Faroese of the North Atlantic, an Island Nation of Sheep, Sea, and Song

On a cluster of steep green islands far out in the North Atlantic, between Scotland, Iceland, and Norway, live the Faroese, one of the smallest of Europe’s distinct nations. A Nordic people descended from Viking settlers, speakers of a North Germanic tongue close to Icelandic, and heirs to one of the world’s oldest parliaments, they have kept a language, a culture, and a fierce sense of identity on their remote and storm-swept islands.

This is the story of who the Faroese are: where they came from, how they lived by sheep and sea, what they believe, and how they preserved a distinct language and identity through centuries of Norwegian and Danish rule. It is a tale of turf-roofed villages, wind-dried food, and endless ocean, of a people whose ballads and chain dance carry the memory of their islands into the present day.

The Faroese on Film

Origins
The Name
The Language
The Homeland
The Old Way of Life
Society and Community
Religion and Belief
Traditions
Crafts
Food
Festivals
History
Today

Origins

Norse roots — A Norse site in the Faroes, settled by Vikings from Norway in the early Middle Ages.

The Faroese are a North Atlantic people, the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands, a small archipelago of steep green islands set in the ocean between Scotland, Iceland, and Norway. They are a Nordic people, descended above all from the Norse settlers who came to the islands in the age of the Vikings, and they preserve a Germanic language and culture rooted in that Scandinavian past.

The islands were settled in the early Middle Ages, and while there is evidence that Irish monks may have reached them first, it was the arrival of Norse settlers from Norway and the Norse world of the British Isles, from around the ninth century, that peopled the Faroes and gave rise to the Faroese nation. These settlers brought their language, their farming, and their seafaring ways.

In the manner of the wider Norse world, the early Faroese established their own assembly, the Løgting, one of the oldest parliaments in the world, meeting at Tinganes in what became the capital of Tórshavn. This ancient tradition of self-government is a proud part of the Faroese heritage and a link to the age of the settlers.

From these Norse roots, on their remote and storm-swept islands, grew the distinct Faroese people, shaped by isolation, by the sea, and by a hard but proud way of life. Long tied to Norway and then to Denmark, the Faroese nonetheless preserved their own language, traditions, and identity, becoming one of the small but distinctive nations of the North Atlantic.

The Name

The Faroese call themselves føroyingar and their islands Føroyar, a name usually understood to mean the sheep islands, from the Norse word for sheep, reflecting the animal that has been central to island life since the first settlers. The name thus binds the people to their islands and to the sheep that have shaped their way of life.

The islands are known in English as the Faroe Islands and the people as the Faroese, forms derived from the same Norse root. Whatever the precise origin, the name has been borne by the islands since the Norse settlement and carries a strong sense of a distinct North Atlantic land and people.

The Faroese have their own flag, the Merkið, a red cross with a blue border on a white field, in the manner of the Nordic cross flags, which became a cherished symbol of Faroese identity in the twentieth century and is now the official flag of the islands. It expresses the strong sense of nationhood of the Faroese people.

The Faroe Islands are today a self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark, with wide autonomy over their own affairs, and the Faroese name carries a strong sense of a distinct people. Faroese speak of Føroyar and their heritage with deep attachment and pride, conscious of belonging to a small but self-governing Nordic nation of the ocean.

The Language

The Faroese language is central to the identity of the Faroese people, a North Germanic language descended from the Old Norse of the Viking settlers and most closely related to Icelandic and to the extinct Norn of Orkney and Shetland. Along with Icelandic, it preserves much of the character of the old Norse tongue of the North Atlantic.

Faroese is a distinct language, not a dialect of Danish, though Danish was long the language of church, administration, and education on the islands. Its close kinship with Icelandic reflects their common Norse origin, while centuries of separate island development gave Faroese its own distinctive form.

For a long time Faroese existed chiefly as a spoken language, carried above all in the great oral tradition of ballads and in daily speech, while Danish dominated writing and official life. A standard written form of Faroese was created only in the nineteenth century, by scholars such as V. U. Hammershaimb, laying the foundation for a written literature.

