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YAN TAN TETHERA
(J8x32)
Derek Haynes Carnforth Collection 2
1- 8
1s
cross
RH,
cast
1
place,
1L
dances
a
½
Fig
of
8
round
2s
while
1M
dances ½ Fig of 8 round 3s
9-24
1s dance Corner Chain with 1
st
& 2
nd
corners : -
`1s
change
places
RH
with
1
st
corners,
1
st
corners
turn
LH
in
centre
&
return
to
places
giving
RH
to
1s
who
turn
LH
in
centre
to
face
2
nd
corners
`1s
change
places
RH
with
2
nd
corners,
2
nd
corners
turn
LH
in
centre
&
return
to
places
giving
RH
to
1s
&
1s
end
turning
LH
¾
to
face
1
st
corner
25-32
1s
dance
reels
of
3
on
opposite
sides
giving
LSh
to
1
st
corners
&
cross
to 2
nd
place own sides
For the late Dennis & Rhoda Park, the Westmorland farmers who counted their sheep “ Yan, Tan, Tethera …”
The recommended tune is by Pat Clark called Aon, Da, Tri … - of course! (Gaelic for 1, 2, 3 …)
Dating
back
at
least
to
the
medieval
period,
and
continuing
to
the
present
in
some
areas,
farms
were
granted
fell
rights,
allowing
them
access
to
common
grazing
land.
To
prevent
overgrazing,
it
was
necessary
for
each
farm
to
keep
accurate,
updated
head-counts.
Though
fell
rights
are
largely
obsolete
in
modern
agriculture
except
in
upland
areas,
farms
are
often
subsidised
and
taxed
according
to
the
quantity
of
their
sheep.
In
order
to
keep
accurate
records
(e.g.
of
birth
and
death)
and
to
be
alert
to
instances
of
straying,
shepherds
must
perform
frequent head-counts of their flocks.
Sheep-counting
systems
derive
from
Brythonic
Celtic
languages,
such
as
Cumbric
and
all
compared
very
closely
to
18
th
C
Cornish
and
modern
Welsh.
A
particularly
common
tendency
is
for
certain
pairs
of
adjacent
numbers
to
come
to
resemble
each
other
by
rhyme
(notably
1
and
2,
3
and
4,
6
and
7,
or
8
and
9).
Like
most
Celtic
numbering
systems,
they
tend
to
be
based
on
the
number
twenty,
lacking
words
to
describe
quantities
larger
than
twenty.
To
count
a
large
number
of
sheep,
a
shepherd
would
repeatedly
count
to
twenty,
placing
a
mark
on
the
ground,
or
move
his
hand
to
another
mark
on
his
crook,
or
drop
a
pebble
into
his
pocket
to
represent
each
score (e.g. 5 score sheep = 100 sheep).
The
Wikipedia
page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Tan_Tethera
gives
an
extensive
table
of
regional
variations.