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Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) nort ...
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fr ...
, Finfolk (sometimes Finnfolk) are Magick shapeshifters of the sea, the dark mysterious race from Finfolkaheem who regularly make an amphibious journey from the depths of the Finfolk ocean home to the Orkney Islands. They wade, swim or sometimes row upon the Orkney shores in the spring and summer months, searching for human captives. The Finfolk (both Finman and Finwife) kidnap unsuspecting fishermen, or frolicking youth, near the shore and force them into lifelong servitude as a spouse.


The Finfolk


Finman

The Finman is described as being tall and thin with a stern, gloomy face. He is said to have many magical powers, such as rowing between
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...
and Orkney in seven oar-strokes, making his ship invisible and creating fleets of phantom boats. He avoids human contact, but is extremely territorial and will wreak havoc on the boats of any fishermen trespassing in 'his' waters, though he may sometimes be deterred by drawing a cross on the bottom of a craft with chalk or tar, for Finfolk abhor the sign of the Christian cross above any other device. The Finman was said to be very crafty and ever prepared to cheat men out of their silver or wives.


Finwife

The Finwife starts her life as a beautiful
mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
bent on acquiring a human husband. Should she succeed, she takes him to live with her in Finfolkaheem, or, on occasion in some stories, goes to live with him instead, as in the story of "Johnny Croy and his Mermaid Bride". If not, the Finwife must take a Finman husband and is often made to go ashore and work as a healer or
spinner Technology * Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Me ...
by her husband, where she is forced to send all her silver home to or risk a terrible beating. She often owns a black cat that can transform itself into a fish to deliver messages to her kin in Finfolkaheem.


Homes

The Finfolk were said to have two homes: the magical underwater world of Finfolkaheem where they lived in the winter, and the island of Hildaland.


Finfolkaheem

According to folklore, the underwater dwelling of the Finfolk, known as Finfolkaheem (literally "Finfolk's Home") is regarded as the place of origin for the Finfolk, and their ancestral home. A fantastic underwater palace with massive crystal halls, Finfolkaheem is surrounded, inside and out, by ornate gardens of multi-coloured
seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such a ...
. It is never dark in Finfolkaheem, because it is lit by the
phosphorescent Phosphorescence is a type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. When exposed to light (radiation) of a shorter wavelength, a phosphorescent substance will glow, absorbing the light and reemitting it at a longer wavelength. Unlike fluor ...
glow of tiny sea creatures at night. Its great halls and vast rooms are decorated with moving underwater draped curtains whose colours move and dance with the currents.


Hildaland

Hildaland (literally 'Hidden Land'), a paradisiacal
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
that was said to either be invisible, hidden just underwater, or surrounded by magical
fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily inf ...
. Whichever, it was rarely glimpsed by humans, and young men and women stolen away there never returned. Nowadays, many people associate the very real island of Eynhallow with the magical Hildaland, touting the tale of The Farmer of Evie as the reason that Hildaland/Eynhallow is now visible and relatively non-magical, though some would say otherwise.


Human abduction

Unlike the "
selkie In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are fou ...
s" made famous by " The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry", the Finfolk are neither romantic nor friendly. Instead of courting the prospective spouse, Finfolk simply abduct them. Regarded as territorial and greedy, the Finfolk, in addition to their lust for humans, have a weakness for
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
, including silver coins and jewelry. According to legend, a possible way to escape abduction is to exploit this Finfolk weakness by tossing silver coins away from oneself. The motivation for the amphibious abductions are inspired, in part, because marriage to a human is preferred over other Finfolk. To capture the unsuspecting human bride or groom, the Orkney Finfolk cunningly disguise themselves and their fins as other sea animals, plants or even as floating clothes. The Finfolk kidnapping attempt begins by approaching the prospective mate cautiously, floating ever closer, until it is possible to leap up and grab the victim. The Finmen often use another tactic, appearing in human form disguised as
fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...
in a row boat, or a
fishing boat A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing. The total number of fishing vessels in the world in 2016 was ...
propelled by
oars An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Rowers grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles is that oars are used exclusively for rowing. In rowing the oar is connec ...
. The Finwife prefers a more natural form, and often appears as a
mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
with long, flowing golden hair, snow-white skin, incredible beauty, and, sometimes, a long fish tail. In some stories, she has a beautiful voice like that of the Greek
sirens Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisc ...
.


Married life

Whatever the method of abduction, the hapless human captive is ferried away (often screaming) to the floating, and sometimes disappearing, mystical island of Hildaland, where the rest of one's days are spent performing rigorous duties as either the husband to the Finwife, or wife to the Finman. Yet another compelling reason for Finfolk intermarriage with humans is that, should a Finwife marry a Finman, she loses both her beauty and mystical charm. As she ages (without a human husband), her ugliness increases in increments of seven years until she becomes the Finwife
hag HAG is a Swiss maker of model trains. The company was founded by Hugo and Alwin Gahler on 1 April 1944 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. The Gahler brothers originally manufactured model trains in O scale but due to competition, particularly by Mär ...
.


References


References in Orkney folklore

* ''The Folklore of Orkney and Shetland'' Marwick, Ernest, W. Batsford, London 1975 * '' Orkneyinga Saga: the History of the Earls of Orkney'' Penguin Books. Palsson, Hermann (Translated by), and Edwards, Paul, Professor (Translated by) New York 1981
"Orkneyjar: the Heritage of the Orkerney Islands"
Towrie S., Website 1996 - 2006


Modern renditions

* ''A Time to Keep and Other Stories'',
George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. Biography Early life and caree ...
, * ''The Wheel of the Finfolk'', R. E. Jackson, illustrated by Peter Warner, Capricorn Books, 1984, * ''The Bone Flute'', Daniel Allison, House of Legends, 2019, {{Fairies Scottish folklore Scottish legendary creatures Mermaids Orcadian culture