The rise of the written language went hand in hand with the growth of Faroese national feeling, and over the twentieth century Faroese won its place as the main language of the islands, now used in schools, church, government, media, and literature. This small North Germanic language, spoken by a whole island nation, is the heart of Faroese identity and a living link to the Norse past.

The Homeland

The homeland of the Faroese is the Faroe Islands, a small group of eighteen steep, green islands rising dramatically from the North Atlantic between Scotland, Iceland, and Norway. It is a land of towering sea cliffs, deep fjords, narrow sounds, grassy slopes, and ever-changing weather, where the ocean is never far and the wind and mist are constant companions.

The islands are treeless and green, their slopes grazed by sheep, their coasts battered by the sea and haunted by vast colonies of seabirds. Spectacular landscapes abound, from the lake of Sørvágsvatn that seems to hang above the ocean, to the sheer bird cliffs, the waterfalls that tumble into the sea, and the tiny villages tucked into sheltered inlets.

The sea dominates life on the Faroes, for the islands are small and the ocean vast, and fishing and the harvest of the sea and its birds have always been central to survival. The weather is famously wet and windy, the winters dark, and the summers cool, and the Faroese have learned to live closely with the moods of the North Atlantic.

At the heart of the islands lies Tórshavn, one of the smallest capitals in the world, its old quarter of turf-roofed houses set on a rocky point, while small villages dot the coasts and valleys. This remote, steep, green, and storm-swept archipelago, ringed by the ocean, is the homeland at the core of the Faroese sense of identity.

The Old Way of Life

For most of their history the Faroese lived by sheep, fishing, and the harvest of the sea and the birds, in a hard but self-reliant way of life shaped by their remote and treeless islands. The sheep, from which the islands may take their very name, were central to survival, providing wool, meat, and milk, and grazing the green slopes of every island.

The traditional Faroese dwelling was a low house of stone and timber, often with a roof of turf, grouped into small villages in the few sheltered spots along the coasts and fjords. The old village of Kirkjubøur, with its ancient turf-roofed farmhouse, preserves a picture of this traditional way of life, close to the land and the sea.

The sea was the other great provider, and the Faroese were skilled boatmen and fishermen, rowing out in their distinctive wooden boats to fish the rich but dangerous waters. The harvest of seabirds and their eggs from the great cliffs, gathered by men lowered on ropes, and the communal hunt of pilot whales, were also part of the traditional food economy of the islands.

This world of sheep, boat, and bird-cliff, of turf-roofed village and the ever-present sea, though much changed by modern prosperity, is remembered and remains close to the heart of Faroese identity. The traditions of the land and the sea, the crafts, and the close bonds of the small island communities are cherished as the roots of the Faroese people.

Society and Community

Traditional Faroese society was built around the family, the village, and the small island community, in a world of sheep-farming and fishing shaped by isolation and the demands of the sea. Close bonds of kinship and neighborly cooperation were essential to survival on the remote islands, and mutual help in the communal tasks of the land and the sea was a way of life.

The village was the focus of identity, and the scattered communities, often cut off from one another by mountains and stormy seas, developed strong local ties and their own character. Cooperation was vital, whether in the gathering of the sheep, the harvest of the bird cliffs, or the communal hunt, and a strong sense of equality and self-reliance marked island society.

The great social and cultural bond of the Faroese was the tradition of the chain dance and the ballads, which brought the community together, especially in the long winters, to dance and sing the old songs that carried the shared memory and identity of the people. This communal singing and dancing was at the heart of Faroese social life.

Shaped by isolation, by the sea, and by the strong bonds of the small island communities, the Faroese developed a powerful sense of themselves as a distinct people, attached to their language, their traditions, and their islands. The values of cooperation, self-reliance, and community, and the great tradition of song and dance, remain important features of Faroese life today.

