A map contains within itself both a sense of the past, and of the future.
For, as a complex embodiment of human experience, every map is a record of some previous act of reconnaissance – a gathering-together of information to later be shared with others – whilst simultaneously looking forward in time; pointing beyond itself to moments when others may revisit and surpass its findings.
Map of Stories (mapofstories.scot) – a new, interactive and free-to-use map of Scotland’s oral storytelling traditions and their strong connections with place – is no exception in this respect. Produced across 2022 as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories, Map of Stories attempts the impossible in trying to provide within one, incomplete frame, an image of the dizzying diversity of one of Scotland’s oldest and most unappreciated art forms.
Comprising at present 77 stories (62 specially created film recordings, and 14 audio-only recordings selected from the Tobar an Dualchais collection) scattered across the country from Shetland to Stranraer, Map of Stories invites audiences both at home and further afield to explore the many different shapes and sizes Scotland’s stories take in 2022.
There are ancient myths (such as the timeless tales of Fionn and the Fianna, or the Orkneyinga saga), and community folk tales carefully passed down from one generation to another.
Then there are there are the less-distant accounts of historical folk heroes such as Rob Roy, Màiri Mhòr nan Òran and William Wallace, whose exploits traverse the map of Scotland and beyond.
And, of course, there are also more contemporary stories (some invented by the tellers themselves) that are frequently entangled with local histories, and accounts of larger-than-life characters amongst the community (such as Norman Maclean’s story of the tongue-tied suitor of South Uist.
Many of the tales featured on Map of Stories articulate a strong sense of place. As the Caithness poet George Gunn remarked, they seem to have grown out of the mud, like trees.
There is the story of a close encounter with the trows of Feltar at the Mill of Winyadepla and, as recounted by Shetland fiddler Maurice Henderson, from a story passed down within his family. Or, there is the story of Mary of Ollisdal, as recounted by Glendale’s George Macpherson, about an old woman thought to be in touch with the fairies, which contains within it place names pre-dating any Ordinance Survey map.
The Italian Philosopher Antonio Gramsci believed every language contains within itself a very particular way of seeing the world, and – certainly –many of the stories on the map are best heard in their original language, whether that is the tales of Silly Jack, told by Lumphanan’s Jackie Ross in a rich mix of Scots and Doric, or legendary storyteller Catherine Dix’s account of the advice given to two peat-cutters by the birds of Berneray, which is best heard in Gaelic, from the recording specially selected from Tobar an Dualchais.
And yet, alongside stories emerging from deep experiences of place, many of Scotland’s stories also articulate a certain restlessness, an urge to travel. More than once, in our trips across Scotland piecing together the map, we encountered the same story, in different guises; familiar and yet different.
Alongside those rooted in the land are the equally important stories of diaspora and migration which are less trees growing out of the mud, and more seeds on the wind, travelling from one place to another, across Scotland and beyond.
Scotland’s dynamic oral traditions now include stories from the great many diverse heritages comprising Scotland as a 21st century nation, such as Gauri Raje’s story of her Great Aunt outwitting bandits in India or Mara Menzies’ tale of the terrible fate that befell the boy in Kenya who did not listen to his mother…
Like maps, the stories comprising Scotland’s diverse, living oral traditions are themselves poised between the past and the future: whilst shared with us in the present moment, each story holds within itself echoes of the past (what the great Scottish poet and activist Hamish Henderson once described as the sound of the Niagara; the presence of the great many voices a story has previously been shared by), just as – more quietly – a story also possesses something of the future; containing within itself the beginnings of the onward trail through which it may subsequently be picked up, passed on, and told again.
Map of Stories is, in quite a literal sense, a treasure map, in that it will tell you where to find some of Scotland’s most valuable cultural riches. Like any map, however, it remains significantly incomplete, stuck in a process of becoming.
Given the rich, kaleidoscope diversity of Scotland’s oral storytelling traditions, the stories to-date charted on the map are merely the tip of the iceberg; one small part of the great, shifting, growing mass of Scotland’s stories. And yet: we hope in this respect that Map of Stories, in its very incompleteness, also articulates a certain invitation.
There are so many more stories to find and so, for those seeking to set out on an adventure of their own, we hope Map of Stories serves as a point of departure, in pointing the way towards somewhere new, and beyond ourselves – towards a proximity with experiences other than your own – and into new experiences of place, landscape and story…
Map of Stories is online now and free to use at mapofstories.scot. A series of specially commissioned live events, featuring tellers from the site, are available to stream on a pay-what-you-can basis.
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