Storytellers in remote places

19th Jun 2008 @ 10.57pm

I recently went on holiday in the Outer Hebrides, beautiful islands off the west coast of northern Scotland. The weather was perfect, so I was fortunate to be able to go on a visit to St Kilda, a further 50 miles off the coast of Harris, and on the very edge of Europe. It has only recently become possible to go, with specially adapted fast boats that take two and a half hours compared to nine hours before.

St Kilda has been occupied by humans for over 2,500 years, despite being so remote and having precipitous and dangerous sea cliffs - the highest in the British Isles. In 1930, the remaining inhabitants were evacuated. Tourists had started appearing in late Victorian times, and brought with them a taste of life beyond catching and eating gannets and other sea birds, by sharing food and other worldly goods. This made the islanders more and more dependent, until finally they elected to leave.

In a museum on St Kilda is an old photograph, of a lady called Oighrig NicCruimein. She was the island Storyteller. Through her, news was passed, and in the long dark winter nights she captivated the community by recounting her memories, and passed on wisdom and knowledge gleaned over the years.

What organisations need to do today is exactly what the St Kildans did then. Provide leadership for the community, turn it into action, and share news, ideas and knowledge. It struck me that, even in such a remote and forbidding place, Storytelling had a crucial place - and was almost certainly a major influence on the decision to leave after 2,500 years of continuous habitation. Only through stories would the community have any idea of what life was like over the sea. Very few of them would have ever left the island. This was change at its most profound.

posted by Paul Honeywell
filed under Misc