Septima I was attempting to address Manila’s question. I misinterpreted their question as asking about having the midnight sun in the Faroes and I was vaguely aware that it’s not far enough north for that phenomenon to be observed. However, that’s not what they were asking and the issue was addressed properly by a subsequent poster.
You, sir or madam, are now officially responsible for the sorry demise of my computer monitor 
Double nitpick: It’s not quite as much Norway as, e.g. mainland Finnmark. Almost, but not quite. Norway has full sovereignty over Svalbard, but they still have to adhere to the international Svalbard treaty in that that taxation, military activity and non-discrimination WRT residency are defined by the treaty and cannot be decided by the Norwegian government. That last part of course implies that Svalbard should have been swamped with all those nasty immigrants that Norway keeps off its land by draconian immigration regulations, but for some weird reason there aren’t many who seem to care about moving to such a place. Even in the absence of mainland Norway’s immigration regulations…
You seem like you have traveled a bit. What are some big or interesting differences you’ve noted between your homeland and foreign countries?
Wikipedia says the population of the Faroes is less than 50,000 people. That seems so tiny to me. I’ve been in stadiums or to protests that had more people than that. Do you ever wish you were from a more populous place?
I am reading a book that says that in the Faroes sheep (lambs) are hauled up to small rocky ledges and left there for a considerable period while they grow. The natural rain plus lush grass keeps them going. Does this still happen?
I came back to ask about this, too. A while back, I heard on Scottish radio the summers have been getting drier, and this is becoming a problem for the sheep grazing the sea stacs in the Faroes. It was mentioned as an example of climate change.
Releasing sheep to live free & roaming from spring to fall is quite common in the other Nordic countries, although these days there are some practical problems since the populations of large predators like lynx, wolf, bear and wolverine have been increasing in the mainland Fennoscandic countries. I guess the predator problem is less pronounced in the Faroe islands and Iceland than on the mainland, though.
There are some advantages to the practice, like a larger feed base since the animals don’t graze on farmed land and meadows during summer, and a better, “wilder” taste to the meat. I strongly prefer Nordic lamb to e.g. Welsh or New Zealand lamb, I think it has a much richer taste due to the diet of herbs and wild plants rather than just grass during summer.
I’m checking out Hamferð now, pretty good stuff! Oh, and I discovered I have another Faroese metal band in my collection - Vhernen, a rather odd band who play a mixture of black and doom metal with strong ambient elements, performed on electric cello, electric harp, and synthesisers. I only remembered they were from your country when looking up the other bands you mentioned. So, that’s now 3 bands I like from a country not much larger than the town I live in!
In the American official Scrabble dictionary, an oe is defined as a type of whirlwind found around the Faroes. The word is exceedingly rare here outside of Scrabble, though admittedly it has a lot of company in that regard.
[QUOTE=Savannah]
Wait, what? No trees?!
[/QUOTE]
Heh. Every single person I’ve ever pointed this out to has reacted exactly the same way. Also, no snakes or amphibians of any kind, no land-based predators or drumroll no bloodsucking insects (except fleas, I guess).
Actually, there is a wooded park in the center of Tórshavn (we call it “the Plantation”) and some small, planted copses here and there. And some people have trees in their gardens. But no native woods, no wild trees.
My neighbor had an enormous spruce, taller than any of the nearby houses. It was torn up by the roots by a storm just this past December. It could have crushed his house, but fell in a safe direction, thank Og. Trees are not safe here.
[QUOTE=Savannah]
I “found” the Faroes a bit ago while looking at Google Maps and north, north Scotland, and even farther north, and saw “you” in the ocean. I’d never heard of your country. and was immediately off to Wikipedia to learn about you. I didn’t know about the “no trees” though!
I have some beautiful pictures of your country in my computer’s picture directory, used as a slideshow/screensaver. I’d love to visit one day.
[/QUOTE]
That’s a sweet story. We’re so easy to miss to. Yeah, no trees. Those green slopes and sheer cliffs is what all of it looks like.
[QUOTE=2square4u]
You, sir or madam, are now officially responsible for the sorry demise of my computer monitor
[/QUOTE]
Hurry and read this thread before replacing it.
[QUOTE=SecretaryofEvil]
You seem like you have traveled a bit. What are some big or interesting differences you’ve noted between your homeland and foreign countries?
[/QUOTE]
That’s big question, I’m not sure if I can answer all that well.
Scale is the big thing. I get blown away by scale on a regular basis. I was in New York once. That was a bit of a shock. I mean, I knew I came from a small place, but really seeing the difference was mind-bending. Just all that space, stretching in all directions, unending, and all the people moving around, doing things, living and breathing, in all directions, even upwards. I think most of my home city fits inside central park. Just…being able to walk forever, in any direction, and not really getting anywhere except to more places that look just the same.
