Scottish Country Dance of the Day

"Hurlygush" is a Scots-Irish the noisy rush and bursting out of water, as from a pond or river.   

 

World Rivers Day is a celebration of the world's waterways. It highlights the many values of rivers and strives to increase public awareness and encourages the improved stewardship of rivers around the world.

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Scotland has more than 125,000 km of rivers and streams varying from small highland burns to deep, wide lowland rivers such as the Tay.

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Hurlygush by Maurice Lindsay (1948)

 

The hurlygush an hallyock o the watter

a-skinlan i the moveless simmer sun

harles aff the scourie mountain wi a yatter

that thru ten-thousand centuries has run.

 

Wi cheek against the ash o withered bracken

I ligg at peace and hear nae soun at aa

but yonder hurlygush that canna slacken

thru time and space mak never-endin faa,

 

as if a volley o the soun had brocht me

doun tae the pool whaur timeless things begin,

and e’en this endless faa’an that had claucht me

wi ilka ither force was gether’t in.

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For research on Scottish river and wetland birds including the Dipper, Grey Wagtail and Common Sandpiper and Goosander), which depend on the clean waters of their native habitats, click the bridge over the river.

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For a video of the dance performed by the Dunedin Dancers, see below.