Classical Faroese Christmas Carols

Issue: Christmas Carols

Values: Two stamps of 6.00 and 10.00 DKK

Issue: 20-IX-2010

Author: Anker Eli Petersen

Perforation:

Technique: Offset + silver metallic and gloss varnish

Printer: LM Group – Canada

Classical Faroese Christmas Carols

Any country, where people celebrate Christmas, has its own Christmas carols. Classical carols, which have migrated from country to country, and the more local classics, which people automatically associate with Christmas. The Faroe Islands are no exception from this rule. There are numerous Christmas carols in Faroese, and the next three years we shall present some examples.

We start with the undisputed masters of Faroese children’s songs – Hans Andreas Djurhuus and Alexandur Kristiansen.

Á barnaárum ungu – In My Early Childhood
Hans Andreas Djurhuus (1883-1951) is the bright and most popular Faroese poet. During his career he wrote a whole lot of songs, describing nature, everyday life and national pride.
But, especially one part of Djurhuus’ works has become an integrated part of the national mind. As a teacher and poet, it probably came naturally to him to write children’s songs. Easy, optimistic and marvellous texts, which have fascinated Faroese children for generations, and left their stamp on our minds. The princess from Babylon or the butterfly that wanted to marry the fly – they are all an integrated part of the collective Faroese mind.

In the song “Á barnaárum ungu”, H. A. Djurhuus looks back on his childhood Christmas, when he played with the candles. He used to light the candles and put them out, while he waited for the church bells to ring. When the bells started their ringing, he lighted all the candles, and in their lights he imagined the little prince, which brought light and hope to the world.

And years have past since then
And children wait, like I did then,
When the candle light is burning
the memories come back.

Lítla fitta nissa mín – My Sweet Little Brownie
Alexandur Kristiansen (b. 1949) is, like Djurhuus before him, an institution in Faroese cultural life and one of the absolute leading Faroese lyric poets. Since his début in 1968, he has enriched Faroese culture with several collections of poems, translations of novels and short stories and children’s books.

Kristiansen, who also is a teacher, has written and translated numerous children’s songs. His ingenious sense of the nuances in the language is transferred to the children through the words, rhythmic constructions and rhymes. And his, often quite peculiar, figures have become a natural part of the colourful universe of the Faroese children.

During his teaching practice in 1974 or 75, Alexandur Kristiansen wrote and translated several children’s songs for the first class he worked with. One of these songs was the translation of the Danish “Lille søde nissefar”, originally written by Kirsten Pendrup, with music by Gerd Gøssel. The Faroese title was “Lítla fitta nissa mín”, and it was a part of the poems collection “Kannubjølluvísur” from 1977. The same year, or the year after, the song was recorded by the nursery teacher Hjørdis Johansen and her girls. The song about the brownie that looks for the almond in his porridge became an instant hit among Faroese children and has kept its popularity through the years.

My sweet little brownie
here’s some porridge for your plate
Christmas porridge with almonds
Wait, and I shall fill it up.

Anker Eli Petersen

Potatoes and root vegetables

Issue: Potatoes and root vegetables

Values: Two stamps of 6.00 and 8.00 DKK

Issue: 20-IX-2010

Author: Edward Fuglø

Perforation:

Technique: Offset

Printer: LM Group - Canada

Potatoes and root vegetables

Root vegetables are an old food on the Faroe Islands and much older than potatoes, which did not become common until the mid-19th century. Two types of root vegetable were grown: Faroese turnips (Brassica napus) and Norwegian turnips (Brassica rapa), which used to be commonest. Faroese turnips grew down into the soil, so far down that a spade was needed to dig them up, whereas Norwegian turnips grew close to the surface and were easy to pick by hand. The place where root vegetables were grown was called the rótakál. Root vegetables were mainly used for soup, but also for bread, as well as being cooked for dinner together with poultry, for example.

Later on the Faroe Islanders also started growing other root vegetables such as kohlrabi, different turnip varieties and carrots, as the seeds were now available in the shops. From around 1920 there was a growing interest in kitchen gardens among the population, and people began cultivating various sorts of greens in addition to root vegetables. Before the arrival of potatoes, only root vegetables were served with dinner.