Also, the lack of horizon. Being outdoors, yet feeling as if I’m indoors, because there are walls all around, and no horizon, and barely any sky.
Subcultures is another. There isn’t really all that much space for them in the Faroes. Yeah, we have people who are goths, and metalheads and nerds and whatnot, but everyone still hangs out with everybody else, because there just aren’t that many people who are your peers. When I moved to Norway, and figured out you could have whole social circles just composed of people from the exact same subculture as yourself, I was…intrigued. That was a new concept.
Oh, and crime. We have crime, of course, but when you get below a certain amount of inhabitants, the crime seems to scale down to. No-one steels cars (where would you take them), and I know of one armed robbery in my entire lifetime. I don’t think there has ever been a murder in recent memory. There is theft and violence and vandalism, but, as I said, the scale is different.
There is of, course, a bewildering variety of things to do when you leave the Faroes. Just the sheer choice of stuff to do, things to see, people to meet. That’s a big difference. At home, you have to plan a lot more to fill your days.
[QUOTE=SecretaryofEvil]
Wikipedia says the population of the Faroes is less than 50,000 people. That seems so tiny to me. I’ve been in stadiums or to protests that had more people than that. Do you ever wish you were from a more populous place?
[/QUOTE]
No, never. I’m not saying there aren’t drawback, because there are. Many. But it’s my home, growing up there made me who I am. I think I’m really lucky, because, to me, the Faroes is the best place in the world. It really is that simple.
But yeah, the fact that other people go to events with more people than our entire population is…strange. I have to really think about it to make it seem real. And I’ve been to events like that. The rosemarch after 22.july had 200.000 gathered in downtown Oslo. I still have to think about it to understand how so many people can really exist in the same place.
[QUOTE=Cicero]
I am reading a book that says that in the Faroes sheep (lambs) are hauled up to small rocky ledges and left there for a considerable period while they grow. The natural rain plus lush grass keeps them going. Does this still happen?
[/QUOTE]
“Ledges” sounds so tiny, the poor lambs! It’s more likely to be remote valleys and unpopulated islands. I assure you, they have space to move around, and graze. And They’re not just left to their own devices, the farmer checks on them. Like I said, we have no predatory land animals, so they’re quite safe. The breed is adapted to it.
Actually, there are sheep everywhere you go here.
[QUOTE=toodlepip]
I came back to ask about this, too. A while back, I heard on Scottish radio the summers have been getting drier, and this is becoming a problem for the sheep grazing the sea stacs in the Faroes. It was mentioned as an example of climate change.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, some farmers are having to move their flocks more often, or even supplement feed. I don’t know enough to give more details though.
Is there distinctive Faeroese literature or poetry, either ancient/medieval or modern? In the English speaking world, literature and poetry tends to blur to a significant degree to the point where there isn’t much that distinguishes, say, New Zealand literature of today from Maryland literature, Scottish literature, or Falkland Island literature.
For the modern stuff, do you have a lot of Faeroese writers that write natively in Faeroese, or do you get mostly translations of English, Danish, German, etc. works?
[QUOTE=Steophan]
I’m checking out Hamferð now, pretty good stuff! Oh, and I discovered I have another Faroese metal band in my collection - Vhernen, a rather odd band who play a mixture of black and doom metal with strong ambient elements, performed on electric cello, electric harp, and synthesisers. I only remembered they were from your country when looking up the other bands you mentioned. So, that’s now 3 bands I like from a country not much larger than the town I live in!
[/QUOTE]
Cool! I’m glad I could help.
[QUOTE=AppallingGael]
In the American official Scrabble dictionary, an oe is defined as a type of whirlwind found around the Faroes. The word is exceedingly rare here outside of Scrabble, though admittedly it has a lot of company in that regard.
[/QUOTE]
I freely admit I have never heard of that, although that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not legit.
[QUOTE=robert_columbia]
Is there distinctive Faeroese literature or poetry, either ancient/medieval or modern? In the English speaking world, literature and poetry tends to blur to a significant degree to the point where there isn’t much that distinguishes, say, New Zealand literature of today from Maryland literature, Scottish literature, or Falkland Island literature.
[/QUOTE]
There is a very distinctive medieval poetry tradition, best thought of as narrative ballads, either epic or humorous. It’s actually a living tradition, with the youngest ballads being 50 years old or so. I fully expect someone to compose a new one soon.
They are meant to be sung by a lot of people, sometimes hundreds, while dancing the Faroese chain dance.
The subject matter is usually either a mythical or historical narrative, although there are several shorter ones that are humorous in nature, and a few are political satire, or personal insults between long-dead enemies.
