Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1987, Page 31

SANDOYARBÓK
35
conceivable that the collector was not as
well acquainted with »Markusar táttur« as
he was with its authors, and thus we must
conclude that it was the collector himself
who suppressed this text.
The Other Villages in the Parish
If Clemensen’s approach to collecting with-
in Sandur lacked rigor, it was positively
haphazard when it came to ballads from
elsewhere in Sandoy parish. We would
indeed be mistaken if we were to envisage
the collector as zealously plying the paths
between his home and the other villages on
Sandoy or laboring over the oars on his way
out to the islands of Skúgvoy and Stóra
Dímun. On the contrary, it was his inform-
ants who came to him.
Residents of Sandoy parish had numer-
ous reasons to visit the village where Clem-
ensen lived. Sandur was a religious and
administrative center, with both parish
priest and county sheriff located there: peo-
ple who wanted to report births, deaths, or
betrothals (or thefts, smuggling, or run-
away servants) had to go to Sandur to do it.
As the largest village on Sandoy, Sandur,
also attracted its share of visits by relatives
of villagers on various family errands, and
it is interesting to note that Clemensen did
his first collecting from two such visitors -
Gregers Gregersen of við Á in Húsavík and
Thomas Hansen, a servant at á Trøð in
Skálavík. Both of these men were typical of
all of Clemensen’s out-of-town informants:
they were each and every one of them not
only visiting in Sandur when they perform-
ed their texts for Clemensen, but they were
visiting one of his close neighbors and/or in-
formants or even the collector himself.
(Gregersen’s sister-in-law/fostermother
was originally from í Soylu, near Clemens-
en’s home at í Króki, and Hansen’s mother
was from even closer - Janusarstova á
Reyni.)
During the autumn of 1820, just a few
months before he began collecting again,
Clemensen had a matchless opportunity to
hear ballads performed by singers from all
over Sandoy without having himself to set
foot outside the village. During that season
six weddings were celebrated in Sandur, a
remarkable number for a village of around
two hundred souls:
21/9 Rasmus Joensen of uttanfyri Á mar-
ries Christiane Hentze of í Todnesi.
2/11 Mikkel Thomassen of í Stertinum (á
Klettum) marries Elisabeth Peders-
datter of Streymnes on Streymoy.
9/11 Daniel Thomassen of í Klingruni (á
Klettum) marries Anna Maria
Pedersdatter of Glinsiniborg (undir
Reynum).
15/11 Poul Johannessen Dalsgaard of
Skálavík marries Anna Poulsdatter
of í Soylu.
22/11 Hans Eriksen of Grúkhelli (undir
Reynum) marries Elsebet Mikkels-
datter of eystari Endi á Gumpinum
(undir Reynum).
28/11 Rasmus Davidsen of í Horni marries
Sunnevad Joensdatter of á Heyggi.
These often three-day wedding celebra-
tions were premier occasions for the ballad
dance, drawing family and friends of the
bride and groom from far and wide and in-
spiring those of the guests who were
kvæðakempur to put forth their best. It is
easy to imagine that community excite-