For one reason or another stealing root vegetables used to be very common. Therefore, people who grew root vegetables often tried to hide them by planting them among their potatoes so that the potato shoots would conceal the shoots of their root vegetables.

Kohlrabi, which is often called Faroese turnip, is now available in the shops. It comes from foreign seed cultivated in the Faroe Islands, but the conditions mean that it does not grow as big and so has a much better flavour.

Potatoes made their first appearance in Denmark in 1719. As far as the Faroe Islands are concerned, we know that root vegetables were being grown in Torshavn in 1775 and 1799, but it was not until the mid-19th century that it became common to grow potatoes. Many people on the islands can remember Hans Marius Debes's story about the first potatoes arriving in Gjógv in 1835.

To begin with potatoes were cultivated in the same way as cereals and root vegetables, but people soon started earthing them up. They used a mattock or shovel to dig a furrow a foot deep, put fertiliser in the bottom and then planted the potatoes in it before creating a ridge. On Mykines it was long thought that potatoes could only be grown in the infield close to the village, where the weather was particularly good. This spot was called the Land of Canaan. No one tried growing them anywhere else and people who did not own land there ate more root vegetables than potatoes. This changed when people started growing turf, as it turned out that potatoes could actually be cultivated everywhere.

Some places were particularly well suited to earthing up potatoes, however, including Oyran in Sørvágur and the beach in Sandur, where earthing-up continued. The same piece of land was often cultivated every year, with cow manure or artificial fertiliser being used to enrich the soil.

The beach was so deep that it was possible to keep potatoes in what was called a potato pit until well into the spring. People would dig a square hole that was deep enough to be frost-free. To enable them to find the potato pit again, they drew a map of the piece of land and marked the pit. The potato pit did the same job as the turf potato clamps, which were more or less buried in the ground. Some people also kept potatoes in their cellars, but it had to be cool enough or the potatoes would start to sprout prematurely.

Potato cultivation on the Faroe Islands only really got going after a man from Miðvágur on Vágar discovered a new growing method. The potatoes were grown under turf that had been turned upside down, i.e. with the grass facing down. This method of growing potatoes was also called Vágaveltan. It was a very easy way to grow potatoes. They were placed on a narrow strip of grass, then the turf was laid on top, grass to grass, with the soil facing up. This is now the commonest method of growing potatoes, with just a single handful of artificial fertiliser being used between each potato plant.

After 1925, and in the lean thirties in particular, potatoes became very important in Faroese households and dinner was not dinner unless it included potatoes.

So many potatoes were grown in some villages that they could be sold to other villages, which is what happened in Sandur, among other places. In the village of Tvøroyri, for example, there were many people who did not own land and so had no choice but to buy potatoes. These days most people buy imported potatoes in the shops because it is easier, but many people still enjoy growing their own potatoes, which taste much better than the shop-bought variety of course.

Jóan Pauli Joensen

Jens Christian Svabo

Issue: Jens Christian Svabo
Values: Four stamps of 6.00, 12.00, 14.00 and 22.00 DKK
Issue: 20-IX-2010
Author: Anker Eli Petersen
Perforation:
Technique: Offset + Intaglio
Printer: J. Enschedé – Holland

Jens Christian Svabo was born in the village Miðvágur in 1746. His father, who was the village vicar, gave him lessons, until he at the age of 13 attended the so-called Latínskúli (Latin School) in Tórshavn. There young Svabo spent the next six years and gained the necessary knowledge for a higher education.

Together with one of his classmates from the Latin School, Nikolai Mohr (1742-90), Svabo went to Copenhagen in 1765. They started to study political economics and natural history at Copenhagen University. They became the first Faroese ever to study something else than theology. Svabo and Mohr got their philosophicum degree in 1769, but because of poverty, neither got the final exams from the university. Poverty became Svabo’s burden through life. In the seventies he had different temporary jobs, while he worked on memoranda and treatises regarding the improvement of Faroese agriculture and economy. Only a couple of these works were published. It was also in the beginning of this period that Svabo started his work on a Faroese dictionary, of which there exists one transcript, dated 1773.

