Partans In His Creel
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
PARTANS IN HIS CREEL (S4x32) 4C set Bill Forbes Craigievar Book 11- 8 1s cross RH, cast to 3rd place, 3s+1s RH across to end 1L+3M in prom hold facing toward 2s and 1M+3L facing toward 4s
9-16 1L+3M reel of 3 across with 2s (giving RSh to 2L) while 1M+3L reel of 3 with 4s (giving RSh to 4M) to end 23(1)4
17-24 2s+3s also 1s+4s double Fig of 8 (3s and 1s crossing up/down between 2s/4s to start)
25-32 All dance "Drop Out" Chain i.e. start normally with 2s and 4s crossing as 3s+1s change places on sides but 1s stop at 4th place (bar 6), 4s at 3rd place (bar 7), 2s at 1st place and 3s at 2nd place (bar 8) 2341
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagrams
Dance Instruction Videos
Partans In His Creel - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
The title of this dance, Partans In His Creel, comes from the last lines of the chorus in Partans In His Creel - Song written by Alexander Windwick (1913-1999), the 20th century songwriter from the Orkney Islands.Willy's tall and Willy's bonny,
Willy has nae muckle money,
Oh but siller matters when I ken I lo'e him weill.
So I think I'd better tarry,
Bide a wee afore I marry,
No 'til Willie catches Maven Partans in his creel.
Scots etymology for "Partans" is from Scottish Gaelic, noun, (singular partan, plural partans) meaning "a crab".
A creel is a type of small wicker basket mainly used by anglers to hold fish or other prey.
So "Partans In His Creel" means "crabs in his basket".
The recommended music for the dance is "Partans in His Creel" by Allie Windwick.
Partans In His Creel - Song - Information Video
A Wicker Creel
Published in https://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Partans_in_His_Creel.htm
This page contains both original content, which is copyrighted, and excerpts from Wikipedia and other sources using the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Text from this original Creel article on Wikipedia.
Image copyright Sobebunny.
Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Partans In His Creel' page