Religion and Belief

The Faroese are a Christian people, today largely Lutheran in keeping with the wider Nordic and Danish tradition, along with a notable community of the Plymouth Brethren and other groups. Religion has long been an important part of the life, calendar, and culture of the islands, and faith runs deep in many Faroese communities.

Christianity came to the Faroes in the age of the Norse settlement, and the islands have a long Christian history, reflected in ancient church sites such as those at Kirkjubøur, which was the medieval religious center of the Faroes, with the ruins of a great cathedral that was never finished. The small turf-roofed churches of the villages are among the most characteristic sights of the islands.

The Reformation brought the Faroes, like Denmark, into the Lutheran fold, and the Lutheran church became central to island life, its churches, hymns, and calendar shaping the rhythm of the year in the villages. In more recent times the strict and devout communities of the Brethren have also become an important part of the religious landscape.

Faith and the church remain a significant part of Faroese identity and community life, and observance is stronger on the islands than in many other parts of northern Europe. The village churches, the religious calendar, and the traditions of hymn and worship continue to hold an important place in the life of the Faroese people.

Traditions

Faroese traditions are rich in song, dance, and the customs of a close-knit island people, and above all in the extraordinary heritage of the chain dance and the ballads. Music and the oral tradition lie at the very heart of Faroese culture and identity, carried down the generations on the remote islands.

The great glory of Faroese tradition is the chain dance, in which people link hands and move in a ring or line to the singing of long narrative ballads, without instruments, the dancers themselves providing the rhythm and the song. Some of these ballads, telling of heroes, saints, and old Norse legends, run to hundreds of verses, and the tradition, once common across Europe, survives in living form above all in the Faroes.

This tradition of the ballad and the chain dance preserved the memory, the language, and the identity of the Faroese through the long centuries, especially in the dark winters when the community gathered to dance and sing. It is recognized as one of the treasures of the islands and a powerful expression of the Faroese spirit.

Alongside the dance and the ballads, the Faroese preserve traditions of costume, of the crafts of wool and the sea, and of the customs surrounding the great festivals and the seasons. These traditions, rooted in the islands and centered on the incomparable heritage of song and dance, are cherished and celebrated as vivid expressions of the Faroese people.

Crafts

Faroese costume — Faroese girls in the knitted and embroidered national costume.

The crafts of the Faroese grew from the materials of a remote, treeless island world, above all from the wool of the sheep and the products of the sea. Wool was so important that it was once called Faroese gold, and the working of wool into yarn, cloth, and above all knitted garments was a central craft, carried on above all by the women of the islands.

Faroese knitting is famous, and the islanders have long produced warm sweaters, caps, and other garments in distinctive patterns, suited to the cold and damp of the North Atlantic. The traditional national costume, with its knitted and finely worked garments and silver ornaments, is among the most treasured expressions of the craft, worn with pride at festivals and important occasions.

The sea and the land gave rise to their own crafts and skills, above all boatbuilding, for the distinctive Faroese wooden rowing boats were vital to island life, along with the making of the gear for fishing and the harvest of the bird cliffs. Woodworking, though limited by the lack of local timber, and the working of the materials that drifted ashore, served the needs of the villages.

The making of the traditional costume, the knitting of wool, the building of boats, and the crafts of daily life were bound up with the way of life of the islands, and everyday objects were made with care and skill. These traditions, above all the famous Faroese knitting and the national costume, are cherished and kept alive as a valued part of the culture of the islands.

Food

Faroese cuisine is the food of a remote North Atlantic island people, shaped by the sheep, the sea, and the need to preserve food through long, hard winters in a land without grain or trees. It is a cuisine of strong flavors and old methods, rooted in the produce of the islands and the ocean around them.

The most distinctive feature of Faroese food is the tradition of wind-drying and fermenting, developed to preserve meat and fish in the damp, cool climate without salt or smoke. Skerpikjøt, wind-dried mutton hung for months in open drying sheds until it develops its strong flavor, is a celebrated island delicacy, as is ræstur fiskur, fermented fish.