Apparently Svabo applied for several permanent jobs in this period. But the only known application is regarding a position as bailiff in Smaalenenes County in Norway. He did not get the job. In stead he was offered the old job of the new bailiff, but had to turn it down, because he was not able to raise the necessary financial security. When Svabo’s friend, Nikolai Mohr, had to give up his work on a description of the Faroe Islands, Svabo got his chance to write a new book about the islands. On May 22nd 1781, he travelled back to his native islands to make research about the Faroese resources and economical conditions.

After his return to Copenhagen on September 1st 1782, Svabo wrote a series of articles, which in all make a magnificent work about the Faroes and Faroese conditions in the late eighteenth century. But due to difference of opinions in the Danish government, the work was never published. It was often used as source for other works about the Faroes, but was not published in full before 1959.

The Faroese expedition ruined Svabo. He was heavily indebted, became seriously ill and lived a miserable life in Copenhagen for many years. In year 1800 he went back to the Faroes as a broken man, and lived in poverty in Tórshavn until his death in 1824.

But the legacy of Jens Christian Svabo turned out to be much more significant than the impression one gets from studying his tragic life. He was a true child of the Age of Enlightenment, and continued his scientific work until he died. He was convinced that the old Faroese language was going to die and replaced by Danish. In order to document the language in future, he compiled an impressive Faroese-Danish-Latin dictionary. Things did not turn out as he feared, in stead his work accidentally created an academically interest for the Faroese language. His word collection became the foundation that lead to the creation of Faroese orthography and written language, and the work which has been made since then, in order to preserve the language.

Parallel to the linguistic work, Svabo also created a comprehensive collection of the ancient Faroese ballads. His manuscripts contained 52 ballads, for instance the first transcripts of the great Faroese Charlemagne ballads. Only one of the ballads was published while he was still alive – in a Swedish ballad collection from 1814. This was, by the way, the first printed Faroese text ever.

Though unnoticed in life, Jens Christian Svabo today stands out as one of the greatest Faroese cultural personalities. His ballad collection and the dictionary are invaluable sources regarding language and culture from the eighteenth century, and stand as an outpost for our view further back in time. The description of the Faroes also provides a broad view of the Faroese society in the eighteenth century. Reading his works leaves the impression of a rational and modern thinking Enlightenment man, in a society that barely had made its first steps out of the dark Middle Ages.

Anker Eli Petersen

New Franking Labels 2010

Issue: Franking Labels 2010
Values: Four stamps of 6.00 DKK
Issue: 20-IX-2010
Author: Jóannes Lamhauge
Perforation:
Technique: Flexoprint
Printer:

On 20th September 2010, four new Faroese franking labels will be issued. This is the third issue of Faroese franking labels.

The motifs on this year’s franking labels have been taken from the Faroese national sport, boat racing, and artist Jóannes Lamhauge drew them.

Jóannes Lamhauge’s intention with his drawings was to capture the soul of Faroese boat racing and he therefore chose the motifs that he felt best represented the spirit of the sport.
The first franking label depicts a training session in a rowing boat. We are inclined to forget how much intensive training is necessary to compete in the sport. There are often training sessions up to six times a week during the season – from February to the end of July – so this aspect should not be underrated.

And boat racing competitions must naturally also be included. All of the boats are lined up stem to stem and it’s almost possible to hear Faroese sports reporter Jógvan Arge commentating.
The third franking label provides an impression of the atmosphere in the boat. The expressions on the crew’s faces bear witness to the pain and the unrelenting will necessary to win. The white knuckles, the power, the sweat and all the drama. This motif is seen from the cox’s point of view as he sits in the stern exhorting the crew to row harder.

The winner boat must also be given a place. This franking label shows the crew, rapturous after coming in first, the result of and reward for all their rigorous training.

(Text extracted from the announcing bulletin)