CPOY

CPOY 70 Interpretive Project Award of Excellence: The Twelfth Night

In Nordic countries, legends and myth have always played a crucial role in the society. They have been used to discern phenomenons which reason couldn’t explain. The Twelfth Night is a quest to discover the legend of the Seal Woman in the Faroe Islands, where, nowadays, her presence still echoes. In the country, indeed, people still believe that the ones who are born with webbed toes are descendants of the seal woman's family. It's a story about love and fear; about being allowed to create a new identity away from the native land and longing to return home. It is believed that once a year, on the twelfth night after Christmas, something special happens in Kalsoy, one of the Faroe Islands. On that night, seals come ashore, shed off their animal skins and transform into beautiful human beings, who gather on the beach to dance the night away. Before the sun rises, they have to put their seal skins back on to be able to return to the sea and rejoin their families. A popular legend says that one night, a farmer came across the seal women dancing and fell immediately in love with one of them; he stole her seal skin so she could not return to the sea, and brought her to his home. He locked the skin in a chest and would always carry the key at a chain around his neck. They had children and led the life of a married couple; but one day, while out fishing, the man realized he had forgotten the chain and the key. When he went back home, the seal woman was gone. After that day, no one has seen her anymore but her presence is still alive.

Caption
Slide 1 of 12
November 22, 2014
Once a year, on the Twelfth Night, seals are able to take off their skin and become beautiful human beings. They gather on a rocky beach to dance and play all night long. That night a farmer, hidden behind a rock, saw the seals come swimming ashore. Among them, a beautiful girl slipped out of her skin and he fell in love with her immediately. Enchanted by her beauty, the young man noted where she put her skin and stole it. She had no choice but to follow him.
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