The sheep and the sea provide the foundation of the diet, with lamb and mutton in many forms, fresh and dried, and fish of every kind, along with the harvest of the seabirds and, traditionally, the meat and blubber of the pilot whale from the communal hunt. The few crops that will grow, above all potatoes and rhubarb, supplement these mainstays.

In modern times the islands enjoy a wider range of foods, and a new generation of Faroese cooks has drawn on the old ingredients and methods to create a celebrated modern island cuisine. Yet the traditional foods, above all the wind-dried mutton and fermented fish, remain central to Faroese identity and are cherished as a distinctive expression of the islands’ way of life.

Festivals

The festivals of the Faroese blend the Christian calendar with the customs of a close-knit island people and the great traditions of song and dance, and they are central to the life and identity of the islands. Gatherings for the chain dance and the ballads, especially in the long winters, have always been at the heart of Faroese celebration.

The greatest festival of the year is Ólavsøka, the feast of Saint Olaf, held in late July in Tórshavn, which is both a religious observance and the great national festival of the Faroe Islands. It marks the opening of the Løgting, the ancient parliament, and fills the capital with rowing competitions, processions, music, and, above all, the chain dance that goes on through the night.

Ólavsøka draws Faroese from all the islands and from abroad, in a joyful celebration of national identity that combines old and new, with people in traditional costume, sporting contests, and communal singing and dancing. It is the supreme expression of Faroese nationhood and community.

Alongside Ólavsøka, the festivals of the church year, the customs of the seasons, and local village celebrations mark the calendar, many of them still centered on the singing and dancing of the ballads. These festivals, rooted in the islands and in the traditions of faith, song, and dance, are vivid and beloved expressions of the Faroese people.

History

The history of the Faroese begins with the Norse settlement of the islands in the age of the Vikings, from around the ninth century, when settlers from Norway and the Norse world of the British Isles peopled the remote archipelago and established their farms, their language, and their assembly, the Løgting, at Tinganes.

In the manner of the wider Norse world, the early Faroese governed themselves through their assembly, but over the medieval centuries the islands came under the rule of Norway and were drawn into its kingdom and church, sharing in the history of the Norse North Atlantic. When Norway was united with Denmark, the Faroes passed with it under Danish rule.

For centuries the Faroese lived as a remote and often poor community under Danish rule, their trade long held under a royal monopoly, their language confined to speech while Danish dominated official life. Yet the islanders preserved their language and traditions, above all through the ballads and the chain dance, keeping alive their distinct identity through the long centuries.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought a national awakening, the creation of a written Faroese language, and a growing movement for self-government. In the twentieth century the Faroe Islands won home rule and wide autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark, gaining control over most of their own affairs, while remaining a self-governing nation with a strong and distinct identity.

Today

Today the Faroese are a people of some tens of thousands, forming a self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark, with their own parliament, government, flag, and language, and control over most of their own affairs. Tórshavn, one of the smallest capitals in the world, is the center of Faroese life, while small villages dot the coasts and valleys of the islands.

Modern Faroese life is prosperous, built above all on fishing and fish farming, the mainstay of the islands’ economy, along with a growing tourism drawn by the dramatic landscapes and distinctive culture. Despite their small numbers and remote position, the Faroese enjoy a high standard of living and maintain strong links with the wider world.

Faroese identity is powerful and self-confident, expressed above all in the flourishing of the Faroese language, now used in every walk of life, and in the vibrant traditions of music, from the old ballads and chain dance to a lively modern music scene that has won attention far beyond the islands. Pride in the flag, the language, and the traditions runs deep, and many favor still greater independence.

Through the centuries since the Norse settlers, the Faroese have preserved a distinct identity on their remote North Atlantic islands, holding to their language, their traditions, and their bond with the sheep and the sea. A small Nordic people of the ocean, proud of Føroyar and their heritage, the Faroese remain one of the distinctive nations of Europe.