What is Intangible Cultural Heritage when it’s at home?

Intangible Cultural Heritage is certainly a mouthful but ICH helps bring to life and maintain the traditional crafts and customs of a place or a people including, dance, music and storytelling! Recently I attended the fabulous Living Heritage Discovery Day at The Scottish Storytelling Centre.

An email in late 2025 from Dr Asha Hornsby at St Andrews University brought a welcome commission to write three stories based on her extensive research into 19^th Century May Day Whaling traditions in the Arctic!

Loving stories and songs of the sea as I do this was a fabulous opportunity.

Reading the diaries of Scottish Arctic Whaling Surgeons Asha came across descriptions of special crossing the line ceremony at 66 degrees north as they entered Arctic waters. Similar to the celebrations seen crossing the equator, King Neptune came aboard to turn Greenhorns (novice sailors) into Bluenoses (part of Neptune’s clan).  Celebrations started at 8 bells on May Day morning when a garland was also raised up the mast and strung between the Main and Foremast.

The May Day garland comprised of the coloured ribbons given to them by sweethearts and wives at the traditional dance on deck, the night before they left port.

This garland held the luck of the ship and if it were blown away in a gale then another had to be made and if there were no ribbons left, the sailors tore up old clothes to ensure the luck of the voyage.

Thanks to Impact funding from the university, we have been sharing these stories and images from the University Archive with Dementia Meeting Centres around the east coast of Scotland in our May Day Memories workshop. Members were intrigued by Asha’s research especially the diary of young medical student from Edinburgh University one Arthur Conan Doyle! Doyle was introduced to a fellow ship’s surgeon, a Dr Neale – seen here on the right…do his deer stalker and pipe ring any bells?

Singing Arctic Sea Shanties and sharing my stories at each Meeting Centre members also crafted a May Day Garland of their own and shared memories – several recalled washing their faces in the dew and one lady reminisced about dancing around the school Maypole.

“Our Mam took us kids up Arthur’s Seat on May Day Morning, she tied us all together with a rope so we didn’t fall off the cliff in the dark!

The garlands will be on display at The Fisheries Museum in Anstruther at their Harbour Festival at the end of August with a free workshop to make an Anstruther garland on Saturday  29th August. Come along for songs and stories and add a lucky ribbon if you are passing!