Hjaltadans

Haltadans

Haltadans

Historic site in Shetland, Scotland

Haltadans, also known as Fairy Ring or Haltadans stone circle, is a stone circle on the island of Fetlar in Shetland, Scotland.[1] This site is a ring of 38 stones,[2] of which 22 are still fixed in the soil, and it is 11 metres (37 ft) in diameter.[3] Inside this is an earthen ring 7.9 metres (26 ft) in diameter, with a 1.5 metres (5 ft) gap in the southwest side.[1] In the center of the rings are two rectangular pillars.[1][3]

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According to Jakob Jakobsen, the name Haltadans means: "lame or limping dance".[4] This is a reference to the legend that the circle of stones was once a circle of dancing trolls and that the two rock pillars in the centre were once a fiddler and his wife.[3] They had fiddled and danced all night long, and, heedless of the time, were still fiddling and dancing when the sun rose and petrified them all.[2]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Haltadans". Stone Circle in Scotland in Shetland. Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  2. [2]
    Smith, Hamish Haswell (16 May 1998). "Fetlar Island of the Week". Scotland Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  3. [3]
    "Fetlar, Gravins, 'Haltadans'". Canmore Site Records. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  4. [4]
    Jakobsen, Jakob (1897). The Dialect and Place-Names of Shetland. pp. 116–117.


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