always an easy decision, for the run of the tide, weather and other factors have to be con­si­de­ red. The whales are guided rather than driven, the men herding them in the required di­rec­tion by throwing the kast (a white stone tied to a long line) overboard on the edges of the scool…. The forman gives the order, and the slaughter be­ gins…… When a whale is dead, a large iron hook is driven into its head and a rope is thrown ashore, so that on­ lookers can drag the body on to the quay…. From now on it is hard work for the whalingmen day and night until the meat has been won. A body of men, the vaktarhald, is appointed to drag the har­ bour for such beasts as in dying sank to the bed, an perform other necessary tasks in connection with the dis­tri­bu­tion of the meat. The She­riff´s officers visit each whale in turn, number it, and with a special measuring-rod assess the aquantity of meat it contains. All those who have claims to make, go to the Sheriff´s office, where the clerks record them – all boats from villages outside the Torshaven district, for instance, are entitled to 25 shares, provided tey arrived be­fore the last whale was kil­led. A shipwright and a black­smith are appointed to assess the damages to craft and whaling-gear; some of the grind will be sold by auction to pay for these losses, and a certain amount of the meat is set aside as bonus to the vakthald and others who have done speci­al work.The finding- boat receives the biggest whale of all. Nor does the law discriminate between Faroe­man and foreigner, and if you are ever on holiday in Faroe when a grind takes place you will not be denied a share of the spoils. When all the whales are measu­red, and their value noted, the Sheriff´s officer be­gins to do his sums. He has before him the grind register, containing the name of every name, wo­man and child in his ad­ministra­ tive area…… He allows 24 houres from time of this an­ noun­cement for the meat to be cut and carried away……. To the Faroeman, whaling is not only a necessary means of procuring food, it is also an adventure, a sport, a social celebration. For the evening after a whale-hunt the town­fólk gather in the dance-hall and around the har­bour-head, and cele­ brate their good fortune by joining in the national dance. The origin of the curi­ ous chaindance which they per­form to the hearty rather than musical singing of long an lively ballads that ring out across the water through the twi­light from dusk to dawn.” In 1947 a young faroese girl delivered a lecture on whale hunting at a Swedish folk high scool. The lecture was in Danish and a variant of Scandinavian: ”Grindedrabet er færin­ ger­nes tyrefægtning. Lige­så rolige og vektige som færin­ ger er at vise sine følelser i den daglige omgang, ligeså vold­som og ubendig bliver de i grindedrabets besettelse. Men til forskel fra sydens tri­bunelysne skådespil, har grindedrabet det nære for­ mål at skaffe kjøtt og fett til en lang vinter. Den hval, som vi kal­der grindehval, er en art af tan­ hval, som lever i Nord­at­lan­ ten, hvor den gerne færdes i flok­ke fra 100…. Det hænder, at flokken er større. Hver hval er gerne 3-5 meter lang, men kan være 7 meter. Det er klart, at et sådant dyr er en god madforsyning….. Grindedrabet er et ekte fær­øsk foretagende, et vilt og voldsamt skådespil, som en inte ser noget andet sted. I flere hundrede år har færingerne drevet grin­de­ fang­sten på samme måde. Fra gam­mel tid af er der gjort man­ge love og forskrifter for grindedrabet. Bedre end noget andet viser dette den be­tyd­ning, fangsten har haft gennem tiderna. Øerne er delte op i distrikter med grin­ de­for­mand for hver bygd og med distriktens sysselmand som øverste leder……. Ofte bliver grinden fun­ det af både, som er ude at sejle……… Alt folket kommer i røre både mænd og kvinder og især børnene. Alt arbejde bli­ver lagt til side, skolene får fri, for lærerne skal med. Om det så sker i kirketiden, så holder præsten op med guds­tjenesten. Grinden er be­trag­tet som gudsgave. En dansk folketingsmand op­levede, medens han holdt po­li­tisk møde derhjemme, at alle tilhørerne pludselig mis­tede interessen for hans guld­korn, og under larm og og gång veltede stole, og alle skyndte sig ud, stod han en­ sam kvar. Han kunde ikki for­stå, hvad det var, før en kom til ham og berettede for ham, at det var grindaboð, og ef­terat forstod han det nok. I hjemmene er det fult oprør. Kvindfolkene skyn­ der sig at finde klæder og olietøj frem til mændene, og kommer lidt mad i en mad­sæk, men først i en låde for det kan lett blive vådt. Mændene finder frem grin­ de­vå­ben og knive og kroge med line. Og det går brått…… Straks drabet er over, tager sysselmanden og hans hjæl­pe­re fat på fordelingen, som sker efter elgammel meget detaljeret og indviklet regel…… Øvrigheden rekner så ud hur mycke som faller på de for­skel­lige parter……… Det som da er kvar, og det er den største delen, de­les på samtlige invånere i dis­ trik­tet. Alle får like mycke gamle og de nyfødte, rige og fat­tige……. Et færøsk hjem, som ikke har nogen grind kvar, kalder sig for fattigt. Grinden og spæk­ket kan både være sal­ tet og tørket….. Efter grindedrabet er grin­de­dans. Den starter altid med grindevisen, som det er mycke trevligt at være med til.” Vers 1 Årle det var om sommeren, månen skinner så bleg, tågen svinder for solen hen, om nylig af havet steg. (Refræn: Raske drenge grind at dræbe, det er vor lyst.) Vers 58. Højt toner i stille midnatsstund til Herren, som hvalen gav, de fromme salmer fra hjertets grund henover det rolige hav. This ballad ( 58 verses) was written by the efficient and popular Danish Prefect and Commander in the Faroe Islands, Chris­ti­an Pløyen b. 1803 d. 1867. Other ballads are relevant to our whale dancing. Say the drama about several hund­red soldiers hired for pay from Scotland in com­ mand of capt. Georg Sinclair and lieutenant colonel Alex­andr Ramsay landing along the Romsdals coast in Norway 1612. All were killed and gone. The poem (19 ver­ ses) was written in Nor­way 1780. The standard of living in the Faroe Islands was un­chan­ ged for centuries. Our an­ces­ tors lived mainly on sheep- breeding, fish (inshore and hand-line fishing in small boats), privat domestic cows, fowlers (in steep cliffs with danger of one´s life), craft­ manlike work. Finally: For the Faroese whale hunting – fresh, salted and dried meat and blubber – was of vital importance. The stomach inflated and dried was used for storing melted blub­ber, tar et cetra. Inflated with air also used as a buoy to mark the position when fishing at sea. Formerly lack of whale hun­ting caused famine in the Faroe Islands. Whale hunting was a cen­ tu­ries old basis for to be or not to be. Dear Sir. Please stop your trample our culture under foot . Lay that pistol down, is a catching song. Yours faithfully Heri Mohr To Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Att.: Capt. Paul Watson and to whom it may concern. kjak GRINDADRÁP – WHALE-HUNTS