Here are some examples, although the sound is bad in some of them.
Modern literature and poetry usually belongs to more or less the same traditions and trends as the rest of Scandinavia, filtered through the particulars of life on the Faroes of course.
Plenty of both. We place a great emphasis having a lot of literature in Faroese, since this is seen as critical in keeping the language alive. We really don’t take the survival of Faroese for granted, though it’s not under particular threat at the moment. So the state sponsors translation of foreign literature, meaning that the publishers have wide freedom in publishing translated works that wont necessarily make a profit, but that it is important to have. And there are stipends for authors, and various other ways to make sure that it is possible to live of writing, at least partly, in what is a limited marked. So, yeah, we have plenty of both.
Underline mine. You know, I used to think I would like to buy a summer house in Inverness, to enjoy the combination of “non-roasting temperatures” plus “long hours of sunlight”, but… the requirements for a Spaniard to move to the Faroes are the same as to Denmark, “hop on over”?
Um, what? No black flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks and no horse-flies? None? At all? :eek:
seriously considering a vacation in the Faroes
No, because Vatican City is the smallest country on Earth?
I’m feeling whooshed.
[QUOTE=Nava]
Underline mine. You know, I used to think I would like to buy a summer house in Inverness, to enjoy the combination of “non-roasting temperatures” plus “long hours of sunlight”, but… the requirements for a Spaniard to move to the Faroes are the same as to Denmark, “hop on over”?
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I think we’re still technically on the older system where the requirements are “have a job and a place to live”. But yeah, if you can move to Denmark, you can move to the Faroes, I’ve never heard of a European having trouble. Besides, you’re a technical something, right? Engineer? We need those. Come right over.
[QUOTE=2square4u]
Um, what? No black flies, no mosquitoes, no ticks and no horse-flies? None? At all?
seriously considering a vacation in the Faroes
[/QUOTE]
No nothing. Well, there are mosquitoes, but they don’t bite people, they just sort of…swarm around.
We have various sorts of fleas, but unless you have wild animals living in your house, you’ll never meet them. We had a bird break into our attic and build a nest once. We got rid of that one right quick after the chicks were grown, I’ll tell you that much.
Wasps were accidentally introduced here about 12 years ago, with some artificial turf for a football field :rolleyes: They seem to be dying out though, I haven’t seen one in the last few years.
This is a bit of a backhanded drawback actually, since most of us are seriously allergic to insects bites from lack of exposure. You should see me after a Norwegian summer - it looks like I’ve had ping-pong balls surgically inserted under my skin. And they love me too, the little terrorists.
Do you have significant cultural ties with the Danish West Indies, now the US Virgin Islands?
That’s why your homeland is called Faroes. Føroyar “sheep islands”.
Septima, just posting this Specsavers advert on the off chance that you haven’t seen it. 
[QUOTE=robert_columbia]
Do you have significant cultural ties with the Danish West Indies, now the US Virgin Islands?
[/QUOTE]
No, we don’t. I actually hadn’t thought about our shared history as Danish colonies until now. Or, I knew there was a place that used to be the Danish West Indies, but the thought that this put us in the same boat, so to speak, never struck me. Its a real shame too, it looks like a fascinating place. I might actually be going there soon, so thanks for pointing it out.
Aspects of Danish history is a bit…troubling, you know? The whole colonialism and slavery bit. They used to be very harsh overlords, to us and others, a few centuries ago, and so we “colonies” tend to want to distance ourselves from that. Norway does it too, and they were in thick of it, with businessmen getting rich in various african schemes. It is rarely acknowledged.
And it really isn’t fair. There are towns with Danish-sounding names in various spots on african coasts, because they used to be Danish forts. And all sorts of places like that around the world. But we rarely think of them, and feel little to no kinship. We should, I guess.
[QUOTE=Gymnopithys]
That’s why your homeland is called Faroes. Føroyar “sheep islands”.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, either that or “the far away islands” (because we are) or “the leading islands” (because we “lead the way” you have to sail to get to Iceland and Greenland (and America)). There is some, occasionally lively, debate on the subject, but “sheep islands” seem most likely, and most accurate today 
[QUOTE=toodlepip]
Septima, just posting this Specsavers advert on the off chance that you haven’t seen it.
[/QUOTE]
Oh my God, that’s hilarious! I hadn’t seen it, thank you for posting it.
The song isn’t Faroese though. It sounds like Irish, maybe? Poor doggie, he looks so…sheepish I have one just like him. And we do trim our dogs fur in the summer. So in case anyone was worried, it grows right back.
Yep, it’s an old Irish song called Mo Ghile Mear. I think this version is by Una Palliser.