Giants ready to walk the sand at St Ninian’s Isle as Shetlanders urged to join in
SHETLANDERS are being invited to take part in a giant carnival parade across the famous St Ninian’s Isle tombolo next month.
Twelve-foot high handcrafted puppets will be used during the parade, with has been described as an “ambitious celebration of the islands’ ancient folklore”.
Event director and local artist Alex Purbrick has spent the past few months organising a series of creative workshops to build the puppets and their elaborate costumes.
A music score has also been created, along with choreographed dancing in collaboration with local artists, parents and children.
Their efforts will culminate in a parade across the beach featuring puppets representing ancient giants Gryla and Flukler, a mythical njuggle called Nessa and the Midgard serpent Jormangandr from Norse mythology.
They will be accompanied by musicians from the Bigton Collective and dancers from the Shetland Community School of Ballet.
Around a dozen people are being sought to join a dress rehearsal on Sunday 7 June at Mareel in Lerwick – including “two strong folk” to be the legs and body of the giants.
The carnival itself will take place from 2-4pm on Sunday 28 June and will be free for all to attend, while also being filmed from land and sky by the Shetland Flyer.
Purbrick said around 50 to 60 people had already been involved in bringing the puppets to life and preparing the parade for next month.
The idea was inspired by a family-based artist collaborative in Cornwall called The Lost Giants, who have been making giant puppets celebrating local folklore for the past three decades.
“I got in touch with them and thought it would be great to do something similar in Shetland where we have a lot of local giants in the folklore here, which Paul Moar highlighted in his recent book on Shetland’s mythical giants and trolls,” Purbrick said.
Shetland Arts funding paid for a series of workshops involving families building and decorating the giant puppets, as well as the children of the Bigton Collective composing a score for the event under the guidance of local musician Alice Ritch.
Meanwhile Matthew Lawrence has been working with his ballet school to drum up a costumed dance routine, and Eve Eunson and Maurice Henderson ran a workshop to create some straw skekler outfits to be worn on the day.
“There are lots of giants in Shetland’s folklore,” Purbrick said. “We will have Gryla, an ogress who is connected to the wild hills, and who features a lot in Iceland and Faroe as well as Norway.
“Then we have her consort Flukler who was a wizard giant who lived on Fetlar.
“According to legend he kidnapped a young boy, which led to him getting into a fight with a local mermaid. He is said to have thrown a large rock at the mermaid, which became Mermaid’s Baa off the island.
“I want this to be a joyful carnival to celebrate Shetland’s folklore characters, so we have included Nessa the njuggle and Jormangandr, the Midgard serpent who encircles the Earth in Norse legend, but we’ll also have mermaids and trowies, eagles and ravens, and of course, we have skeklers in their wonderful straw outfits.”
Purbrick said she was still looking for people to carry the puppets, to carry and wave their hands, and to be the legs and body of Nessa and Jormangandr, as well as four folk to become skeklers for the afternoon.
“We’re having a dress rehearsal from 1.30pm-3.30pm at Mareel on Sunday 7 June and all are welcome to join in the fun.”
Anyone wishing to take part can sign up here.
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